By Myles Ma
In his 28 years as a jeweler, Anthony Poz has designed pieces for a number of celebrities. Many of them wear his watches; some are rappers; some who just want to look like rappers.
Back in ’88, he designed jewelry for Jay-Z, when he was still just Shawn Carter. He does his custom work at his Trenton store, Gold Connection Fine Gold Jewelers, but he has opened up a second shop, Lawrence Anthony Fine Jewelers, at 1978 Brunswick Pike next to Party City.
He opened in Lawrence in May 2009, and while he said it wasn’t the best time economically to open a new store, he moved ahead anyway, since many of his customers are from the area, and he liked the location. He had to completely renovate the store’s interior, but he is happy at how accessible the store is, and the high amount of traffic in the area.
Though his specialty is custom work, his new location is more retail-focused. Trenton, with its larger population of rappers in need of large jewelry pieces, is one of his main sources of custom jewelry business.
In Lawrence, he carries jewelry from Angelique de Pari, a French line, Rebecca, an Italian line, Ritani, a domestic engagement ring line, and Pandora, which Poz said is increasingly popular.
Poz said he tries to carry distinct merchandise.
“It’s a competitive business,” he said. “You’ve got to have something different that not every jeweler carries.”
Poz has been in the jewelry business since high school. After he graduated, he went to New York to learn the business from an uncle who was a jeweler from Russia.
Afterward, he started work at Gold Connection in Trenton. Eventually, he saved enough to buy the shop.
Many jewelry store owners are not jewelers themselves, Poz said, and he feels this sets his business apart. At his store, customers can get jewelry custom-made.
His most frequent requests are for rings, whose stones the customers themselves usually provide. One of his recent customers brought in an unusually shaped black opal stone that he wanted placed in an 18-karat ring with diamonds.
Because of the opal’s strange shape, Poz had to create the ring himself. Poz used gold from some of the customer’s jewelry that he didn’t use anymore to make the ring.
Poz said it is rare to find an owner who can design jewelry from scratch, from putting an idea on paper to casting the piece to the finished product.
“To be a jeweler, you have to be sort of an artist,” he said.
Poz grew up in Philadelphia, and currently resides in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter.
Lawrence Anthony Fine Jewelers is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (609) 883-3001.
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