June 2006 Archives
Gold, Silver Tumble.
The price correction for Precious Metals is in full swing, friends.
U.S. gold futures plunged to a six-week low and silver hit a two-month nadir in a cross-metals sell-off on Thursday, as a steady dollar made the hard assets less attractive to investors.
Gold has fallen $100 in a three-week correction from a 26-year high reached in mid-May atop $730 an ounce.
Traders said the break below $640 sparked further stop-loss selling on Thursday.
Gold is currently trading at $629.75 and Silver at $12.01
Look for more volatility in the near-term.
Donald Trump, Jeweler!
That's right! Donald Trump is entering the jewelry business.
National Jeweler reports today that Jewelry manufacturer SHR, a division of M. Fabrikant & Sons, announced that it has partnered with Donald Trump to create its first branded jewelry collection, to be called the Donald J. Trump Signature Fine Jewelry Collection. The real estate mogul-cum-reality TV star/producer said in an SHR press release that the jewelry is aimed at men who wouldn't mind stepping into his dress shoes someday.
"People aspire to connect with my lifestyle. A collection of fine jewelry is a natural step for my brand," Trump, star and producer of popular reality show, The Apprentice, said in the release, issued Thursday. "This collection is aspirational, elegant, and completes the dressed for success look."
SHR says the designs, to be inspired by Trump's "gilded milieu and distinct sense of style," will include diamonds, gold and gemstones. Highlights include a 14-karat gold ring and sterling silver cuff link boasting the Trump crest and a likeness of Donald Trump's image.
"The men's jewelry market is increasing dramatically and there is a huge void in the marketplace for branded men's jewelry," SHR President Scott Rauch said in the release. "Given the powerful brand equity of the Trump name, this collection lends immediate recognition and credibility. We feel this collection will have enormous appeal to those who understand the importance of dressing for corporate success."
The line, set to debut at the JCK show which opens Thursday, consists of rings, cuff links, bracelets, money clips and key rings in 14-karat white and yellow gold, sterling silver and stainless steel, and is targeted to men between the ages of 25 and 55. Price points for the 50-SKU collection range from $95 for a stainless steel key chain with the Trump signature crest, to $5,000 for a 14-karat yellow gold bracelet with onyx inlay and five diamonds.
Now my friends, I'm gonna get me some of this Donald jewelry to wear, walk into my Boss' office, look him straight in the eye, and tell him in no uncertain terms:
YOU'RE FIRED!!
Hey Baby, Suck on This!
A silver spoon apparently doesn't make the cut for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's new baby daughter, but a personalised pacifier-maker will instead gift the celebrity couple a $17,000 diamond-studded pacifier.
"It's a solid, white-gold pacifier, with 279 diamonds. The whole front of it is covered basically with diamonds, three-carat plus," Mathis Riiber, a founder of Itsmybinky.com, told AFP.
Riiber said the pricey aide was originally made for Donald Trump's baby, and he claimed that he will gift the pacifier to Jolie and Pitt in the next couple of weeks on a television show.
The company offers customised pacifiers of colored diamonds for high-end customers.
Jolie and Pitt's baby girl, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, was born on May 27.
High Platinum Prices Not Affecting Sales
The popularity of luxury platinum wedding bands will not be affected by the high price of platinum, according to a senior industry figure.
Francoise Izaute, managing director of Platinum Guild International (PGI) Italy, said that although the bridal sector may see a change in demand owing to the price of platinum, the high end of the market would be immune.
She estimated that ten per cent of bridal jewellery sale's in Italy's retail sector were platinum, including both wedding rings and engagement rings, according to Reuters.
Dario Raerini, who runs the family-owned Ititoli company, told the news organisation that she agreed that people who have a taste for platinum jewellery would be resistant to price rises.
"They want high quality and the best product so they are ready to pay more to get the best," she said, adding that the luxury end of the market would be particularly unaffected.
"For luxury, one-off pieces, there is no problem. If someone is going to spend 80,000 or more on a piece of jewelery, their margins are totally different."
Take My Diamond Engagement Ring, PLEASE!
What do divorced gals or women over a relationship do with their diamond engagement rings?
Here are some ideas: Take My Diamond Wedding Ring, Please!!
Yap Yap, Palladium! What's the Scoop?
Palladium has gotten much attention in recent months as the cost of Platinum and Gold have skyrocketed.
We talked about Palladium recently here on DiamondVues and highlighted the point of view of Scott Kay, an internationally acclaimed jewelry designer. What the heck is a Palladium Engagement Ring?
At this weeks major jewelry show in Las Vegas, Palladium was a hot topic for discussion. Susan Posnick covered the Seminar. Here's her Report:
"With metal prices through the roof, palladium has been a hot topic at the Las Vegas jewelry shows. So hot that around 500 show attendees got up early Monday morning to get briefed on "The Palladium Facts" in a seminar designed to alter perceptions about the metal.
