Jewelry News

Joseph Schubach Jewelers ushers in a new and exclusive earring design for 2012. The Fleur-de-lis earrings are distinctly delicate and practically lightweight.

“We were looking for something antique looking as anything antique is so popular right now. We also wanted something light, delicate, and sitting low to the ear. They are very lightweight. The five prongs also are unique, normally we see 4 prongs, and some 3 prong settings now.” says designer Joseph Schubach, based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Though these earrings are new in design, the fleur-de-lis has a rich history. Fleur-de-lis means “flower of the lily” and this symbol has many meanings. Traditionally, it has been used as a symbol to represent French royalty, personifying light, life and perfection.

Other interesting facts about the fleur-de-lis:

• Joan of Arc carried a white banner that showed God blessing the French royal emblem, the fleur-de-lis, when she led French troops to victory over the English in support of the Dauphin, Charles VII, in his quest for the French throne.

 

• The Roman Catholic Church ascribed the lily as the special emblem of the Virgin Mary.

 

• Due to its three “petals,” the fleur-de-lis has also been used to represent the Holy Trinity.

 

• Military units, including divisions of the United States Army, have used the symbol’s resemblance to a spearhead to identify martial power and strength.

 

The studio will only be producing a handful of these one-of-a-kind earrings. Order as soon as possible.  Perfect for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

Price: $425.00 – $995.00

Style 102017 Fleur-de-lis Stud Earrings   A Schubach Exclusive. Delicate five prong Fleur-de-lis stud earrings that sit low on the ear.   1ct t.w. (2-5.5mm) 2ct t.w. (2-6.5mm) Other sizes and stone options available, call for more info.

Source of Fleur-de-lis facts: Fleur-de-lis Designs

As famous in death as in life, Christie’s in New York City was packed to the gill last week, as all attendees watched history in the making.

Its no wonder that this auction would be so successful; Elizabeth Taylor and her jewelry were inextricably linked. Her jewelry became her. And the images of her wearing those magnificent pieces are imprinted in our collective unconscious, along with the wonderful stories behind them. To have the opportunity to own that kind of history was bound to break a record or two!

Like disciples gathering at the altar of their high priestess, the jewelry faithful packed the showroom at Christie’s New York Dec. 13 for an evening sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s “Legendary Jewels,” an epic assortment of 80 lots that earned $115,932,000, setting a world record for the most valuable private collection of jewels sold at auction.

“We knew it would do well, but no one dared dream of $115 million,” said François Curiel, Christie’s international head of jewels. “Probably we will not see another sale like this for many years.”

Nearly every lot sold well above its high estimate, “a testament to the affection for Elizabeth Taylor worldwide as well as to her collecting ability,” said Marc Porter, chairman and president of Christie’s Americas.

Read more at JCK.

 

La Peregrina on diamond, ruby, and cultured pearl necklace by Cartier

 

The 33.19 ct. Elizabeth Taylor Diamond

Gold and multigem charm bracelet

 

The Taj Mahal diamond, on a gold and ruby chain by Cartier, fetched $8.8 million—a world auction record for an Indian jewel.

 

Read more about the back story of these and more pieces.

We just received a teaser about the new Gelin and Abaci Winter tension set engagement ring collection. We’re anxious to see it ourselves! Here’s a teaser.

View the current tension set collection

After the craziness that was Kim Kardashian’s brief and wild media-hyped marriage, many questions arose as to who can legally keep the ring after an engagement (or marriage) gone wrong? Well, it varies from state to state and pre-nup to pre-nup. Interestingly, in Kardashian’s case, without a special clause in the prenup, Kim would have been the owner outright – once they became man and wife, the ring would have been Kim’s.

Engagement rings fall under property, contract or family law, and how they are treated varies by state.

In California, it depends on who broke the engagement. For example, if the person who received the ring is the one who is reneging on the engagement, then that person must relinquish the jewelry. In New York, North Carolina, Minnesota, Tennessee and other states, appellate courts say engagement rings are conditional gifts that must be returned to the gift giver if the condition — namely, the marriage — does not take place, regardless of who broke off the engagement. Kansas and Montana say a gift, once given, cannot be taken back.

Source: CNNLiving

The American Gem Trade Association Spectrum Awards is an annual natural colored gemstone and cultured pearl jewelry design competition, considered to be the most respected and prestigious creative award for the jewelry design industry. Launched in 1984, the awards honors, recognizes and promotes designers whose work uses natural colored gemstones and cultured pearls in finished fine jewelry design. What follows are some of the top award winners.

(above) Best of Show, Todd Reed - Palladium and 22k gold locket featuring blue moonstones, grey diamonds (24.51ctw.) blue sapphires (17.34 ctw.) and white diamonds opening to reveal a 76.03-ct. Moldavite Buddha.

