SHOLDT

Sholdt Jewelry – Sholdt Engagement Rings - Sholdt Wedding Rings

Amidon Jewelers is proud to be able to offer you a fine assortment of Sholdt Engagement Rings, Wedding Ring and Jewelry designed and manufactured in the United States by the Sholdt Family. The Sholdt Family has been a multi-generation experience, making fine engagement and wedding rings. We are sure that you will find Sholdt Jewelry to be second to none in terms of their inspiration and attention to detail.

Here is a brief history of Sholdt Jewelry:

THE EARLY DAYS AT SHOLDT JEWELRY

The Sholdt history with jewelry dates back to 1935. Seattle was different then. The Pike Place Market still allowed livestock, and Boeing’s newest aircraft was the prop-driven 247. Bill Gates and Howard Schultz wouldn’t even be born for another twenty years. A young man named Milton Sholdt purchased a fledgling jewelry repair business and set up shop in the Fourth and Pike Building. Milton spent those early years doing trade-work for the local jewelry retailers. He was an outgoing, friendly man that loved to travel, and a shrewd businessman. He was also an enthusiastic drinker and lady’s man

“I remember coming down here with Dad and Grandpa when I was just a kid” says Brian, “and watching Granddad taking sips off a pint of Old Rocking Chair Whiskey. I doubt he ever envisioned the Sholdt Jewelry business going this far.”

Milton's original safe, with the words “Milton H. Sholdt” hand-painted across it, still stands in the shop today. Within it is a smaller combination lock-box that hasn’t been opened in 50 years.

“We have no idea what’s in there,” says Dusty. “Somewhere along the way the combination got lost. We can’t get in without ruining it, so we just let it be. Why spoil the mystery? It’s just part of the family history.”

In 1963 Milton’s oldest son, Milton, Jr., gave up his first career as a carpenter for the more lucrative family jewelry business. Together Milton Jr. and his wife Patricia nursed the business along for two decades, often handing out the weekly payroll in cash. Though perhaps not the best bookkeeper, Milton became known for outstanding customer service and a dogged determination to hire only the most talented jewel-smiths. By the time he sold the company to his sons Brian and Dusty in 1983, Sholdt had become known throughout the trade as the preeminent jewelry repair shop in Seattle.

Sholdt Jewelry – Sholdt Engagement Rings - Sholdt Wedding Rings

COMING OF AGE AT SHOLDT JEWELRY

Throughout the 80’s local jewelry retailers moved towards doing repairs in-house, and Sholdt had to adapt. Brian and Dusty began augmenting their repair work with a small custom line known as “Rain City Rings”. Brian took the reigns as designer, and Dusty stepped up from the workbench to oversee operations. To give the Sholdt Jewelry business a more personal feel, the name was changed to Sholdt.

Because Sholdt employed its own shop - a rare thing in the trade - the designs were done with the input of the jewelry craftsmen that would later build them. The resulting Sholdt Wedding Rings seemed a perfect blend of artistry, beauty, and emotion. Customers and critics embraced them, and in the years that followed Sholdt was honored with several important Engagement Ring and Wedding Ring design awards, including the AGTA Spectrum Award on four separate occasions - once as Best of Show - and the prestigious DeBeers Diamonds Today Award.

“Winning Best of Show that year was huge,” says Brian. “I think that’s when we went from being just a repair shop to being an honest-to-goodness Engagement and Wedding Ring design house.”

As sales of the Sholdt Engagement and Wedding Ring line grew and orders came in, the need for experienced jewelers also increased. Though often pressed to keep up with the workload, Brian and Dusty remained true to the Sholdt ethic of hiring only the most gifted craftsmen available…and keeping them. Today most of Sholdt’s employees have been with the company 15 years or more. As more and more American companies ship their production overseas, the brothers still insist on keeping all Engagement and Wedding Ring production at home in Seattle.

“I think our biggest strength is the talented people that have been with us forever,” says Dusty. “We have the ability to do anything a client wants or needs. We have so much accumulated knowledge that it allows us to do and try what others won’t. It’s our niche.”

Sholdt Jewelry – Sholdt Engagement Rings - Sholdt Wedding Rings

SHOLDT JEWELRY TODAY

By 2008 Sholdt had been in the same downtown location for over 70 years. However, to escape increasing rent, and to satisfy the growing need for stable electricity and easy accessibility, Brian and Dusty decided to move the jewelry shop. In January 2009 Sholdt transferred its jewelry operations to the historic Tully’s Roasting Plant - perhaps better known to Seattle natives as The Old Rainier Brewery.

Besides being a roasting plant, a portion of the structure serves as work and rehearsal space for artists and musicians. Becoming part of this “Arts brewery”, as it is known, has proved a perfect fit for Sholdt.

“It has enhanced how we make our jewelry , engagement rings and wedding rings and interact with customers,” says Brian. “Being part of such a vibrant arts community has really strengthened our brand.”

Brian's daughter Kalee has now also joined the company as the sales rep, working to introduce the Sholdt Jewelry line to an ever increasing audience. With more jewelers carrying the line each year, Sholdt is quickly becoming a household name. Still, whatever success they find as designers, for the Sholdt brothers the jewelry trade is above all about family and history. They don't just make jewelry because they have a passion for it; they make it because that is what their family does.

They make jewelry...and they make dust.

We invite you to view the fine selection of Sholdt Engagement Rings and Sholdt Wedding Rings at Amidon Jewelers.