The program, organized by the Palladium Alliance International (PAI), included a panel of experts pushing the palladium agenda from different perspectives. The speakers were Frank McAllister, CEO of Stillwater Mining Co., the only U.S. producer of both platinum and palladium; designer Scott Kay, CEO and lead designer of Scott Kay Inc.; Daniel Ballard, national sales manager, Precious Metals West; and Stewart Grice, mill and refining director, Hoover & Strong. The session was moderated by Dave Federman, contributing editor of Modern Jeweler magazine.
Palladium, a platinum group metal (PGM) has the fine properties of platinum, but PAI touts it as "whiter than platinum" and "the least dense of all the PGMs." At the same time, it is significantly lower in cost than platinum and gold, with current prices ranging from $300 to $400 per ounce. That said, the panelists insisted that the benefit is not as a cheaper alternative to other precious metals but a high-quality equal that is rare, 95 percent pure and easy to work with.
"It's definitely not a replacement for white gold and it's definitely not a replacement for platinum, but it is a new metal," said Grice.
Well, not new in terms of it being around, but new in terms of awareness, said McAllister.
"It's been jewelry's best-kept secret," McAllister said.
Kay—who started using palladium in his fine jewelry line and touted the metal in a letter to his clients this past March—was adamant that palladium should not be considered a cheaper alternative metal to platinum.
"This word 'alternative' drives me nuts," Kay said. "Palladium is not an alternative to white gold. Palladium is not an asset to our jewelry industry because it trades at somewhere around $350 an ounce. Palladium is not an asset because platinum is at $1,250 or $1,300 or $1,400 an ounce."
Rather, he said it is parallel to platinum in terms of quality, but actually superior in the design flexibility it allows jewelers because while it's a substantial metal, it is lighter in weight.
"It's not light, it's right," Kay said. "The fact is it has the right density because we make things to wear." For instance, it is a better choice for things like earrings, which are too heavy with platinum.
The only real advantage he says platinum has is "perception and history." The designer said he's particularly incensed by media stories—such as an article published in USA Today—that he claims inaccurately compartmentalizes the metal with less precious ones like steel and titanium. He also doesn't believe it should be compared to white gold, because it's naturally white."
In our opinion, caution is warranted at this time.
Gold Falls.
Gold fell to $627 on Wednesday as a robust dollar underlined the growing belief that US interest rates will rise again later this month, tarnishing the precious metals's role as a hedge against a fall in the US currency. The dollar was hovering near Tuesday's one-month highs against the yen and six day peaks versus the euro.
Monetary policy as enunciated by Ben Bernanke, Fed Chairman, earlier this week is turning progressively against the precious metals. In the last two days, three central bank chiefs have alo smade statements concerning the need to monitor tackle inflationary pressures.
Current technical support is at $620. A break below would trigger a retreat to the $575 level according to analysts.
Gold Free Fall.
Gold is down to $614 this morning, near it's 6-week low on fears of more Interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Fly Me To The Moon. I See BIG DIAMONDS!
Outer space is full of diamonds. Big Icy white Bling-Bling! Just stretch out your hand and grab a fistful!
Book your space flight now.
The story is here: Diamonds In Outer Space!
Where Is Gold Going?
What goes up must come down, and so it has been for Gold prices.
Gold fell again today, closing at $613, extending a slump to almost four weeks, as rising interest rates and declining oil prices eroded the appeal of precious metals as an alternative investments and inflation hedge. Palladium tumbled to a 10-week low.
Gold has dropped 16 percent since reaching a 26-year high of $730.40 on May 12. Oil dropped today after the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq was killed, prompting speculation that disruptions of exports will ease. The European Central Bank and the Bank of Korea raised key lending rates, and U.S. Federal Reserve officials have indicated they may follow.
With U.S. consumer borrowing reported to be at a 10 month high for the month of April, The fed may very well increase interest rates further in order to put a clamp on inflationary pressures and to prevent the economy from overheating.
Stay on the sidelines for now.
British Women Are Allergic to Diamond Engagement Rings
Or so it seems.
An article in todays U.K. Daily Record reports on a study that shows engagement and wedding rings worth £94million are lost in Britain within a year of being bought..
Insurance firm Prudential said four in 10 women polled had lost their engagement ring within the first five years of receiving it.
But while one in 20 women lost their wedding ring in the first year, one in five men confessed to having to replace theirs.
And one in six men admitted losing it within three months of the big day.
Is there something in the British water?
Hey Girl, Show Me your Diamond Ring.
You single gals ever feel this way?
DeBeers Wins Lawsuit.
Reuters today reports that a a federal judge ruled today that a New York diamond merchant was found to have acted in bad faith when he sought to capitalize on the famed De Beers name as part of his plan to sell diamonds on the Internet.
