Jewelry News

“I have no use for bodyguards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants.”

– Elvis Presley

What can you say about Elvis and fashion? His tastes leaned toward the ostentatious to say the least. Some might say tacky and garish while others would say a perfect for someone billed the King of Rock and Roll.

And for a limited time, you can see the King’s wardrobe up close and personal:

“Elvis Presley: Fashion King.” The display, which opened March 1st, features about 200 of Elvis’ casual suits, customized shirts, hats, scarves, shoes and of course – jewelry.”We wanted to show people what it would be like to look in Elvis’ closet,” said Kevin Kern, public relations director for Elvis Presley Enterprises. “It’s almost like looking through a department store window.”

One stunning piece fans might recognize is the 16-carat diamond “TCB” ring Elvis often wore. The letters stood for his motto, “Taking care of business” and features a huge 11.5-carat diamond solitaire in the middle framed by two diamond lightning bolts. When he wore it while performing, Elvis would have to tape it to prevent fans from stealing it when he shook their hands. It cost about $35,000 in the 1970s, Kern explained to Knoxville.com.

The exhibit also features a multi-stone cross that cradles more than 200 quarter-cut diamonds. It was a gift from girlfriend, Linda Thompson, and has their first names engraved on it as well as garnets and emeralds – their birthstones.

For Elvis fans who want to TCB right on down to Graceland, those storied baubles and many more will be on display until March 2012.

Source: Jewelry.com

That’s the question Bob Waldrop of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association posed in regards to a gold and copper mine being developed in southwest Alaska near the world’s largest remaining wild sockeye salmon streams.

He’s not the only one:

Zale Corp. announced that it not only is boycotting precious metals from the Pebble Mine, but supports permanently protecting the Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale metals mining. The mine is situated near the headwaters of Bristol Bay on state land designated for mining.

“We believe gold should be mined and refined in a manner that protects both the environment and its inhabitants,” Gil Hollander, Zale’s executive vice president, said in a statement.

The Irving, Texas-based jewelry giant has 1,930 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It had $1.8 billion in revenues in 2009.

Zale Corp. was accompanied by 12 other entities in a new wave of jewelry retailers and designers that have joined the No Dirty Gold campaign being promoted by conservation group Earthworks and partners. Twenty companies previously pledged to boycott Pebble, including Tiffany & Co., Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge.

The more than 30 jewelers now opposing the mine represent more than $6 billion in annual sales.

Getting jewelry retailers and designers on board is important because jewelry represents more than 80 percent of the global demand for gold, said Earthworks’ Bonnie Gestring.

A number of jewelry companies, including Tiffany and Co., Ben Bridge Jeweler and Helzberg Diamonds, among others, have expressed disapproval for the project and vowed to boycott any gold mined at Pebble.

The survey, conducted by Anchorage, Alaska-based research firm Craciun Research, was conducted between May 18 and June 2 and sampled a cross-section of 411 residents living in six different areas around Bristol Bay.

According to the survey results, 79 percent of Bristol Bay-area residents strongly oppose (73 percent) or somewhat oppose (6 percent) the proposed Pebble Mine project.

Bristol Bay, Alaska

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

De Beers Millennium Diamond

“The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is an object of intrigue and legend, certainly one of the great gemstones of the world. We are thrilled to present this icon of history—and gemology—to the public for the first time since it was displayed at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958.”

– Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem Collection

A recent study shows that indeed some purchases can boost your “happy” level. Experiential purchases – such as a vacation – often provide more happiness.

Luckily, at Joseph Schubach Jewelers, we believe purchasing jewelry is an experience – an ongoing one that continues to keep giving back to you.

Here’s the excerpt from Psychology Today:

Philosophers since Aristotle have claimed that experiences fulfill us more than material goods. To test this claim, a pair of psychology professors examined discretionary spending on material purchases (such as jewelry or clothing) and experiential ones (such as vacations or tickets to a concert). In a nationwide phone survey of 1,279 adults, respondents were much more likely to claim that a prior experiential purchase made them happier than a material one—57 percent versus 34 percent—even after accounting for differences in price.

Of course, some items—such as books or sports gear—are both material and experiential. And one person’s splurge may be another’s must-have. So the researchers simply asked respondents to think of purchases they’d made “with the intention of advancing their own happiness.”

Advance your own happiness with a jewelry experience today!

You’ll have no excuse to be late if you purchase Bulova’s latest creation, the Precisionist “technology platform,” a quartz movement with sweep hand that was created alongside Bulova’s parent company, Citizen.

With Precisionist, Bulova has added a third prong to a standard two prong quartz crystal creating a torsional resonator. This innovation results in eight times the vibration frequency of a traditional quartz watch resulting in the most accurate watch with a continuously sweeping second hand. The aesthetic movement of the second hand becomes the symbol to the consumer of Bulova Precisionist and signals a watch with accuracy so exceptional, you can see it. The technology is accurate to 10 seconds per year as compared to most other quartz watches, which are accurate to fifteen seconds per month.

Who cares about if you’re off 10 or 15 seconds, you may ask? Well the president of Bulova has an answer:

Dennis W. Perry, Bulova Corporation President states, “The importance of accurate time measurement cannot be understated. In horseracing, a horse wins by the tip of a nose, in swimming, the slightest touch of a fingertip ahead of a competitor can earn a gold medal. In timekeeping, absolute accuracy has long been viewed as an important measure of the quality of a timepiece.”

Source: Crunchgear.com

(Bulova hasn’t released any images of its time-keeping masterpiece but here’s another sample of their work.)

The Cullinan Heritage Diamond

I don’t know about you, but I find $35 million to be a  bit of a nuisance. It’s hard to balance my checkbook, for instance – there are so many more numbers to add and subtract.

