For nearly half a century, Hummingbird Jewelers has been a steady presence on Rhinebeck’s retail landscape—long enough that even some longtime locals are surprised to learn just how much happens behind its modest storefront. Founded 48 years ago by jewelers Bruce and Peggy Lubman, Hummingbird has built its reputation not on trend-chasing or volume, but on careful listening, deep technical knowledge, and a commitment to making jewelry that lasts—emotionally as well as materially.
“They keep me busy,” Lubman says with a laugh. “Mostly these days I’m a gold refiner. I spend my days testing and weighing gold.”
That shift, he explains, has everything to do with timing. As gold prices have soared, customers have begun “raking through their closets and their dressers and their grandmother’s jewelry boxes to see what they can melt down.” Wedding bands from previous marriages, pieces that haven’t been worn in years, broken chains—objects long ignored suddenly feel newly relevant.
As a trained gemologist and appraiser, Lubman is well positioned to guide people through that process. But those conversations rarely end with melting things down and moving on. Often, they become the starting point for something more personal. “A lot of people come in with things they don’t know what to do with,” he says. “They dump it on the case and say, ‘What do I do with this?’”
What follows is a sorting-through—of materials, memories, and possibilities. “In the process,” Lubman says, “they discover, ‘Well, this is something my grandmother always used to wear, my mom always used to wear.’ And they realize they’d like to keep the stone, because it has sentimental value, but make it into something that’s their taste, not their grandmother’s taste.” Lubman calls this repurposing: taking fragments of older pieces and turning them into something new, often using unused gold or stones to offset the cost of the finished work. “A lot of times,” he notes, “people walk out with a new piece of jewelry and a check, which is a really nice experience.”
Custom work has long been central to Hummingbird’s identity, and it’s where the shop’s blend of tradition and evolution is most visible. “People come in with ideas and fantasies of what they want,” Lubman says. “They know how they want it to feel—meaningful, timeless, not too flashy—but they don’t know how to make that happen. That’s what we do.”
For decades, that translation relied on the close collaboration between Lubman and master goldsmith Bruce Anderson who has been with the business for 30 of its 48 years. Trained at the MFA level in metalsmithing, Anderson is also, “an incredible artist, draws really beautifully, and he’s a good listener.” Clients might arrive with a few images or half-articulated preferences, and before leaving, Lubman recalls, “he’d have a rendering on a piece of paper that looked like what they were thinking about.”
That process, already strong, changed again when CAD technology entered the jewelry world. Lubman admits he was initially wary. “When it first hit the marketplace, I was afraid of it,” he says. “I was put off by the idea that any Dick or Harry could take a picture, give it to someone who knew CAD, and suddenly they were jewelers overnight.”
What he discovered instead was a tool that reinforced—not replaced—craft. Today, hand drawings are scanned and sent to specialized CAD designers, who return detailed 3-D renderings within days. “You get total 360-degree views of what looks like a finished piece,” Lubman says. “It’s pretty powerful.” The data can then be sent to a milling machine that produces a silicone model overnight. “The customer can put that model on their hand, drop the stone into the ring, and really see exactly what it’s going to look like before they spend a penny.”
For Lubman, that clarity matters. “It literally takes all the angst out of doing a custom piece,” he says. “Spending a lot of money on something you haven’t seen on your finger—that anxiety is gone.” What remains is satisfaction, on both sides of the counter. “It’s very gratifying for us and for the people who receive it,” he says. “To create something that will be timeless.”
That sense of continuity has deepened as the years have passed. “I’m starting to get the children of people who bought their wedding rings from me 40 years ago,” Lubman says. “Now they’re coming in to have their own rings made. It’s become a multigenerational business.”
That continuity is reflected internally as well. Lubman’s daughter Jamie has been part of Hummingbird for 20 years and now runs the store day to day. A Bard College dance major who spent time working in New York as a stylist and dresser, she ultimately returned home. “I think she realized she liked living in the country better,” Lubman says. “Now she’s pretty much running the store.” Customers, he adds, “really like her,” noting her ease with people and “a photographic memory that’s almost as good as our CAD system.”
That personal attention is what customers consistently cite. One recent review puts it plainly: “They truly excel at custom work—taking the time to listen, refine ideas, and create something meaningful and one-of-a-kind.” In an era when jewelry can be ordered with a click, Hummingbird continues to offer something rarer: a thoughtful, human process shaped by decades of experience, where old materials are given new life and stories are carried forward—one piece at a time.
Hummingbird Jewelers
23A East Market Street, Rhinebeck
(945) 876-4585; Hummingbirdjewelers.com
Produced by the Chronogram Media Branded Content Studio.