A joint venture of South Africa's De Beers Group brought the trademark lawsuit against Marvin Rosenblatt in 2004. The case went on trial in May in federal court in Manhattan.
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled Rosenblatt violated trademark law through the use of the name DeBeers Diamond Syndicate Inc. that rightly belonged to plaintiffs De Beers LV Ltd., a joint venture of De Beers and luxury goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).
Rosenblatt's decisions to apply for dozens of Internet domain names with the name De Beers, obtain a Web site proposal and seek investment dollars "were done in entirely bad faith," she said.
Spokespeople for Rosenblatt and De Beers were not immediately available.
Rosenblatt incorporated under the name DeBeers Diamond Syndicate Inc. in 1981 in Delaware, but the registration lapsed. In 2002, he renewed the incorporation and then registered it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to buy and sell loose diamonds, according to court papers.
De Beers, which controls about two thirds of the world's uncut diamond supply, made its initial foray into diamond retailing in London in 2002 in its joint venture with LVMH. The first De Beers store in the United States opened in June 2005 in New York.
During the trial, lawyers for De Beers LV argued the company had exclusive ownership of the name in the United States and that use of both the De Beers and DeBeers Diamond Syndicate names created confusion among consumers.
Rosenblatt's lawyer argued De Beers' trademark in the United States does not cover diamonds, but instead covers other products including clocks, candy and playing cards.
De Beers has faced antitrust cases in the United States since 1945. Last year the company pleaded guilty in federal court to a decade-old price-fixing charge, paving the way for it to again compete directly in America instead of using intermediaries. uters today reports that
Meet The Youngest Woman To Have A D Flawless Diamond
Here she is:
The story is here:
Tiffany To Open In Germany.
Hamburg, Germany, is now on the list of cities set to open a new Tiffany & Co. The diamond and jewelry retailer announced its new store would open mid-year 2007 with approximately 2,400 square feet of retail space near Neur Wall 19. Hamburg is Germany's second largest city behind Berlin. Tiffany already operates stores in Frankfurt and Munich.
The jeweler will offer its renowned collections, including its engagement diamonds and jewels, rare and lustrous pearls, fashion jewelry and watches, and the signature designs of: Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso, Jean Schlumberger, and Frank Gehry.
China and Diamonds: Perfect Together!
China’s long awaited announcement on a VAT adjustment for diamonds entering the country via the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) finally came in the form of a joint notification by the country’s Ministry of Finance, State Taxation Administration and General Administration of Customs of China.
In a statement issued on June 12, the Shanghai Diamond Exchange said that the actual VAT for polished diamond imports through the SDE will be reduced from its current 17 percent to four percent, effective as of July 1, 2006.
There will be no VAT imposed on rough diamonds when imported via the SDE.
As per existing regulations, the SDE is a tax-bonded area, and the customs office located inside SDE will remain the exclusive channel in China for the import and export of diamonds under general trade, according to the statement. The reduction of VAT will only apply, during the first stage, when a diamond is imported via the SDE.
VAT is a transactional tax, levied on each value-added transaction at each section of the value chain, from importation — if the commodity is imported — to wholesale and, finally, to retailing. For imported goods, VAT is first collected at the point of import by customs, based on import value. VAT-collecting procedure for polished diamonds is different from that of rough diamonds in that a polished diamond importer will pay four percent VAT. The customs office in the SDE will then issue an invoice of 17 percent for tax offsetting purpose when the goods enter the next stage of the pipeline, according to the statement.
Good first step, but we would like to see other Governments (Canada, Europe) as well as China reduct the VAT to 0% so as to stimulate and increase diamond and jewelry sales.
1.33 Asscher Cut Diamond Engagement Ring!!
Here is an absolutely breathtaking diamond engagement ring we just completed for one of our customers!
The diamond is an incredibly brilliant, precision cut Asscher Diamond (1.33 G VS2), set in a completely hand made Cartier reproduction diamond engagement ring setting of our own exclusive manufacture!
We put together this brilliant diamond engagement ring at practically a wholesale price!
Here are the pics!
Custom Made Diamond Engagement Ring!!
Here is a gorgeous diamond engagement ring just completed for one of our customers.
The ring is a custom made hand filigree engagement ring by master designer, Vatche (www.dvatche.com).
The diamond is one of our exclusive SuperbCert Super Ideal Cut Diamonds!!
Here is part of what the customer wrote to us upon receipt of this ring:
I got the rings yesterday right on time. It was kind of surreal looking at my rings in my car at UPS's parking lot. I can't tell you how glad I am that I went with the filigree bands - they are simply stunning. The superbcert diamond (Judah - I am very glad I went with the round-cut) is very brilliant and beautiful. Overall the rings are exactly what I wanted and pictured my wife wearing some day. I've only had a couple of opportunities to look at the rings (since my soon-to-be-fiance was around all night), but that just goes to show what a good impression they've made on me all ready!
