Teri’s notebook: Ring of honor for Nevada

Most people know I love Nevada. And I love jewelry. So it was instant attraction when I saw the ring at Rupert’s Precision Gemcutting made in honor of Nevada’s 150th birthday.

Owner Tobin Rupert said he set out to make a ring for the sesquicentennial of his home state, but couldn’t decide exactly how he would do it.

“I sat there forever and thought, ‘What can I put in here to make it Nevada?’,” he said.

“It wasn’t until I had a dream to put a silver nugget in there that it all came together.”

Once he decided on the stone, it still wasn’t that easy.

“I hiked the mountains for a whole week to find it,” he said.

The stone, he said, is high-grade silver running through quartz veins. He used blue sapphires as accents.

“Our state colors are blue and silver,” he said. “Plus, I wanted to make it beautiful.”

And beautiful it is.

“It’s a pretty nice ring,” he said. “One of the nicest I’ve ever made.”

Check it out for yourself at Rupert’s Precision Gemcutting, 2800 S. Curry St.

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When I asked Tobin why he wanted to make a ring for the sesquicentennial, he said, “because I like Nevada.”

A lot of people do — and the NV150 committee wants to hear why.

The committee is collecting personal stories, as well as histories of towns and other landmarks significant to the state.

Kathleen “Kay” Kelly Winters recently submitted her history in Carson City, moving here from Washington in 1941 when she married Archie Pozzi Jr.

“The Curry Fire Department was made up of volunteers and adequately handled each fire,” she wrote.

“There were no stop lights on Carson Street. We had one theatre, one grocery store which also was a bakery, one meat market, one hardware store, two drug stores and numerous saloons.

“Highway 50 was a Federal highway from Washington, D.C. to Sacramento, Calif., making it the first cross country highway. It ran right through Carson City and up King Street to Lake Tahoe and on to Sacramento. It enabled us to have a paved street to the Governor’s Mansion. All the other streets were dirt. Cars were few in those days and had a distinctive sound. We could tell who was coming up the street without looking out.”

The stories will be part of the report the committee gives to Governor Brian Sandoval at the end of the year, then they will be kept on file at the Nevada State Library and Archives.

To read the stories, submit one of your own, or find out about the events and merchandise for the state’s sesquicentennial, go to nevada150.org.