June 2008 Archives
Surprise! Hearts On Fire To Open Retail Store and Sell Direct To You!
National Jeweler reported today that following the lead of DeBeers and Lev Leviev, (heretofore manufacturing and selling wholesale only) Diamond brand Hearts On Fire which currently sells its branded diamonds via 750 Authorized Dealer retail stores in 34 countries is going direct to the you, the consumer and will open its first North American store at the end of June in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
At a Hearts On Fire cocktail event held last Thursday evening during the Couture show at the Wynn hotel, Ellen Maloney, the company's vice president of retail experience and development, said the new retail store is scheduled to open June 26 through June 27 in the boutique shops connected to Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa.
Surrounded by high-end neighbors such as Hugo Boss AG, luxury lingerie destination La Perla and Just Cavalli, Hearts On Fire's first American store will carry a full line of jewelry, from bridal to red-carpet couture pieces.
When asked about the physical make-up of the store, including any sensory branding efforts, Maloney wouldn't give specifics but said that "all of the senses will be addressed," in the new retail outlet.
Time will tell if this move by HOF is limited in scope or whether they plan to open additional retail stores across the Unites States. If HOF does decide to expand and open more US based stores selling directly to the public, then no doubt current HOF Authorized Dealers will have reason to fret selling against their parent company.
Stay tuned.
ETA 6-11-08: We have received an e-mail from Rachel Clementi, Director of Publicity, Hearts On Fire, stating that this report by National Jeweler is inaccurate.
The Hearts On Fire store will be branded Hearts On Fire, but will be owned and operated by Authorized HOF Dealers, Madeline and Harvey Rovinsky of Bernie Robbins Fine Jewelry.
Diamonds Martin Rapaport Gets Rapped
Raise Diamond prices and you hear it loud and clear from disgruntled Tradespeople and Consumers in today's difficult economy.
That's exactly what happened to Martin Rapaport, Editor of The Rapaport Diamond Report, who last week raised diamond prices on his Newsletter by a whopping 25%.
Read more here: Rapaport Gets rapped On Diamonds Price Increases
I Want My Diamond Engagement Ring Back. NOW!!
Canceling Your Wedding? Want that Diamond Engagement Ring back? Here are some tips and advice.
Canceling Your Wedding? Who Keeps The Diamond Engagement Ring?
You Can Find Platinum With Diamonds
Scientists have traced the origin of the unique platinum deposits in a South African region by using diamonds.
The worlds richest source of platinum and related metals is in South Africa known as the Bushveld Complex.
Researchers from the Carnegie Institution in the US and the University of Cape Town in South Africa have traced the origin of the unique ore deposits by using diamonds.
Platinum group elements (PGEs), which include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and iridium, are extremely rare in the Earths crust.
Previous isotopic studies of rocks from the Bushveld Complex had suggested that a significant fraction of the magma that formed the complex and deposited the ores came from shallow parts of the crust, despite the rarity of PGEs there compared to the Earths mantle.
Shirey and Stephen H. Richardson of the University of Cape Town studied minute mineral inclusions in about 20 diamonds mined from areas surrounding the Bushveld Complex.
These diamonds formed at depths of 150-200 kilometers within the Earths mantle.
By measuring the ratios of certain isotopes of strontium, osmium, and neodymium in the mineral inclusions, the researchers were able to determine the isotopic signatures of the different regions of the mantle where the diamonds grew.
They then compared these signatures with those of ore rocks in the Bushveld Complex.
Richardson and Shirey found that the isotopic signatures of the ores could be matched by varying mixtures of source rocks in the mantle beneath the continental crust.
Diamond Engagement Rings For Gay Couples.
California makes history this Tuesday June 17th when they become the second State to legalize same sex marriages.
Wedding Bells Ring For This Profile In Courage.
Erika Heller is 30 years old.
Erika Heller has cancer.
Erika Heller is getting married.
Her story: He Says: Marry Me!
Don't Let Your Diamond Engagement Ring "Float" Away
Insuring your Diamond Engagement Ring does not necessarily mean that you have to buy a whole new insurance policy. Most Insurance companies provide addendums to existing policies called 'floaters'.