Diamond Prices Going Up
So says a Canadian Geologist. The story is here:
Canadian Professor Sees Diamond prices Going Up
Diamond Engagement Rings
Engagement Rings
A tremendous amount of thought and emotion goes into purchasing that dream diamond ring or brilliant diamond engagement ring.
At Exceldiamonds, we understand the fact that not all diamond rings are created equal. Indeed, it is our commitment to perfection that drives our philosophy that a diamond engagement ring is meant to be cherished and adored as a timeless piece of art.
Our incredible selection of hand crafted diamond engagement rings in classic solitaires, Tiffany solitaires, and diamond accent rings and wedding bands are meticulously crafted to withstand the tests of time.
We put you, the customer, in full control of this brilliant diamond buying experience! You can actually build your own diamond ring and are not forced to select a pre-fabricated diamond ring that someone else put together for you.
Simply browse our selection of thousands of certified loose diamonds in all shapes and sizes. These GIA certified diamonds or AGS certified diamonds are available through our website at dirt cheap, wholesale prices! You will not find the same diamond listed for less money on any other Internet website, or we will match and/or beat the price!
Choose a loose wholesale diamond first, or decide to browse and select one of our fabulous diamond engagement ring mountings first. Many of our customers like to browse our ring selections first, just to get an idea of what is out there and what is available in the latest diamond fashion trends. You will find that our extensive selection of platinum and gold and diamond engagement rings appeal to all tastes and price points.
We also create custom made, hand crafted platinum rings and engagement ring mountings for our discerning clientele.
The most popular engagement ring you will find at a local jewelry store is a classic solitaire setting. Our famous Tiffany Classic Solitaire replica engagement ring setting has already garnered praise from thousands of diamond jewelry shoppers on the Internet. There is no finer Tiffany replica available on the market today. We are confident that if you take our challenge you will agree. The Tiffany setting is just one of many custom engagement ring designs that we manufacture in our New York City Diamond factory.
We will work with your budget to assure that you get your dream diamond engagement ring at the price you can afford to pay.
Whatever your choice, our objective is to provide you with a safe and secure shopping experience for purchasing your diamond engagement rings online. With Exceldiamonds you will save both time, money, and a whole lot of aggravation with our one stop diamond and jewelry website.
Gold Bloodbath!
Gold plunged 6.2 percent, the most in 15 years, on concern that rising U.S. interest rates will strengthen the dollar and curb inflation, diminishing the appeal of the precious metal as an alternative investment.
Gold has dropped 21 percent from a 26-year high last month and fell below $600 an ounce for the first time in two months. Producer prices rose more than expected in May, compounding inflation concerns and the chances that the Fed will raise interest rates a 17th straight time when policy makers meet June 29. Higher rates make holding gold less attractive.
Gold now trading at $562, down $42! Platinum is at $1121, down $49.
Royal Jewels Go On Sale.
When the British Royals sell off their family silver, no price seems too high, frantic bidding for the jewellery and personal effects of the late Princess Margaret, younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, has shown.
Auction rooms at Christie's in London were filled to capacity late Tuesday as more than 1,000 souvenir hunters, including many from as far afield as Russia, Japan, the US, Hongkong, Thailand and Indonesia, clamoured to buy a royal momento.
Among the top items on offer was the diamond tiara Margaret wore on her wedding day in May, 1960, which was sold to an Asian private collector for 926,400 pounds (1.7 million dollars), compared to the maximum estimate of 200,000 pounds.
A silver and gold Fabergé clock, manufactured in Moscow between 1896 and 1908, and said to have been at Margaret's bedside for most of her life, fetched a world record price of 1.2 million pounds. It had been estimated at a maximum of 800,000 pounds.
'It seems people are prepared to pay anything for royal possessions,' said one commentator, as newspapers Wednesday hailed the auction as the 'sale of the century.'
Within minutes, it became evident that the two-day auction would far outstrip its modest estimate. By close of business late Tuesday, the sale of 190 items - out of a total of 800 made available - had yielded a staggering 9.5 million pounds (17.3 million dollars).
This was more than three times the estimate placed on the treasures by Margaret's children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, who released the personal items in order to be able to pay inheritance tax on the estate of their mother, who died in 2002.
While they can look forward to a much higher than expected yield, not everyone has been happy with the sale of Margaret's personal belongings, accumulated partly through inheritance and partly as gifts during her lifetime.
'It is as if her whole life is going up for sale', one critic said.
The queen is said to be concerned that some heirlooms, including family jewellery and a famous painting of Margaret, would pass out of hands of the royal family.
Lord Snowdon, the star photographer and Margaret's former husband, also voiced worries at the sale of some of the personal items, but was unsuccessful in his bid to make Christie's withdraw any of the lots.
