Jewelry News

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

From a winner’s eye, these gold and bronze metals are perfect. They represent years, often an entire lifetime, of blood, sweat and tears.

But fashionably speaking, do they cut the mustard? Of course, they’re not intended to wear out to a night at the club. You might one to don your chunky moissanite ring or dazzling Gemesis pendant for that.

These metals:

[are] rather heavy medal plated with 6 grams of gold. Weighing in at over a pound, these medals are not for the slight of frame.The performance of the medals is garnering mixed reviews (not from those that actually win them though – without exception the athletes are elated to own one).

According to the medal’s designers, Vancouver architect Omer Arbel and artist Corrine Hunt, inspiration for the designs was drawn from ocean waves, snowdrifts and mountain ranges. Critics note they seem more representative though of potato chips and the melting clocks from Salvador Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory.”

So lesson learned? If you’ve scored yourself an Olympic metal, it might be better off on display!

Source: Jewelry.com

As we saw at this 2010 Grammy award ceremony, people were ready to crawl out of the economy shell and be a little flashier.

None was this more evident than Beyonce’s hoop earrings (that must have felt like quite a relief to take off at the end of the evening):

Here’s what Sparkle Like the Stars had to say about the top jewelry looks for the evening:

1. Beyonce took home six Grammy Awards, including a Grammy for Record of the Year, and she accessorized her golden goodie with some killer diamond hoop earrings that went with her sequined silver dress. We love the hoops, though we’re sure that the critics will have a thing or two to say about the flashy frock.

2. Carrie Underwood wore a gorgeous gold gown for her performance during the show, and she accented the glamorous dress with pitch-perfect diamond jewelry. Our favorite piece was her glimmering diamond bracelet with a swirling design- though her engagement ring from hockey player Mike Fisher was a close second.

3. Sheryl Crow paired her simple brown dress with some gorgeous gold jewelry. The actress piled on the gold bangle bracelets on her left wrist that matched her large, golden pendant earrings. To balance the look Crow wore an emerald cocktail ring on her right hand.

The styles at the Grammys this year were decidedly a little more daring than last year, hopefully a small sign that our economic woes are slowly lifting and celebrities feel a little more comfortable “blinging” out.

Jewelry choice were chunkier and bolder, some with a decidedly futuristic slant.

As for the fashion, this experts sums up the top winners of the evening, including Lady Gaga’s celestial beast of a dress:

1. Beyonce– With the most wins of the night, the starlet is seen wearing a Stephane Rolland gown, Casadei Heels, and Lorraine Schwartz jewelry.
2. Fergie– Fergie is stunning in a blue Emilio Pucci mini dress, Kwiat cuff, Jessica Robinson jewelry, Le Silla sandals, and a jeweled Judith Leiber clutch. Lately, I’ve seen Fergie in Emilio Pucci at several red carpet events. She surely is a fan of his and I’m sure he is of her. Maybe a collaboration sometime in the future?
3. Jennifer Lopez- JLo looks gorgeous in this silver chain Versace gown.
4. Mary J Blige– So happy to see her in some color and her dress is another unique cut-out neckline that I adore. The R&B star brights up the right carpet in a fuschia Gucci gown with a Gucci clutch, and Lorraine Schwartz jewelry.
5. Lady Gaga– With Lady Gaga you wonder, “What is she going to pull of next?” She surely gave us an eye-popping look in this futuristic, Armani prive dress with towering, sparkly heels.
6. Miley Cyrus– Love her futuristic, rocker-chic style. Miley is wearing a short teal Herve Leger by Max Azria dress, Judith Leiber clutch, and gladiator sandals. Love it!
7. Pink– Now this is a change. Pink giving us old-Hollywood glamour? She looks amazing in a crystal-encrusted Tony Ward haute couture gown, Judith Leiber clutch, and Neil Lane diamond jewelry worth 2.5 million dollars. Wow!
8. Taylor Swift–  She brings extreme glamour in this shimmery blue Kaufman Franco gown, platinum and diamond jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz. I love the neckline of this dress!

Source: HotBeautyHealth