Well, the price is not exactly stellar, unless you’re exceedingly “in the pink.” But the stone itself? Magnificent! It’s one of two known significant sized round pink diamonds in this world with no modifying colors. In short, it’s pink and nothing but pink!

Take a look:

12.04-ct. fancy intense pink Type IIa round brilliant-cut diamond ring by Harry Winston.© Christie’s Images Limited 2012

The largest round fancy intense pink diamond to ever appear at auction will be part of Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale on May 29. The 12-ct. diamond is estimated to fetch $8 – $10 million.

The extremely rare diamond is owned by a private collector. It was purchased from Harry Winston in 1976—the same year, the United States launched its first satellite on a mission to Mars: The Viking landers. Ronald Winston named the diamond the “Martian Pink” to honor the historic event.

The Martian Pink is one of two known significant sized round pink diamonds in this world—the other being the 23.60-carat Williamson Pink diamond that was presented to Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her wedding in 1947. While most natural pink diamonds exhibit a color modifier like purple, orange or grey, the gem that is up for auction “shows absolutely no trace of a secondary color, making it exceedingly rare,” the auction house said. “Combined with a Type IIa characteristic, the diamond shows an extraordinary limpidity together with a lovely intense pink coloration.”
Source: Jewelry News Network

 

Looking for a more “down to earth” price for a pink gem? Feast your eyes on one of our favorite rings:

Style 9505M- Rose Gold Diamond and Pink Moissanite Ring Stunning, delicate 14kt rose gold engagement ring set with a 1.0ct (dia equiv) Charles and Colvard created round moissanite color enhanced to spring pink surrounded by 1/3ct t.w. white diamonds. Matching earrings also available.

If you know anything about our team here in Scottsdale, it’s that we’re hopeless romantics. We like nothing more than to hear your heartfelt engagement story or the tale behind a family heirloom. So when I read this in JCK this morning, I thought it would be a great way to start the week. I’m sure you’ll agree. Lesson to be learned: love takes time. And it always comes back to you.

In the 1940s, Private David Kershaw received two rings as a token of appreciation from a Polish jeweler who had just been released from a concentration camp.

“I gave him two silver dollars and he made a ring from each,” Kershaw tells JCK. The jewelry was designed as “pre-engagement rings,” inscribed with David’s name on one, and his girlfriend Jeanne’s name on the other.

Kershaw met Jeanne Walker in New Jersey during the summer of 1943. A year later, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II and served until 1946. “For a veteran, trying to get back into civilian life was difficult,” Kershaw says. “We came home and weren’t sure what the future would be.”

After his discharge, Kershaw reunited with Walker; however, the two soon split amicably. “We went our separate ways,” Kershaw says. “She went to nursing school. I went to engineering school.”

Yet Kershaw kept the rings in a safety deposit box. “I never showed them to anyone,” he says.

Kershaw and Walker went on to live separate lives and didn’t keep in touch. Kershaw earned his engineering degree in 1950, the same year he married Clara Wahl, his wife of 61 years. The two had a long, happy marriage and raised two sons. Jeanne became a registered nurse. She married twice and raised two sons (one of whom died).

Read more.

I stumbled across this moissanite poll in Wedding Bee today and it got me thinking: why are so many people still so resistant to moissanite?

As you’ll see, 49% of the people polled wouldn’t even consider moissanite, so the poll question didn’t even apply to them. It got me thinking that we still have a lot of work to go. As the moissanite-friendly understand, choosing moissanite is a smart, ecologically and economically sound diamond alternative possessing many of the same qualities as naturally mined diamonds. It’s light years beyond a simulant such as cubic zirconia. Moissanite a lab-created diamond and is difficult for many jewelers to detect the difference.

Are diamonds forever?

Yet we still are so attached to diamonds. Why? Probably because of a very successful ad campaign from the 1930’s that proclaimed that “Diamonds are Forever.” In our collective mind, we deeply associate diamonds with long-lasting love. Unfortunately that’s just not true. Diamonds are also associated with large-scale ecological damage to this planet and the people on it. It’s time to think outside of the “diamond box” and choose something based on the world we live in now.

Moissanite is that choice.

Be the 20%!

Style 9577 Knife Edge Solitaire Engagement Ring Knife edge solitaire engagement ring (setting only, does not include center stone) On Sale! Save an additional 10% with purchase of a moissanite stone and setting. Use coupon code ‘Sale10’ at checkout. Setting Price: $649.00 – $1,815.00

Horseshoe

horseshoe shaped bands

The 60’s fashion trends are still in existence today. Whether it’s “mod style” oversized hoop earrings or wooden beaded bracelets, everything old is indeed new again. This video reviews some of the highlights of the 60’s. Note how nothing looks too out of place in today’s styles:

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Any jewelry you’re long for from the 60’s? Give us a call and we’ll create a nostalgia piece just for you!

Yes, Virginia…diamonds come in black, too. Diamonds come in a wide array of colors, including yellow, red and blue. But a black diamond has a mystery and uniqueness like no other. Other than their inky hue, they also possess some other interesting traits:

According to Black Diamond Jewelry:

1) They’re porous.

2) Most of them are very tiny. Larger black diamonds, instead of being one large crystal, have a polycrystalline structure, meaning they’re made up of millions of small crystals which are all stuck together.

3) They are only almost exclusively in two locations- other types of diamonds are found throughout the world. Furthermore, diamonds are normally found in the mineral kimbertite. Black diamonds are found in newer and different deposits of a sedimentary nature.

4) They have a different carbon isotope (same chemical element with different atomic weights and physical properties) than other diamonds. These isotopes are commonly found in the earth’s crust, rather than inside the earth (mantle), where other diamonds originated.

5) Natural black diamonds are black because their unique crystalline structure absorbs light.

Black diamonds also don’t sparkle like traditional “white” diamonds. They absorb light instead of reflecting it.

Hi Beth,
I wanted to thank you for all of your assistance in re-designing my ring! I absolutely love it! I have received a lot of compliments, even one person telling me it looks like a $10,000 ring. I can’t thank you and the jeweler enough.

Your team is great! J

Thank you,

Note from Joe: We redesigned the halo on E’s ring. See her project page here