(above) Best Use of Color, Deirdre Featherstone - Platinum earrings with removable opal enhancers (15.64 ctw.) accented with blue zircons (3.27 ctw.), tanzanites (3.53 ctw.) Paraiba tourmalines (0.40 ctw.)

(above) First Place Winner in Evening Wear, Ion Ionescu - Titled "Pillow for Dreaming," this palladium and black rhodium ring is topped with a 36-ct. carved labradorite accented with paraiba tourmalines

Remember, if there’s a piece that you see on our blog that inspires you, we can recreate it at a fraction of the cost!

Check out more of the winners here.

By now, you know our love of moissanite, which is a lab-created diamond. Not only is it highly durable and brilliant, but eco-friendly. It’s one of our favorite gems to work with. This lab in Japan, using a similar process to the creation of moissanite, created the first perfectly spherical diamond. Read on:

A team of researchers at Ehime University in Japan say they have created the world’s first perfectly spherical diamond, according to a media report.

The state-run university’s Geodynamics Research Center said it has processed an artificially produced diamond, of a variety the center has named Hime, into a perfect four-carat sphere with a diameter of 7.5 millimeters.

The potential applications of the technology used to shape an artificial diamond into a perfect sphere are expected to be widespread, the researchers said in a report in The Daily Yomiuri.

In 2003, the research center synthesized a tiny grain of Hime diamond measuring less than 1 millimeter wide. The centre combined carbon atoms by subjecting them to 150,000 times the standard atmospheric pressure and temperatures of 2,300 C.

By last year, the research team had become able to create Hime diamonds up to 1 centimeter wide, they said.

Hime diamonds are far harder than naturally formed diamonds. They have a uniform degree of hardness throughout their structure, whereas this changes in different parts of a natural diamond, according to the centre.

From the Antwerp Facets Newsletter…

Even those not familiar with the jewelry industry know that gold prices continue to soar. But many don’t understand why, consider the economic woes that have befallen the US and other countries throughout the world. This piece from CBS’s MoneyWatch addresses some of the basics and reminds us that gold prices and our economy are intrinsically intertwined:

• Geopolitical uncertainty. Between the fighting in Libya that threatens the stability of the world oil supply, the political upheaval in Egypt, Japan’s struggle to get its economic engine moving in the wake of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, and the sovereign debt crisis that bedevils the European Union — Portugal just officially asked for an EU bailout — we’ve got a confluence of worries. In isolation, each might be more easily absorbed, but in aggregate they ratchet up the global blood pressure, and that’s when gold becomes most alluring.
• The U.S. isn’t exactly a roaring safe haven. Typically in times of global angst, money flows to U.S. investments. When the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008, for example, the U.S. dollar strengthened against foreign currencies. But with our debt load causing many to worry about higher inflation and a lower dollar in the future, the U.S. is losing some of its safe-haven luster, making gold look all the better.
• Where else are you going to park your money? A Treasury bill yielding less than 0.50 percent isn’t exactly crowding out gold right now. Part of gold’s popularity is being driven by a lack of better investment opportunities.
• Fears of higher inflation. Gold is a classic hedge against higher inflation and a weakening dollar, since it holds its purchasing power when the dollar’s value declines. And right now, concerns about inflation are beginning to creep back into the global economic dialogue. While the Federal Reserve is grappling with whether it needs to respond to a rise in inflation in the coming months, the European Central Bank (ECB) pulled the trigger yesterday by raising its benchmark interest rate for the first time in three years, from a record low of 1 percent to 1.25 percent. Sure, that’s still low, but the concern is where things might head from here.

Read more: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/blog/daily-money/gold-hits-new-record-whats-driving-prices-so-high/2429/#ixzz1bEXqGpAi

Cadmium is a soft bluish metal.

What is cadmium? Cadmium is a rare metallic element found in small deposits on almost every continent. It has a number of uses and it can be expensive due to its rarity. Cadmium is also toxic and should be handled with care. So how does it play part in the jewelry industry? Cadmium is often used in children’s jewelry. Health concerns have been raised and states continue to decide on appropriate guidelines:

The U.S jewelry industry wants states to overturn laws that limit the toxic metal cadmium in children’s trinkets and adopt new voluntary guidelines it helped create, saying stricter rules in several states create chaos for manufacturers and importers.

Persuading legislators to reopen the issue won’t be an easy sell: Many consumer and environmental advocates say the new guidelines weaken protection of children’s health.

While the voluntary rules have the support of federal regulators, states that passed much stricter limits over the past year would have to backtrack and allow higher levels of a metal that can cause cancer.

That didn’t sound likely Monday.

“Maryland ought to set whatever standard we feel is correct,” said Delegate James Hubbard, a Democrat who successfully sponsored the nation’s toughest cadmium-in-jewelry limits this spring. “We made a judgment call based on what we felt was in the best interest of the people we represent.”

