Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
June 14, 2007 issue
Greater Foscoe Mining Company and Facets of Foscoe—Three Decades of Custom One-of-a-Kind Jewelry and Old-Time Memories
Story by Sam Calhoun
Would a piece of jewelry mean more to you if you found the stone yourself? Would you cherish an engagement or wedding ring, gemstone bracelet or necklace more if you sifted through a bucket of dirt to find the stones that sparkled in the gold, platinum or silver setting?
According to the dozens of customers who daily visit the Greater Foscoe Mining Company and Facets of Foscoe Custom Jewelry Design Center, 8998 Highway 105 in Banner Elk, the resounding answer is yes.
For more than 30 years, Kenneth D. Pickett, owner of the Greater Foscoe Mining Company and Facets of Foscoe, has accentuated the relationship people have with their jewelry by offering mining for real gemstones and by custom designing jewelry around those gemstones. Pickett runs a one-stop shop for fun and beauty. In one day, customers can buy a bucket of dirt, sift through the soil for precious gemstones and design jewelry around their personal finds that can be made within 24 hours.
But that’s not all Pickett offers.
Because of his talent for making custom one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, Pickett receives orders from all over the world for his work.
“I can handle just about any jewelry order people can give,” said Pickett, who has cut gemstones for close to 40 years and has worked with gold for more than 25 years.
“And I do what most jewelry stores don’t do anymore,” said Pickett. He will melt down customers’ scrap gold and make new pieces.
When customers come to the Greater Foscoe Mining Company—a large Wild West-looking structure on Highway 105 in Foscoe—they have the choice of six bucket sizes, ranging in price from $5 to $212. Every day, Pickett and his employees seed the dirt in the buckets with precious gemstones that come from North Carolina, Brazil, Mexico and Australia.
“The bigger the bucket, the better the gems,” said Pickett, “but even the kids with the smaller buckets are going to find something special.”
After purchasing the buckets, customers use the more than 40 troughs to sift through the dirt and find the gemstones. Once they’ve unearthed the gemstones, it’s off to Facets of Foscoe for gemstone identification and custom-designed jewelry options galore. Work from Facets of Foscoe is done with gold, silver and platinum, and Pickett and his employees cut the stones into faceted (angled) rather than rounded shapes.
All of Pickett’s employees are currently studying geology or have graduated with a degree in geology, so they are knowledgeable on the subject and ready to help and educate customers in any way possible. In addition, five of the employees are goldsmiths and seven are gem cutters.
“So all the kids who come here get a geology lesson and have fun—they don’t even notice that they’re learning,” said Pickett.
Pickett was born in Durham and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he graduated in 1972 with a degree in business administration. Before college, at the age of 16, Pickett learned how to cut and polish stones as an apprentice.
After college, Pickett worked in the Piedmont as a mortgage banker and as a real estate agent. Pickett bought a house in the High Country in the late 1970s and fell in love with the area.
His love for the region inspired Pickett to change his profession.
“I wanted to do what I wanted to do—design jewelry,” said Pickett. “I knew that anything in jewelry I could do.
“So I starved for 12 years,” said Pickett, who opened Facets of Foscoe in 1981, selling jewelry that he made himself.
“As I honed my talents, I came up with the idea of the gem mine and that revolutionized my business,” said Pickett.
In 1988, Pickett opened the gem mine as a fun project for his four stepchildren.
“It snowballed by word of mouth and I expanded tremendously over the next 5 years,” said Pickett, who started the gem mine with three troughs and one water hose. “I just started it for fun too. By the mid-1990s, the gem mine became the focus and Facets became a hidden secret. [The gem mine] grew from tiny to huge.” 
Today, managers Jonah Cumbee and Beth Williamson assist Pickett in the business. Pickett wanted to sell the business three years ago, but his customer base—mostly repeat customers—wouldn’t let him. With the addition of Cumbee and Williamson, Pickett found a new love for his business.
Pickett’s business is doing better than ever. In fact, Southern Living is publishing an article on Pickett and his business in the magazine’s August issue.
Pickett is honored, but he’s not surprised.
“We do the best quality work for every customer that we can do. We make everyone happy,” said Pickett, who claimed that word of mouth makes his business a success. “If she’s happy, she’ll tell 10 people and they’ll all come. If she’s not happy, she’ll tell 100 people.”
Pickett loves his business and the area so much that he’s expecting to be around for the foreseeable future.
“I’m perfectly happy doing what I’m doing,” said Pickett. “I love it.”
Greater Foscoe Mining Company and Facets of Foscoe are located at 8998 Highway 105 in Banner Elk. The gem mine and jewelry shop are open seven days per week from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, click to www.foscoeminingco.com, call 828-963-5928 or email facetsoffoscoe@gmail.com.