Happy Stories From our customers

Spring has sprung…well, almost. But with Mother’s Day around the corner, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the simplicity and elegance of our freshwater cultured white pearl necklace. This piece is a mainstay for any women’s wardrobe, adding that elegant panache to just about any outfit. And at this price, you can’t beat it as a Mother’s Day gfit….or simply a gift to yourself to remind you that Spring is indeed almost here.

Freshwater Cultured White Pearl And Diamond Necklace only $315. (MSRP $475)

The pope’s ring is also known as the The Fisherman’s Ring. It is an official seal, exclusive only to him. When the acting pope leaves, traditionally, the ring is broken with a hammer.

As vice president of the Roman Guild of Goldsmiths, Claudio Franchi was commissioned to make the ring when Benedict was elected in 2005. He said reports that the ring will be destroyed are a mistranslation of the Italian word “biffatura,” which means “to cross out.”

“The ring is marked with a cross on the upper part as a symbol of the end of the papacy,” he said. “It is not destroyed.”

The chosen design for Benedict ring was inspired by a Michelangelo painting. The final concept required more than 200 sketches and colored drawings. It depicts St. Peter, who was a fisherman, and carries the inscription “Benedictus XVI,” the pope’s official title in Latin. The elliptical shape represents the piazza in front of St Peter’s Basilica, laid out by the sculptor Bernini in the 17th century.

The ring is 35 grams of pure gold. It took eight artisans working 15 hours a day for two weeks to make it.

Source: CBS News

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day yesterday, we decided to focus on our favorite green gem: the emerald. The term emerald was first translated from Sanskrit as “marakata,” meaning “the green of growing things.”

Here’s a few other historical tidbits on this most mesmerizing gem according to Jewelsforme.com:

The Chaldeans believed the stone contained a goddess.

In the Islamic faith, an amulet of an emerald might be engraved with a verse from the Koran.

The ancient Egyptians believed the emerald stood for fertility and rebirth.

In Ancient Rome, Nero supposedly watched gladiator fights through a large transparent emerald as he found the color to be calming.

In some legends of King Arthur, the Holy Grail is described as being fashioned from an emerald.

In China, Thursday was the day for wearing green and emeralds for good luck.

The Romans once considered light-colored Emeralds to be unripe, and believed that an Emerald becomes a darker shade of green as it matures.

It was known that Emerald was a favorite gem of Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, and the Emerald mine in Upper Egypt, rediscovered a hundred years ago near the Red Sea, was one of the earliest Emerald occurrences in the human history.

Legend has it that Hernando Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, tried to bring huge chunks of Emerald that he took from the Aztecs back home with him. However, one of his ships was shipwrecked, and delicately carved Emeralds in the shape of flowers and fish and other rare Emeralds, including an Emerald the size of a man’s palm, became lost forever.