And when you have that kind of money, people want you to buy dinner, like, all the time! Really annoying.

Luckily there are rough diamonds like The Cullinan Heritage to invest in that take the guesswork out of your personal accounting. You just stick that diamond in a safe deposit box at the post office and voila! You’ve just simplified your life.

More on this chunk of precious rock:

The sale price achieved by Petra Diamonds is a record for a rough stone and comes as the market is recovering from its lows last year, when it was hit badly by the recession.

The sale of the Cullinan Heritage is significant in several ways, not least because it is an extremely rare stone that diamond experts have likened to the discovery of a Van Gogh masterpiece.

The size, colour and flawlessness of the stone has enabled Petra, which is listed in London, to secure a price per carat more than twice that which a smaller stone would fetch.

The sale to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery in Hong Kong highlights the growing importance of China in the global diamond market. The Chinese are thought to have overtaken Japan as the second-largest market for precious stones behind the US.

Greater affluence and a fashion among urban couples for diamond wedding bands has propelled sales in the country.

Diamond prices have recovered about 70 per cent of their value since early last year, although demand in America remains weak.

The discovery of the Cullinan Heritage also confirms Petra’s faith in the South African mine. It paid ₤85.6m ($145.8m) two years ago from De Beers, which wanted to concentrate on newer mines.

The Cullinan mine began production in 1903 and is famous for its large gems, including the largest ever discovered – the 3106 carat Cullinan Diamond, stones from which are featured in the Crown Jewels.

The Chow Tai Fook Group has not revealed its plans for the diamond, which could be cut into smaller stones.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

This new website gives people the opportunity to get their virtual hands on a plethora of gorgeous gems such as diamonds, sapphires and rubies to name a few. It’s a great place to research gemstones before purchasing.

Read on:

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has launched the Gem Project, an online resource for colored gemstone information that is free and open to both the trade and the public.

Comprised of data collected from gemstones in the Edward J. Gübelin collection, which GIA acquired in 2005, the virtual resource includes a photo, description and gemological properties for each sample, according to a press release.

The GIA Gem Project can be accessed via the Internet at any time from anywhere in the world. The gemological information included in the project is also available in PDF format.

“The Gem Project can act like a virtual museum but instead of standing in front of a display case, users see a photo of a gemstone and key pieces of information about it,” GIA Museum curator Terri Ottaway said in the release. “This also makes it easier to compare the similarities and differences between types of stones at an advanced level.”

Here’s a sample from one of their pages. Each samples comes with an accompanying information sheet. Check it out!

Corundum – Ruby
2.51 ct
Thailand
35119

Source: NationalJewleryNetwork

Madonna and her daughter must have hit on hard times. For a little extra income, they’ve decided to start their own jewelry line called appropriately the Material Girl Junior Collection – a clothing and jewelry line for 200 Macy’s stores set to launch in time for school shopping this August.

We believe that ‘Material Girl’ will be a dynamic exclusive brand for Macy’s, and we look forward to working with Madonna, Lourdes and the Iconix team. Madonna is a fashion icon who can bring a new dimension to our juniors customer,” said Jeff Gennette, Macy’s chief merchandising officer. “‘Material Girl’ will enhance the excitement of fast fashion at Macy’s.”No word yet on design details but the affordable prices range from $12 to $40. Will the material mom’s fingerless gloves, fishnets and layered bangles make the cut? Or will Lourdes steer mom away from her 80s past? Stay tuned.

Source: Jewelry.com

Check out our Disney Precious Collection, which has many handcrafted pieces made specifically for juniors.

Style CH1595-

Girls Disney Ariel Shell Necklace

Girls Disney Ariel Shell necklace with .06ct round brilliant diamonds and .02ct natural pink sapphires on an adjustable 16″ chain, 14kt yellow gold.

According to one fashion expert, the Oscars still honored a more subdued look in light of our economy.

Beth Bernstein believes that this is a good thing for a consumer: we can actually afford pieces or styles that celebrities are wearing without breaking the bank.

Of course, this requires some creativity: like using moissanite instead of naturally-mined diamonds or freshwater pearls or Gemesis – all considerably more affordable material:

Bling is no longer the thing at red carpet events.  Low key and subdued is the message A-List celebrities have been sending out for some time now. And, personally,  I think this couldn’t be better for our retailers.

What celebrities are wearing translate into understandable pieces that can easily be interepreted (at lower diamond weights and less tony price tags) into your customer’s wardrobes. And these divas, many whom I’ve watched for several years have had a range of faux pas and now have all come into their own.

I realize that some of my editorial counterparts might not agree, wishing to see more stand out pieces but once again the red carpet was the stage for earrings, cuffs and right hand rings and a few spectacular yet more delicate necklaces.

Earrings are always a way to light up a woman’s face and can easily be interpreted with varied collections you have in your stores. The cuff bracelets are perhaps harder to sell but are good stand out pieces to revolve a collection around. Buy one for impact.

When we finally saw necklaces they were choker length and we didn’t see too many but the styles we did see were breath-taking and less overwhelming than in the past.

I like this minimalism. It doesn’t say jewelry isn’t important; it says don’t let your jewelry wear you.

Writer: Beth Bernstein

Kate Winslet with a Scaled Down Bling Look

At Joseph Schubach Jewelers, we’re not too shy to hide our star quality! With the Olympics in full gear, we figured we’d share a few shots of us with some real hot shots!

These were taken at the ESPY awards not too long ago. The annual ESPY Awards allows sports fans worldwide to join in an online vote for their favorites in such categories as Best Male Athlete, Best Female Athlete, Best Coach/Manager and Team of the Year.

Joseph Schubach Jewelers donated some jewelry to this great ceremony.

Here I am, with a few of my new friends:

Lance Armstrong and Joseph Schubach

Shaun White