Jewelry

SEATTLE - Surveillance images may be the last hope for an artist who had nearly her entire inventory of jewelry stolen from Pike Place Market heading into the New Year’s weekend.

Erica Gordon opened Steel Toe Studios in Georgetown about 15 years ago. Essentially she is a blacksmith with an eye for style and detail. She primarily works with steel and is one of the vendors at Pike Place Market.

However, on Friday night she had nearly her entire inventory snatched. Gordon was closing up for the day and stacked handmade earrings, belts and buckles into a series of bins, which she then loaded onto a cart.

That cart was supposed to go inside a secure storage locker but instead it mistakenly got left out in the open market.

A short time later, surveillance cameras show a woman rifling through the bins of jewelry and walking away with the items she wanted.

Gordon said she lost $20,000 worth of jewelry and barely has any inventory left.

“Really disappointed and really sad to start off the New Year with this huge deficit of work,” Gordon said. “I won't be able to go back to the market for a while. I have to figure out how to remake and buy materials."

Gordon has insurance but said her policy will likely only cover a fraction of her losses. She hopes someone will recognize the suspect - or spot her unique jewelry being resold - and will contact police.

In the meantime, a gofundme site has been established to help her pull together the resources to purchase new materials and start over.