McCoy Goldsmith & Jeweler

Dec 31

In their own words

“We have an interesting building from the late 1800s with an old tin ceiling. We have showcases from the early 1900s, then our laser plasma welder, 3D printer, microscopes for the bench, our bridal design station, and CAD/CAM. There’s this blend of old and new. It’s all right in front of you. There’s a visceral element—they can almost look and touch the process themselves.”

-Jonathan McCoy

Jason’s Interview with Jonathan

Jason

Come with me to Meet the Jewelers. Today, I'm excited to have Jonathan McCoy from McCoy Goldsmith & Jeweler in Dubuque, Iowa. How did you get into the industry?

Jonathan

I came in through the back door. This is a family business now, but it started with my father back in 1973. Wanting a career using his hands and his artistic skills, he gravitated to jewelry. Many years after that, I started to work with him in high school and college. I went off into technology careers. My aptitude was software design and implementations, tech consulting.

+ Keep reading

Fast-forward about a decade. I'm returning to my hometown to work in the tech industry with a local firm and I find that, after I landed in Chicago, my position was dissolved. So, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do next in life. My dad buys the Cadillac software of computer-aided design with 1,001 buttons. So, I help him out. I start to just go through the training material, try and help them design some things, keep it a useful investment. Three years later, I'm full-time, planning on buying them out, running the CAD/CAM department, and learning how to be a bench jeweler. I worked my way back to the bench, a roundabout path to being a jeweler.

Jason
What is it about jewelry that you still love so much?

Jonathan
The best thing for me is working with clients on bridal designs, restyles, and repairs. There's nuances in every design. I never tire of every day because I'm not in the factory setting. I'm not making the exact same rings three-hundred times. I get to express a little bit of that artistic skill and design into it. We repair and service on site.

Jason
Why do you like clients so much?

Jonathan
The neatest part about our industry is that we are ambassadors for occasions. We are the people that folks go to for celebratory moments.

Jason
When you come to your store, what's the ambiance?

Jonathan
We have an interesting building from 1894. Old tin ceiling. We have showcases from the early 1900s. Right next to it, we have our laser-plasma welder, 3D printer, microscopes for the bench, bridal design station with Counter Sketch, Matrix, and CAD/CAM. There's this blend of old and new. The client can see, from where they are standing in front of the showcase, the production, the casting, the setting, the polishing. Everything is within eyesight. That's what I think is unique. I have two ten-foot showcases and that's it.

Jason
What's your specialty?

Jonathan
The thing that we started to plant our flag in is bridal and restyling. We've created this experience of getting to know them, getting to know their partner, getting to understand what they want to achieve with the design, working within their budgets, and continuing to offer different products. Six years ago, we started carrying lab-grown diamonds. We're an early adopter and putting those right into our engagement rings now. They’re a heavy component of the side stone business that we do.

People put us in charge of a project to redesign their grandmother’s ring into a new piece of jewelry. We love the challenge and that's been a driving force for business.

Jason
Describe your aesthetic, your brand, your team.

Jonathan
There's an eclectic element to the skill sets that are here. I was fortunate enough to hire smarter and better people in areas that I'm not good at. My wife is our Sales Manager and is just amazing. Samantha in Operations and Hannah on the bench. We've got this eclectic skill set that's also a family. The last element is the execution. Great customer service.

Jason
You give back to the community in a really big way. You've donated over $45,000 worth of custom jewelry to various nonprofits. Can you give us a few of the causes that you want us to know?

Jonathan
Our philanthropic giving started heavy in our fortieth year, which was a little bit after I started with my father. We gave $40,000 in custom-made jewelry to local nonprofits. We did it through a contesting platform that increased awareness of these groups. And from there, it spawned into our forty-fifth—we gave away $45,000. I worry what our 100th year will look like at this pace, but without this community and these nonprofits, it would be a different place that I live in.

Jason
When it comes to proposal experiences, any fun stories you can share about your customers?

Jonathan
My town is on a river. It's at a point where Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa meet on the Mississippi and it's a massive river at this stage, about a mile across. We heard a proposal story in which they went out kayaking, and he asked her across the kayak, takes the ring out of his pocket, and holds it across the river to her. Thank goodness it didn't fall in the water because it’s sixty feet deep and black as mud and would never be found again. She loved the ring, he got the yes.

Jason
You've designed so many pieces—what are two stand-out pieces?

Jonathan
There was a gentleman, he calls his wife his ‘little peanut.’ He brought in a Planter’s Peanut and asked us to make a pendant that looks like a peanut. We do a digital scan and create a hinged peanut. It would open up and was going to be cast in yellow gold. He comes in to approve the CAD. We have this all printed out. My father is sitting at the bench, just kind of leans back and goes, “Would it be cool if we pave-set diamonds on the inside and put a couple pictures in there?” The customer says yes. It evolved into this epic project. I had about four days to do it. There was a photo of her in there, a photo of their daughter in it. And it's one of her favorite things to wear.

Jason
What sets you apart?

Jonathan
I think the most important part of our process is that you talk to the person who's going to have a hand in creating it—our sales team, bench jewelers, and CAD designers. It has allowed us to quickly go from a concept to an executed piece. I think the shortest turnaround time we've had on custom pieces is thirty-six hours.

Jason
Here's your chance to say whatever you like.

Jonathan
I want to encourage people to go to your local business. Come to McCoy's and be a part of keeping this artisanal industry moving forward.