Personal attachments, however, were of little concern to the frantic bidders in Christie's auction rooms, offering exaggerated prices for even the simplest trinkets.
The buyers crammed into the sale rooms competed with 1,000 written bids received in advance and more than 500 bidders joining the action on the telephone from all points of the globe.
According to Christie's, 58 per cent of registered buyer activity was from the UK, 15 per cent from the rest of Europe, 16 per cent from the Americas, ten per cent from Asia and one per cent from the Middle East.
Gasps of astonishment regularly broke out as new staggering prices were banged down on the diamond brooches, necklaces and bracelets, displayed and carried round for inspection on velvet cushions by young girls.
Francois Curiel, the chairman of Christie's Europe, conducting the auction, revealed that he had received calls from people who said they wanted what was on offer 'at any price.'
As collectors flew in for the day from Asia and America, pieces fetched up to 150 times their original estimate.
'This is unprecedented, as the market decided the added value of royal provenance,' said Curiel.
A 'simple child's necklace' of rubies, cultured pearls and diamonds, worn by Princess Margaret on her second birthday, climbed from an estimate of 1,200 pounds to sell for 27,600 pounds.
Individual jewellery items such as brooches, watches and earrings made up to 40,000 pounds with ease, while empty boxes that once contained them were as much in demand.
A snake bracelet offered for 1,000 pounds was snatched up for nearly 41,000 pounds, and a 'modest' gilt hedgehog brooch, advertised by Christie's as a 'bargain' at 50 to 100 pounds, found a buyer for 5,760 pounds.
With furniture, silver items, pictures and a famous portrait of Margaret by Italian painter Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988) still due to be sold, the auction may well raise a record figure, analysts said.
It could equal, or exceed, the 1987 sale of the Duchess of Windsor's jewels in Geneva in 1987, the last great disposal of royal baubles, which made an astonishing total of 31 million pounds.
This Diamond Jacket Looks Good on You!
Lazare Diamonds recently collaborated with Japanese designer Ritsuko Shirahama, to create an unusual, one-of-a-kind diamond couture evening jacket valued at $1 million.
The jacket, which debuted at the JCK Las Vegas show earlier this month, is adorned with 2,000 ideal cut Lazare Diamonds, totaling 300 carats, as well as two pounds of platinum.
The Lazare Diamond couture evening jacket is scheduled to tour around the world and is already booked to appear at retail stores throughout the U.S.
I'll take two!
Have A Hurricane, Get A Diamond.
Suffer the devastating consequences of a Hurricane, like Hurricane Katrina?
Apparently some New Orleansians didn't let that bother them.
No Home? No car? No clothes? No problem! Gonna get me some diamonds with that there FEMA money.
Bush's fault, of course! Of course!
Hurri-Cane me a Diamond Ring, Please!
Diamonds On Your Teeth
Girls are showing Diamonds everywhere, including their teeth!
Diamonds In Your Mouth
"Dazzling Smile" now takes on a new meaning!
Amazing Discovery: Women Who Shun Diamonds!
Incredulous but True! A new species on Planet Earth!!
Read about it Here:
Found: Women Who Don't Want Diamonds!
Gorgeous Custom Made Diamond Eternity Ring in Platinum!
Here is another one of our hand made U prong diamond Eternity rings that we just completed for one of our customers.
There is a tremendous amount of hand labor that goes into the manufacturing of this diamond eternity band, which cleverley gives the impression of diamonds floating in space..due to the minimal obstruction/clutter of metal.
This Platinum diamond band features 19 Ideal cut round diamondsof F color, VS clarity and a total of 2.19 carats.
Pictures do not do justice to the beauty and unique qualities of this womens diamond eternity ring!
AGS To Introduce New Cut Grade For Emerald Diamonds.
The American Gem Society (AGS) Diamond grading lab has announced that it is coming out witha new Cut Grade for Emerald Cut Diamonds.
It will be the first time the industry has had a cut grade for an emerald cut, AGS said in a press release. The AGS Gemological Sciences Committee approved the grading system for three new shapes: square emerald cut, rectangular emerald cut and an octagon step cut.
"The emerald cut is very popular with consumers," said Peter Yantzer, executive director of AGS Laboratories, in the statement. "We're excited that this is the next fancy shape cut grade that we are offering, and believe it will increase sales at the counter."
Ruth Batson, CEO of the AGS, said consumers will benefit the most from the addition of the emerald shape to the AGS cut-grade system.
"The entire AGS grading system is designed for the protection of the diamond-buying public, which continues to be at the heart of the AGS mission," she said.
The performance-based cut grade system measures the facets of a diamond in three dimensions, versus proportion-based measurements that used only two. The lab uses ray tracing software to trace light traveling through a diamond. The software demonstrates the quantity and quality of the light being returned to the viewer. In assigning the final grade, AGS labs considers brightness, dispersion, leakage, contrast and weight ratio in addition to proportion, symmetry and polish.
