Sarah Steele graduated from University College Durham with a BSc.Hons.Geology in 1992. Since childhood she has has a obsession with Whitby Jet, she simply lives and breathes the material. Retraining initially as a jeweller to enable her to make jewellery from Whitby Jet, she then in 2013 successfully completed a Diploma in Gemmology at the Gem-A in London and was awarded the prestigious FGA status making her Whitby's only accredited gemmologist. She has since gone on to gain Diamond Fellowship of the Association. Much of Sarah's work is now, with the support of The Gemmological Association of Great Britain, concerned with research and education into the jet group of gemstones as we know less about jet than any other gem material. It's Sarah's intention that this body of work will lead to a diagnostic test for Whitby Jet in order to protect the Whitby Industry from unscroupulous retailers selling foreign substandard jet as our world class British material. Sarah is currrently working on a research project with the National Museum of Scotland looking at the analysis of Whitby Jet in the archaeological record, and has recently tested her samples of jet from around the world at the prestigious Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France based at The Lourve. Sarah now lectures on the subject of Whitby Jet and its many simulants, and is always keen to offer identification and valuation reports on Victorian mourning jewellery for customers.
The Ebor Jetworks Ltd is a small independent retailer based in a beautiful C17th workshop in the heart of Whitby's historic east side. Owned by Sarah and David Steele all our jewellery is handcrafted on the premises and demonstrations of jet polishing can be viewed six days a week. Sarah graduated with an Honours Degree in Geology from Durham University in 1992 and in 2013 she successfully completed a Diploma in Gemmology at the Gem-A in London and was awarded the prestigious Fellow of the Gemmological Society status making her the only accredited gemmologist working in Whitby. She is also a Diamond Fellow of the society. Sarah's time is now spent between jewellery manufacture and research into the jet group of gemstones, and with the backing of the Gemmological Society is now working to correctly classify the jet gemstone group for the first time in its 10,000 years of manufacturing history. David is himself a skilled craftsman with some 10 years jewellery making and lapidary experience. We aim to produce handcrafted, high quality and most importantly, interesting contemporary jewellery. We guarantee that we only use the best quality Hard Whitby Jet collected from local beaches in our jewellery. We do not believe that foreign materials should ever be used as a substitute to our world class British Whitby Jet.
