Ax's glint lights way to ye olde armory

Jeffry Scott / Staff Victor Martine of Pensacola, Fla., displays an ax he designed. Asian lacquerware and rosewood carvings are major items, too.

Victor Martine is the proud owner of arguably the most eye-catching display of all the gem shows.

Men love to stop by Martine's booth at the Congress Street Expo at Tucson Electric Park to check out the extensive collection of swords, knives and other weaponry. Women like to peruse the jewelry section.

Both sexes are dazzled by the Asian lacquerware and rosewood carvings.

Surprisingly, the man sitting behind the counter has an even more colorful personality than his wares would indicate.

"I'm really big into promotion and marketing," said Martine, 60, a well-spoken Pensacola, Fla., resident.

You can't beat blockbuster movies as advertising pedestals.

Martine's swords, chain mail and other items have appeared in films like "Gladiator," "Braveheart" and the "Highlander" series - so many that Martine has lost track. At his display, he has weapons used in "Cutthroat Island" and "Stargate" for sale.

Martine's swords are also on display at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Martine runs his booth with the help of his wife, Thai, and business associate Julie Murphie, whom he met at a Renaissance festival. Martine said he's selling merchandise at wholesale prices. His swords start at $30.

Martine's interest in swords branched from his love for history. Martine studied history at California State University, Long Beach, and later pursued a graduate degree at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s.

He served in the Army in Vietnam, where he met the girl who would later become his second wife while visiting a Saigon school.

"When I was 18 years old, a psychic told me that my second wife would be (Asian), small, with long, black hair and child-like," Martine said. "And she told me that I'd have to travel a long distance to meet her."

The prophecy was fulfilled two years ago, when Martine returned to Saigon to adopt two children. He remet Thai, and they married in Vietnam.

Martine's first wife, Mary, died of cancer in 1992. The couple had one child together, Vicki, now 26.

After his Army service, Martine worked for the CIA.

Martine is most proud of his Vietnamese lacquerware. He gets the products from exclusive arrangements with more than 30 Vietnamese villages.

Martine says he not only provides artists who work for him with year-round employment, but he also has houses built for them.

With connections all over the world, Martine works tirelessly to keep his 11 businesses running smoothly.

He says his doctor tells him he's as healthy as a 28-year-old, and he sleeps only four hours per night. There's not much that can slow Martine down.

"I don't take business partners," Martine said. "No one can keep up with me."

* Contact Phil Villarreal at 572-4130 or prv@azstarnet.com.

Medieval-style arms
grab men; there's
lots for women, too

For visitors

Gem industry is seeking to recapture its former sparkle

When a jeweler's daughter refuses to wear the splashy settings that anchor her mother's display case, the gemstone industry knows it's time to start rethinking its sales pitch.

The ostentatious rings and necklaces that years ago signaled one's entry into society have been replaced by scrubbed pine end-tables and bloated sports utility vehicles. Jewelers report important wish lists have been cleansed of every last luxury that smacks of old-school bourgeoisie. The newly rich today favor tiny tennis bracelets and diamond studs, jewelry-counter staples that don't exactly light a designer's heart afire.

"Neither of my daughters buys jewelry," Brea, Calif.-based jeweler and makeup artist Marlene Lipman said. "They wear what I buy them. They like delicate little things."

Jewelers, trying to win over women worried they couldn't scale peaks in a pearl chokers, have begun emphasizing jewelry's spiritual side. A big rock is a testament to the strength of a woman's character, not the size of her investment portfolio, they say.

"It's all right to love jewelry," Cynthia Renée Marcusson told 40 attentive jewelers last week at an early morning talk sponsored by the American Gem Trade Association. "People need jewelry as more than an expression of social status; they need it to show off their souls."

Marcusson, a disciple of mythologist Joseph Campbell, urged her listeners to focus on jewelry's color, form and meaning, not its size, or, heaven forbid, its price. Well-designed jewelry, Marcusson said, can connote glaciers, herb gardens or Thai temples. "When we adorn ourselves in this spirit, we move through the world being all that we are," Marcusson said.

