Oro Latino Jewelry Inc., 82 Bowery; 212-925-1538
Casting director April Chin started visiting Oro Latino, a family-run jewelry shop in Chinatown, to peruse its selection of name plates and chains, which is how she learned that Tom Fung, the shop’s owner and main jeweler, has a breadth of knowledge on vintage jewelry. “You can show him a link, and he can name it off the top of his head,” she says, which is why “he’s the only person I trust” to clean a vintage gold S-clasp necklace Chin inherited. (Fung also cautioned her to be careful with the clasp, now that it’s being phased out.) “I’ve tried other jewelers, but I was never sure if I was getting a fair rate,” says Louise Lund, a creative producer who went to Oro Latino on Chin’s recommendation eight years ago. “Tommy always explains the cost of everything.” Last year, Lund lost an emerald on an early-1990s Cartier ring and asked Fung if he could source a new one that would match the original. Within a week, he texted stone options to Lund, and they decided on a Brazilian natural emerald, which he replaced for $150. When Lund picked up the ring, she says, “the gold was polished, and the stone was glimmering.”
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