Coast Magazine features Sam and others of Costa Mesa's "Quonset Village" in its June, 2007 issue.

Photo courtesy Coast Magazine

Studio address:
660 W. 17th St. #38
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

Phone: 1-949-650-5889
email me

I can be contacted by phone at 1-949-650-5889 (Costa Mesa California) or by email.

My studio is located at:
660 W. 17th St. #38
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

Please stop by!

See map here.

An expert advises on the care and repair of your heirloom sterling.

By JENNIFER J. BUSH
The Orange County Register

If one of your great-grandmother's sterling silver spoons slips into the garbage disposal at a family gathering, don't panic.

No matter how mangled or tarnished a piece of antique silver might look, it can still be brought back to its original shape and brilliant sheen.

"People ask me all the time if it's worth restoring old pieces, and I always say yes," said Sam Kutz, a Costa Mesa silversmith. "Sterling silver is a precious metal; it's worth it to take care of it.

"If it's a family heirloom, then it probably has additional sentimental value."

As one of few trained silversmiths still working in the trade, Kutz, 49, receives work from antiques dealers, collectors and even jewelers in the area.

His father was a sculptor and silversmith who owned a shop in Canoga Park during the 1950s and in Laguna Beach from the mid-'70s to 1982. Kutz learned the basics from his father at an early age.

Kutz also apprenticed at Porter Blanchard Silversmiths in Calabasas with well-known silversmith Louis Wise. After finishing high school and three years in the Marine Corps, he went to work at his father's shop, Samuel L. Kutz & Son, on Coast Highway.

"I was already on the sign," he said. "So it seemed like a natural thing to do."