"The methodology we are using can be applied to all fancy shapes and facet arrangements as research continues," added Yantzer. "As soon as the emerald is released, another new shape won't be long behind."
Tiffany Comes To Wall Street
Tiffany is going to where the money is.
The company plans to open a store inside a historic building at 37 Wall St. in fall 2007. The store will serve as the building's only retailer, occupying about 7,600 square feet on the ground floor and mezzanine, Tiffany announced Tuesday.
Skyline Developers has restored the original façade of the building, a 25-store Beaux Arts-style structure designed between 1906 and 1907 by architect Francis Kimball for the Trust Company of America. The building, one of Manhattan's first skyscrapers, remains
one of the oldest high-rises on Wall Street and will be home to 373 luxury apartments beginning this fall.
Tiffany's first store opened on lower Broadway in 1837, before moving to a larger site uptown.
The new store will carry an array of Tiffany's merchandise including diamond engagement rings; Tiffany's Celebration rings; designs by Frank Gehry, Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso and Jean Schlumberger; as well as watches, gifts and accessories.
Two Tone Classic Tiffany Solitaire Diamond Engagement Ring!
Here are a few pictures of our custom made Classic Tiffany Diamond Engagement Ring in two tone (18kt./Plat.) that we just completed for our customer with a 3 carat round brilliant diamond in the center!!!!!!
One lucky lady is going to be wearing this on her finger very soon!!!!
Our Custom Tiffany Replica Diamond Engagement Ring
Gold and Platinum Prices.
Short-term direction of both Gold and Platinum prices await the next Federal Reserve meeting to be held on June. 28-29th.
Current trading range for Gold is $560-590.
Higher Gas Prices Benefit Internet Retailers
"Consumers are making difficult choices to offset the rising cost of driving," BIGresearch reports. When asked if fluctuating gas prices have impacted their spending, 75.3 percent of nearly 7,500 respondents agreed. While that may come as no surprise, the survey results raise a major red flag for business and retail.
"It's not just people making less that $50,000 per year who are rethinking their household spending," said Joe Pilotta, vice president of research for BIGresearch. "People making more than $50,000 per year are also feeling the pinch of gasoline price hikes and are cutting back in many of the same ways."
With gasoline costing some drivers as much as $40-$50 extra per week from two years ago, (and average worker salaries unchanged according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics) the conclusion speak for itself, BIGresearch contends.
"With the continued impact of higher gas prices, shopping has become increasingly difficult," said Pilotta. "Consumers have to think more realistically about adding the cost of driving to their household budget than in the past -- and coming up with ways to help offset the blow."
Consumers queried for the survey reported buying more non-brand items, conducting comparative price-shopping before making a purchase, shopping for sales, and buying online.
Dubai A World Diamond Power?
Dubai a world diamond power? You kidding me, right?
WRONG!
Al Nisr, a Dubai publication reports that Dubai is an emerging world diamond center and power that has for example, Antwerp very worried. For more than 400 years the Belgian city of Antwerp has been the global center of the world diamond market with its highly-skilled craftsmen transforming rough stones into finely-worked gems.
But according to a founding member of the world's leading diamond manufacturer, it is in danger of losing its crown to Dubai.
Belgium's tough federal legislation regarding money laundering and checks on the use of diamond money to finance ugly conflicts are leading manufacturers to turn their eyes to the tax-free haven of Dubai's freezones.
The emirate boasts an excellent geographical location, central to the booming diamond markets of China, Russia, and the Middle East, while its wealthy population, huge influx of tourists and relatively crime-free streets make for high domestic sales. The GCC is now the third largest market in the world for diamond jewelry.
Harshad Mehta is one of the founder members of Antwerp-based diamond manufacturer Rosy Blue, which has presence in more than 15 countries. The company's global sales of loose diamonds reached $1.7 billion (Dh6.25 billion) in 2005, with $200 million (Dh736 million) sold in the GCC region and UAE sales worth $40 million (Dh147.2 million.)
Mehta, also vice-chairman of Dubai Diamond Exchange, said the diamond giant is considering a future shift of its main administrative headquarters to Dubai. He claimed others will follow.
"The diamond industry moved to Antwerp in the first place because less questions were asked there and it was easier for the diamond workers to do business," he said. "Now more and more questions are being asked in Antwerp about sales and margins and where money is coming from, so people are getting fed up and saying let's move to Dubai."
But he added, "Dubai is still small compared to centers like Antwerp and it will take time for any major or significant change."
Others were slightly more bullish.
Jonathan Chippindale, marketing director of Gulf Markets for the Diamond Trading Company, the sales and marketing arm of the De Beers Group, said, "All the major companies are looking at Dubai."
Why Dubai?
"Saying that Antwerp is finished would be extremely premature, but the challenge is coming from Dubai. It is a major regional player now and it can be the major global player in the future," Chippindale said.
