Q. Should a compound modifier be hyphenated if the noun does not immediately follow? For example, “Hand fabricated in 18-karat yellow gold circa the mid-19th century, the intriguing jewel connects by way of a . . .” “Hand fabricated” is the modifier.
A. When a compound modifier that would normally be hyphenated before a noun that it modifies (hand-fabricated jewel) is separated from that noun by an intervening phrase, keeping the hyphen is usually best. In your example, a hyphen will prevent readers from thinking, however fleetingly, of a hand fabricated in gold (as on a statuette 👋).
Plus, the phrase hand fabricated is closely analogous to handmade and handcrafted, both of which are entered as one word in most dictionaries. It’s also like hand-painted, which is entered as a hyphenated adjective in both Merriam-Webster and the OED. This suggests that hand fabricated, though it’s not in most dictionaries, naturally forms a unit and could benefit from a hyphen no matter where it appears in a sentence.
In other words, you might consider retaining a hyphen for this term even when it follows the noun it modifies—that jewel is hand-fabricated—though Chicago style allows you to omit it there (see CMOS 7.92 and “Compound Modifiers After a Noun: A Postpositive Dilemma,” at CMOS Shop Talk).
In general, be sparing with your hyphens, which can add unnecessary clutter to your prose. But any hyphen added (or retained) for the sake of clarity is usually a good idea.