More information here: Insuring Your Ring
Diamond Engagement Rings for Two Gay Priests
The Daily Telegraph reports that The Church of England's first homosexual wedding which recently took place under Church auspices with full traditional liturgy, rings, and wedding vows may result in the world wide break up of the Anglican Church.
More here: Church In Turmoil
A New Way To Lose Your Diamond Engagement Ring.
Remember when we were in grade school and Teacher asked us to hand in our homework and the class wise-guy responded by saying that "My dog ate my homework".
Well, The China Daily reports that a woman spoiled her boyfriends engagement proposal by eating her engagement ring.
The man surnamed Chen, a policeman from Fujian province, had hidden the diamond engagement ring inside a cake.
His girlfriend however, had no idea about it, and ended up swallowing the rock when she took a bite .
To make matters worse, she then fainted and had to be rushed to the hospital. The doctors were able to extract the ring. The woman has now accepted her beau's proposal and is happily planning her wedding.
Bon appetit
Blue Nile Sees Diamond Handwriting On The Wall
Forbes yesterday reported that Diane Irvine, CEO of online jeweler Blue Nile (nasdaq: NILE), said at a conference in Chicago on Wednesday that the company is focusing on expansion into the international market, particularly Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. International sales for Blue Nile were up 112.5% to $17.0 million in 2007 over the year prior. "Over the long-term, we believe international will be half or more of our total business," Irvine said.
Shares of Blue Nile were off 0.6%, or 29 cents to close at $43.43 on Wednesday.
Of significant interest and concern is that consumer traffic on Blue Nile's U.S. Web site decreased by 29% in May from the year prior period, according to figures compiled by online traffic research firm comScore.
Blue Nile anticipates that international sales which accounted for 5.0% of 2007 revenue will rise to 9.0% for 2008.
No doubt contributing factors to these significant decreases in USA sales is the current weakness in the U.S. economy and increased competition from other online diamond engagement rings internet websites.
Diamonds From Tequila!
The instrumental "Tequila" is still very popular today and was originally introduced back in 1958 by the Band Champs .
Now comes the news that scientists have discovered a new method to manufacture a type of synthetic diamond from Tequila!
The Times of India reports that Researchers at the University of Nueva Leon near Monterrey in Mexico found that when the Mexican spirit is heated under pressure, it produces diamond structures, which are able to conduct electricity. The crystals, used to make diamond film, have previously been made from a number of different chemicals, often including nitrogen.
However, this experimental attempt is believed to be the first time that researchers have proven that any type of alcohol can be used to produce synthetic diamond.
Diamond film is tougher than silicon, so it could be useful for devices that must operate at high temperatures or under other harsh conditions.
However, diamond films are expensive and difficult to make. Now, researchers from Mexico have shown that the crystals can be created by heating the country's national drink.
For the experiment, the researchers heated 80% proof 'tequila blanco', which has a short aging process and is bottled soon after distillation, in a low-pressure chamber. The drink formed into crystals which tests later confirmed had a diamond structure and were able to conduct electricity.
Imagine: Some years from now you diamond engagement ring may be Tequila derived.
Now that's something good to which we can drink a toast!
L'Chaim!!
Budget Marriages
In today's tough economic climate, the high cost of getting married is putting a big strain on couples' budgets. What to do?
Here are some timely and excellent tips: Getting Married On A Budget
Did You Know That Diamonds Are Slippery When Wet?
Scientists have known for a long time that Diamonds slip and slide with remarkable low friction and as such are excellent material and used for the coating of seals, in high-performance tools, and high-tech moving parts.
The question is why and how?
University of Pennsylvania scientists and researchers from Argonne National Laboratories devised a series of experiments using the latest highly specialized technique know as photoelectron emission microscopy, or PEEM. The results of these experiments are fascinating.
More details are here: Slippery Diamonds!
Butterfly Engagement Ring From Exceldiamonds.
We just completed this Custom "Butterfly" Ring for one of our Customers.