A jewelry industry that has been hammered by more than a year of recalls and legal setbacks does have some momentum, now that the rules it drafted were passed last week by the respected organization ASTM International, which sets voluntary rules for a range of goods. Industry’s goal is to replace the current patchwork of regulation with a unified standard.

“Our whole mission in this is to have standards that are not floating in quicksand,” said Brent Cleaveland, head of the ASTM subcommittee that wrote the rules and executive director of the Fashion Jewelry and Accessories Trade Association. He described the limits he oversaw as “way more conservative than necessary” to protect kids’ health.

Cleaveland says his next move is to press legislatures in states that have set limits to reopen the issue and adopt the voluntary standards. If that succeeds, Cleaveland would then ask Congress to pass legislation to make the voluntary standard national law.

If the industry lobbying effort fails, state limits that are much tougher than the voluntary rules will effectively remain the national standard. That’s because manufacturers that sell in places like California and Maryland would need to comply with limits there, and wouldn’t create different products for the rest of the country.

Mandatory limits adopted over the past year already deter use of the heavy metal, which over time can also cause bone and kidney diseases, though there have been no documented deaths or serious injuries.

Read more at Business Weekly.

Recently online diamond retailer sold a $300,000 diamond via its mobile application. While it may seem like the next wave in jewelry purchasing, darker implications remain. What about sales tax? Or other underhanded sales techniques that could go unnoticed when making a high-end purchase over the phone? Then of course, there’s the practical question: Are people really prepared to make such big ticket purchases via a mobile phone ap?

Blue Nile recently sold a $300,000 diamond via its mobile app, the company confirmed to JCK.

Spokesman John Baird told Internet Retailer: “While an extraordinary purchase, large jewelry purchases, running from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, via smartphones happen quite frequently.”

Blue Nile has said its mobile app drives 25 percent of the company’s traffic.

The large purchase shows the growing power of smartphones in retail. A recent survey said that some two-thirds of smartphone or tablet owners have used their devices to make purchases.

Source: JCK Magazine

Julie Bowen, Emmy Award Winner and Platinum Proud

We’ve tracked platinum for months now. It increases in popularity due to its durability, luster and overall cool, industrial chic look – a great backdrop for colored gems and sparkling diamonds. The Emmy Awards are just another example of platinum’s “trending” abilities:

Following is a list of stars that celebrated tonight’s achievements in PLATINUM:

• Gwyneth Paltrow: Platinum earrings with black and white diamonds (7 carats), two platinum and diamond bracelets (100 carats total), and a platinum ring with diamonds and black onyx (5 carats) by Neil Lane.
• Drew Barrymore: Platinum and diamond earrings by Van Cleef & Arpels.
• Julie Bowen: Platinum earrings with black and white diamonds, platinum bracelet with diamonds and onyx, and several platinum rings with black and white diamonds by Neil Lane.
• Minka Kelly: Platinum and diamond drop earrings, and platinum rings by Tiffany & Co.
• Gretchen Mol: Platinum earrings with jade, onyx and diamonds, multiple vintage platinum bracelets with diamonds, jade and black enamel, and a platinum and diamond ring (12.90 carats) by Fred Leighton.
• Nina Dobrev: Platinum and diamond stud earrings by Neil Lane.
• Jayma Mays: Platinum and diamond bow brooch in her hair (10 carats), platinum and diamond cluster earrings (10 carats), and a platinum and diamond ring (5 carats) by Neil Lane.
• Cat Deely: Platinum and diamond ea rrings (14 carats), multiple platinum and diamond bracelets (37 carats total), and a platinum and yellow diamond ring (20 carats) by Bvlgari.
• Colbie Smulders: Platinum and diamond earrings, platinum ring with diamonds and aquamarine, and a platinum bracelet with diamonds and aquamarine (50 carats) by Neil Lane.
• Kaley Cuoco: Pla tinum and diamond stud earrings, and a platinum and diamond bracelet by Kwiat.
• Amber Riley: Platinum and diamond earrings (6 carats), and a platinum and diamond ring (13 carats) by Chopard.
• Mireille Enos: Multiple platinum and diamond bracelets (97 carats total), and a platinum and rose-cut diamond ring (14 carats) by Chopard.
• Maria Bello: Platinum and diamond stud earrings, and a platinum and diamond ring by Martin Katz.
• Taraji P. Henson: Art Deco platinum and diamond earrings, and a platinum dome ring with rock crystal and diamonds byFred Leighton.
• Ellie Kemper: Platinum and diamond stud earrings (8 carats) by Chopard.
• Giuliana Rancic: Platinum and diamond earrings (22 carats), and multiple platinum and diamond bracelets (43 carats) by Chopard.

Read more: Platinum Jewelry Dominates The Red Carpet at The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards | www.DiamondNe.ws http://www.diamondne.ws/2011/09/19/platinum-jewelry-dominates-the-red-carpet-at-the-63rd-primetime-emmy-awards/#ixzz1YVYpRPSc
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution