Dale Hernsdorf’s Orb Locket Hides a Dazzling Secret

The Los Angeles jeweler and goldsmith Dale Hernsdorf favors bolder, more substantial designs—and despite the soaring price of gold, she’s sticking with them. “Some people say, ‘You should make smaller pieces,’ but that’s not my brand,” she tells JCK.

Dale Hernsdorf

Case in point: Hernsdorf’s celestial-inspired orb boasts a diameter of 2.2 centimeters, making it the largest such style she’s created to date. But size is only the half of it. The 22k yellow gold and diamond-studded locket, which comes on a 24-inch handmade gold chain, contains a secret: a sparkly pile of faceted natural diamonds totaling between 0.5 ct. and 0.75 ct.

“Who doesn’t like loose diamonds?” Hernsdorf says. “What’s interesting is that clients don’t see loose diamonds. We see them and take them for granted. But when people see them, they go nuts.”

The 2 mm loose diamonds inside the orb locket total between 0.5 and 0.75 ct. t.w.

Hernsdorf created her first orb locket about five years ago. She later had the idea to add diamonds to the piece—even though it’s a virtual certainty that eventually, they’ll fall out.

“That’s the point,” she says. “There’s a psychological tension to having this thing that you could lose at any point. The idea is that you can’t grasp too hard—it’s like a little lesson on life.”

The flush-set diamonds scattered around the sphere total 0.27 ct.

Hernsdorf’s clients love the design, which, in this case, features a single flush-set ruby alongside the scattered flush-set diamonds, to evoke the planet Mars. The top and bottom poles of the locket are set with cabochon rubies. But it’s the pile of diamonds contained within that proves most charming.

“You’re wearing a secret,” Hernsdorf says. “And if you’ve lost your diamonds, what are you going to put in it now?”

Top: Mars-in-Full orb locket in 22k yellow gold with diamonds and rubies, price on request; Dale Hernsdorf