The ring is 18 carat white gold containing a center diamond of .70 carat, F color, VS-2 clarity, Ideal Cut graded by GIA. The side diamonds are .56 carat total weight of G Color, VS Clarity.
Jacob The Jeweler Going To Jail.
The Associated Press reports today that Celebrity jeweler Jacob Arabov, known in the hip-hop world as "Jacob the Jeweler," has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for lying to investigators in a case involving the laundering of drug profits.
Arabov pleaded guilty in October 2007 to falsifying records and giving false statements as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn to impose a minimum sentence of three years and one month. Cohn, however, today sentenced Arabov to a total of two years and six months, citing Arabov's extensive charity work, the AP reports. He also ordered Arabov to pay a $50,000 fine and to make a $2 million forfeiture to the government.
Authorities accused Arabov and others of conspiring to launder about $270 million in drug profits for the "Black Mafia Family," a ring that operated out of the Detroit area beginning in the early 1990s. A seven-year investigation culminated in Arabov's arrest in 2006 and the indictments of Arabov and at least 41 others.
A favorite among hip-hop artists and rappers, Arabov launched a line of religious-themed jewelry with Kanye West and manufactured Lil' Kim's line of Royalty watches.
Arabov will report to prison Jan. 15, 2009.
Hearts On Fire Sues BlueNile
National Jeweler is reporting that Hearts On Fire has filed a lawsuit against online diamond retailer BlueNile.
HOF is claiming that Blue Nile sponsored Internet search links are diverting customers to Blue Nile, thus infringing on the Hearts on Fire trademark and creating unfair competition.
National Jeweler quotes the court papers according to which Hearts on Fire has asked the court to issue an injunction which would bar Blue Nile from using the Hearts on Fire trademark as well as requiring Blue Nile to cease its alleged infringement practices.
In addition, it is demanding what it terms "a judgment of three times its damages and Blue Nile's ill-gotten profits," in addition to legal fees.
Hearts on Fire claims that Blue Nile purchased the search term "Hearts on Fire" from the Webcrawler.com search engine which searches other search engines.
According to the claim, Blue Nile uses the term "Hearts on Fire" to trigger sponsored links to its website. Thus, when users at Webcrawler.com type in "Hearts on Fire," one of the top search results that appears is a link to Bluenile.com.
The lawsuit further claims that the link states, "Ideal Cut Diamonds at Blue Nile. Find Hearts on Fire diamonds at Forbes Favorite Online Jeweler. Sponsored by www.bluenile.com."
Hearts on Fire claims that when users visit Blue Nile's website and type in "Hearts on Fire" into the website's search engine, they are directed to web pages selling "diamond and jewelry containing diamonds, none of which are Hearts on Fire diamonds or jewelry." Blue Nile is not an authorized retailer of Hearts on Fire diamonds or jewelry.
Hearts on Fire believes that Blue Nile may also be using its trademark in other keywords, keyword tags, meta tags and sponsored links on the Internet with the aim of diverting consumers in search of Hearts on Fire diamond jewelry to the Blue Nile’s website.
Hearts on Fire, which trademarked its name in 1996, sells diamonds and jewelry via its website, Heartsonfire.com, and at authorized retailers worldwide, including some 600 in the United States.
This should be very interesting. Stay tuned.
Our Cartier Inspired 1895 Engagement Ring Style Replica
Some time ago, I blogged here about how we have been getting many requests to create a replica engagement ring, styled after the famous and authentic Cartier 1895 engagement ring setting, for all those customers who were unwilling to take out a mortgage to buy a Cartier engagement ring.
Well, we just completed our replica inspired by Cartier 1895 diamond engagement ring!
Tell us what you think.
Light Blogging During Our Summer Vacation
As some of you may already know, the diamond industry has a tradition of going on vacation during the first two weeks of July when things typically slow down.
During most of the year, the New York City Diamond District resembles an absolute rat race with people running all over the place. The stakes are high and competition is fierce. Although we are largely unaffected by the goings on on the street level (we exist in cyberspace and are located 9 stories above the street level in the N.Y.C. