Burt Witcher Jewelers • Leander

Burt Witcher Jewelers • Leander

Written by Mandy Hobby Sunday, 07 January 2007

Learned gemologist continues family tradition

Years before Burt Witcher opened his jewelry store in Leander last June, he was hunting for rocks with his father in the land surrounding their south Texas home. As a child, his father taught him to cut and polish petrified wood and rocks which they later sold.

“My dad was the rock hound and I was the pebble puppy,” Witcher recalls. “That’s how this whole business got started.”

Witcher’s family has been in the jewelry business since 1968, when his mother and father opened a store in Port Lavaca, TX. He began working in the jewelry store when he was 10-years-old.

“I started out sweeping and cleaning the counters. The first thing I really learned to do was engraving. Then, I was on to goldsmithing and diamond settings,” Witcher said.

Witcher’s love for gems continued into adulthood. In 1974, he moved to New York City to attend a one-year program to become a graduate gemologist at the Gemologist Institute of America. While in school, he worked for an international diamond dealer, Lazare Kaplan, and learned the intricacies of grading diamonds using a diamond loop.

“I sat across from a 75-year-old man who had been grading diamonds all of his life,” Witcher said. “He helped me learn to do everything and do it right.”

After school, Witcher moved back to Texas. He opened his first store in Cuero in 1986 after his father’s retirement. Before moving to Austin in 2001, he owned two other stores in Port Lavaca and Edna along with the Cuero store.

Witcher said he chose to open his store in its present location on US 183 because of Leander’s growth and because he could custom build his own space. He works alongside his mother, C.K. Witcher, continuing the trade he was trained to do since he was a little boy.

“I have always been fascinated with gems and loved diamonds,” Witcher said. “I enjoy retail and interacting with the public. I also get to create and design.”

The store offers jewelry repair, custom design, certified diamonds, appraisals, watch batteries and repairs and special orders. Witcher also carries Pandora jewelry, handcrafted Danish charms, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and rings.

Burt Witcher also sells collegiate licensed UT jewelry on his Web site www.utjewelry.com.

Burt Witcher, owner.107 US 183, 259-5300 • www.burtwitcher.com