Chippindale added that any view of Dubai as being unregulated is "way off," but he claimed it has "a tremendous fiscal advantage" in terms of its tax-free status.
Federal legislation faced by the Antwerp diamond industry is considered to go beyond action taken by other countries. The HRD, an organization representing Antwerp's diamond sector, recently met with Belgium Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to discuss a report outlining issues weakening the competitive position of the country's diamond traders.
But according to Chantal Abboud, the HRD's representative in the Middle East, their fears were exaggerated and Antwerp's position is likely to remain intact.
"I'm not convinced that there will be any shift away from Antwerp," she said. "I have not seen even the smallest trader consider completely closing down their Antwerp offices and move to Dubai."
Abboud admitted Dubai's diamond sector is growing, but said the two sectors will work in cooperation rather than against each other. She also recognised Dubai's advantages, including its tax free status, but claimed if the industry was simply concerned with tax, the shift would already have happened.
Dubai is also considered to have an edge over Antwerp in terms of safety of moving goods. The Belgian city has been rocked by a series of huge diamond heists in past years. "The logistics are here and the infrastructure is in place to handle the all requirements of the diamond industry," said Pearl Chandrawansa, general manager of branded jewelry at Rosy Blue FZE.
Stay tuned!
Jewelers: Are You Really The Oldest Profession?
Science magazine reports this week that jewelers are part of a profession that is very old indeed.
Ancient beads that were previously discovered at sites in western Asia and North Africa may represent the first attempt by human beings to decorate themselves, the report says.
The study reports that ancient gastropod shells that were collected previously from two inland sites appear to have been made into jewelry.
Both sites date back to more than 100,000 years ago, which makes them about 25,000 years older than similar but more abundant drilled shells that have been found in South Africa. Examination has shown that the shells were drilled by humans, presumably to be threaded and worn as jewelry, the magazine reports. What's more, the researchers said the shells were found many miles from the sea, indicating they were brought to those locations deliberately, most likely for the purposes of bead-working.
The finding is significant because it means that such modern cultural behaviors as self-adornment are older than scientists once believed.
"Our paper supports the scenario that modern humans in Africa developed behaviors that are considered modern quite early in time, so that in fact these people were probably not just biologically modern but also culturally and cognitively modern, at least to some degree," study co-author Francesco d'Errico of the National Center for Scientific Research in Talence, France, told The Associated Press.
The newly identified shells were found in a study of museum collections. The research was funded by the European Science Foundation, the French Ministry of Research and the Fyssen Foundation.
128 Carat Tiffany Diamond.
Now on display in London, England.
The Montpelier Times reports on this exhibition showing an array of dazzling pendants, earrings, and bracelets comes the piece de resistance: the 128-carat Tiffany Diamond, one of the largest yellow diamonds in the world.
The gigantic gem is the show-stopper of "Bejewelled by Tiffany" at the Gilbert Collection, one of three galleries located at London's Somerset House on the Thames River.
The Tiffany & Co.-sponsored exhibit, which opens this weekend, uses jewels to trace the history of the celebrated American brand that has become synonymous with glamour.
The collection includes about 180 pieces that cover the first 150 years of Tiffany's history up to 1987, almost all of which have been loaned from the corporation's archives.
"In Britain people know about the film 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' but don't have a lot of knowledge about Tiffany's history," said Clare Phillips, curator of the exhibit. "The magic of the name is understood, but people don't know a lot about how this glamorous company got started."
Indeed, what's best about the exhibit is that it's more than just a display of jewels, but offers glimpses of fashion history by showing how the jewels were actually worn by Americans.
One model, for example, shows a woman wearing a brooch, a choker, a hair decoration, and a bodice ornament — all made from diamonds. It seems that wealthy American women in the 19th century so loved to pile on diamonds that Europeans ridiculed them for having no taste.
Another mannequin showed a 1970s woman wearing a bra made from sterling silver mesh.
"It's fascinating to see how the items were worn and how the items have changed," Phillips said.
Like many of his contemporaries, Charles Lewis Tiffany was unabashedly patriotic. The rubies, diamonds, and sapphires winking from an American flag brooch at the start of the exhibit are proof of this.
The exhibit works like a timeline. It introduces visitors to the entrepreneurial genius that transformed a modest New York store into an American institution before taking them on a journey through world wars and international exhibitions.
The first part of the exhibit, "The Rise of an American Institution," illustrates some of the qualities behind Tiffany's early prominence and long-lasting appeal.
When Tiffany opened the doors of his first fancy-goods store on Broadway in New York in 1837, jewelry was only a minor part of the inventory. But that soon changed.
After political turmoil in Europe in 1848 caused the price of gems to fall, Tiffany snapped up cheap diamonds, including some from French aristocrats who were eager to unload them. The gems went into new Tiffany-designed settings, prompting reporters to nickname Tiffany "The King of Diamonds."
