Happy Stories From our customers

Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metal. It is used in nickel-cadmium batteries, pigments, metal plating/coatings and stabilizers in plastics. In children’s jewelry, cadmium is used to make the jewelry coating shiny in addition to adding weight and mass. However, cadmium is also a toxic heavy metal and a suspected carcinogen. It can also cause severe damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys and nervous system if swallowed or inhaled.

Illinois is the second state to ban the use of cadmium in children’s jewelry-making:

The law, which goes into effect July 1, limits the toxic metal to 75 parts per million (ppm) in any surface coating or accessible substrate of jewelry. It requires companies to measure the amount of cadmium that can “migrate” or leach out of a sample of jewelry over a two-hour period, when the sample is immersed in a solution that simulates digestive acid.

A similar cadmium ban was passed in January in Minnesota. However, the two laws differ in that Illinois specifies that children are “12 and under,” while Minnesota defines children as under six.

Three other states—California, Maryland, and Connecticut—have also passed laws banning cadmium in children’s jewelry, but those laws will not take effect until 2012, in the case of California and Maryland. Connecticut’s law takes effect in 2014.

Industry groups, including the MJSA, recently came together with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to develop a standard for children’s jewelry.

That group produced a draft Safety Standard with recommendations on cadmium limits. If  adopted by the CPSC, the standard would likely supersede state cadmium laws and ultimately create a national standard.

Source: JCK

We’ve highlighted Elizabeth Taylor’s fine jewelry in the past. Now, you could have the chance to see it firsthand, as the pieces are toured around the world. I’m sure Liz would be pleased!

New York–Auction house Christie’s has planned an international, three-month tour of highlights from the Elizabeth Taylor collection, including pieces of her jewelry, which will begin in September and include stops in Moscow, London, Los Angeles, Dubai, Paris and Hong Kong.

The tour will culminate in New York in early December with a ten-day, museum-quality exhibition of Taylor’s jewelry, fashion accessories, decorative arts and memorabilia, followed by four consecutive days of auctions.

Taylor’s jewelry will be auctioned Dec. 13 and 14 and include pieces from top design houses as well as the actress’s most elaborate custom-designed jewels.

A portion of the proceeds generated by exhibitions admissions, events and publications related to the sales will be donated to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF). Founded in 1991, ETAF provides funding to AIDS service organizations throughout the world to assist those living with HIV and AIDS.

Estimates and specifics of auction items will be available in early fall.

Source: National Jeweler

The Kimberly Process is designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds from sources which are free of conflict funded by diamond production. The certification scheme aims at preventing “blood diamonds” from entering the mainstream rough diamond market and assure consumers that they were not indirectly financing war and human rights abuses. This week, it was brought into question by Human Rights Watch:

Human Rights Watch called on governments, companies and consumers to refuse to buy Zimbabwe diamonds until all members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme agree the country is protecting people’s rights.

The Kimberley Process, which was created in 2003 to prevent so-called “blood diamonds” from financing conflict, said on June 23 that exports from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields could resume. The decision was broadly supported by African countries, while the U.S. and Canada objected.

“If diamonds from Marange are KP certified we’d be arguing for consumers not to buy those diamonds from sellers,” Tiseke Kasambala of Human Rights Watch said by phone from Johannesburg today. “The allowing of exports while there are ongoing abuses is a terrible decision.”

In 2009, restrictions were placed on the export of gems from the Marange field, which is near Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique, after an investigation found human-rights violations and smuggling at the site. In 2008, more than 200 people were killed when Zimbabwean security forces took over the concessions, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

Kimberley Process President Mathieu Yamba said June 23 that Zimbabwe was now complying with the organization’s requirements and had guaranteed cooperation with civil society representatives and special monitoring of its exports. Yamba did not answer his phone when called for comment by Bloomberg today.

“Consensus cannot mean that everyone has to say ‘yes’,” he said June 23 in response to Canada’s objection.

Source: Bloomberg News

 

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