Marcusson's audience was quick to embrace her conclusion that people who don't buy jewelry are really lacking self-esteem.

"I work with a lot of people who have the money but don't feel they deserve jewelry," Lipman said.

Caroline Hill, manager of Van Scoy Jewelers in Reading, Pa., said her two biggest hurdles as a retailer of fine jewelry are Midwestern conservatism and entrenched insecurities. It's impossible to sell a unique stone to a woman without self-confidence, she said.

"The biggest challenge is women who haven't found themselves," Hill said. "They want a $99 department store ring."

Hill has tried to lessen the stigma associated with wearing eye-popping pieces by modeling jewelry wherever she goes. "When I do charity functions, I wear something that's special, even if I have to borrow it from the supplier," Hill said.

Hill's husband, Lew, the store's resident gemologist, said men have been slower to succumb to the simple jewelry craze. Too shy to wear jewelry themselves, many of them indulge their tastes by buying impressive pieces for their wives and girlfriends. "I have attorney friends and doctor friends for whom jewelry on their partners is very important," Lew Hill said.

But, Hill admitted, many of those partners bring their gifts back.

"We get the feeling she doesn't want it," Hill said. "She either doesn't want to feel an obligation, or she just doesn't like it."

The industry's unlikely savior may be the Home Shopping Network and its knock-off cousins. Retailers say the channel, which keep its camera's gaze fixed on bright and shiny gems throughout its jewelry programs, is whetting women's appetites. While the networks generally push familiar stones such as rubies and emeralds, jewelers say once customers are in their shops, they can be persuaded to look at more interesting items.

Marcusson, who has taped shows for the QVC network, said once after sharing her philosophy of jewelry, a woman told her "I feel so liberated."

"Jewelry is soul food," Marcusson said. "Somehow we've become detached from adornment as an expression of soul. Paradoxically, now we need it more than ever."

* Contact reporter Hanna Miller at 434-4078 or
hmiller@azstarnet.com.

For visitors

Regional plants thrive at Botanical Gardens

Tucson Botanical Gardens

2150 N. Alvernon Way

Tucson visitors plagued by dried-out throats and flaky skin may not believe it, but life really does thrive in the desert. The region's plants - including spiny succulents and tall, lanky cacti - are all on display at Tucson Botanical Gardens.

The gardens, carved out of Central Tucson more than 25 years ago, are dedicated to making flora and fauna fun. Besides the native-plant exhibits, the gardens feature a backyard bird garden, outdoor classroom, Tohono O'odham roundhouse and herb garden.

Tucson Botanical Gardens, open 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily; admission: $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children; phone: 326-9686.

Tork's Cafe

3502 E. Grant Road

If you cringe at the thought of yet another enchilada, Tork's Cafe has the antidote. The unassuming North African restaurant offers delicacies from a desert far, far away: falafel, stuffed grape leaves and spinach pie. Every menu item is well executed: The hummus is tangy, the lamb is tender and the vegetables are fresh. And a meal for two usually costs less than $20. But if a single meal doesn't satisfy, Tork's also stocks an adjacent market with Middle Eastern groceries.

Tork's Cafe, open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 325-3737.

Hanna Miller

Gem show briefs

Win a ruby

If searching out the gem shows to find the best deal on a ruby isn't your thing, there's another course you can take to add to your ruby collection.

An Internet company is offering enthusiasts a chance to get a costly ruby for free without braving gem show traffic.

Log on to www.gem.net, and you can register for a chance to win a 4.1-carat oval red ruby from the Mong Hsu Mine in Burma worth $100,000.

Gem panel Friday

A trio of gemologists will participate in a panel discussion on gemstones and lapidary arts at a West Side bookstore Friday night. The panel will take place at Borders Books & Music, 4235 N. Oracle Road, at 7 p.m. Panelists include:

* John Sinkankas, a mineralogist who has written more than a dozen books and 130 scientific papers.

* Joel Arem, former staff crystallographer at the Smithsonian Institution and the author of the best-selling book "Gems and Jewelry."

For more information, contact Lisa Chernin at 299-1814.

- Phil Villarreal