Tiffany, whose cameo portrait is included in the exhibit, understood the value of publicity and marketing. He introduced mail-order sales, producing the first catalogue in 1845. He also participated in the great international exhibitions, eventually opening a shop in Paris in 1868.
"The Paris Exposition of 1900 was crucial, because that's when Tiffany became a name that was known internationally," Phillips said.
Another Useless Study.
Retailers are more likely to see brisk business on rainy days, or days where temperatures are either frigid or boiling, a new study finds.
Shoppers are more likely to spend more time and money during their shopping excursions during days with extreme weather conditions, a new survey from the Mystery Shopping Providers Association says.
More than 64 percent of shoppers said they would stay longer in a store on extreme weather days, be it hot, cold or rainy, and consequently, more than 46 percent will spend more money than they would during a typical shopping trip, according to the survey of more than 1,000 mystery shoppers.
Mystery shoppers who said their shopping experiences were impacted by the weather noted they were nearly five times more likely to take personal shopping trips on warm and sunny days compared to cold or rainy days. In addition, more than 30 percent said they were more likely to spend the most money on a single shopping trip during warm weather compared to only 12.5 percent who said they would spend more money during cold weather.
The shoppers also reported that sales associates were twice as likely to offer complementary products to their purchase on warm or sunny days. The last is an important finding, as nearly 85 percent of shoppers surveyed said the mood and helpfulness of the sales associate impacts how much money they are willing to spend in the store.
The survey was conducted by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the world's largest trade association dedicated to the use of mystery shopping.
Whatever happened to Common Sense? I guess if there was more of it around, many academics would be looking for another line of work.
GIA To Issue New Report For Consumers.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) reports that it would soon be issuing synthetic diamond grading reports in response to the growing number of gem-quality, laboratory-grown diamonds entering the marketplace. GIA contends that there is a need to distinguish them from natural diamonds.
Ralph Destino, GIA’s chairman, said, “GIA is a public benefit institution and, as such, has an official obligation to protect the public by providing the critical information needed to make informed decisions.”
“As a nonprofit entity serving the public trust, it is simply the right thing to do,” he said.
Accordingly, GIA has created a new grading report specific to synthetic diamonds. The new reports will provide a clear description of the synthetic, containing color, clarity, carat weight, and cut information when applicable. The design of the report will be markedly different from the current GIA Diamond Grading Reports for natural diamonds. Its distinctive yellow color will immediately identify it as a synthetic diamond grading report.
To further help the public and members of the industry readily distinguish synthetics from natural diamonds, the GIA Laboratory will laser-inscribe the word “synthetic,” along with the GIA report number, on the girdle of every synthetic diamond it grades.
Tom Moses, senior vice president, GIA Laboratory and Research, noted that GIA’s research scientists have been studying synthetic diamonds for more than 30 years and have carefully monitored the new technologies that create these stones.
“Once we start grading them,” Moses said, “we will be able to study a far greater number and variety of synthetic diamonds and we will report our findings as we proceed.”
Sometimes Diamonds Are Better Left Home.
Just Bring your American Express Card.
Leave Your Diamond Jewelry At Home
3 Stone Diamond Engagement Ring
Diamond 3 stone diamond engagement rings have become increasingly popular due to an extremely effective marketing effort by DeBeers. The truth is that three stone diamond rings are incredibly beautiful and desireable in that they represent the past, present, and future.
Here is an example of one of the most popular styles of 3 stone diamond engagement rings available today. This is the 3 stone diamond truffle engagement ring manufactured by Vatche. You can look them up at www.dvatche.com.
Accent Diamond Engagement Ring
Diamond engagement rings are available in all types. You can get the classic solitaire diamond engagement ring, like the famous Tiffany Classic diamond ring. Other options include beautiful diamond accent rings of various styles, like antique diamond rings, or more contemporary tension setting diamond engagement rings with accent diamonds.
Here is an example of a diamond accent engagement ring.
The platinum mounting is by www.dvatche.com.
The Center Ideal Cut loose diamond is a branded SuperbCert Diamond by www.exceldiamonds.com
Designer Ideal Cut Diamond Engagement Ring!
Here is another beautiful diamond engagement ring that we are shipping out today for one of our customers.
This customer ordered one of our beautiful SuperbCert Super Ideal Cut Diamonds to be set in a Vatche Royal X Prong Channel Diamond setting!!
(Previoulsy, I posted pics. of the Vatche Comfort Fit Diamond channel just completed and also being shipped out today. That style features a slightly thicker shank than the Royal X prong which has a more distinctive taper where it reaches the basket. Take a look at, and compare the diamond ring photos in these two threads and you will see the differences.)
Here are a few pictures of the result...which does not do any justice to the true beauty of this diamond engagement ring!!
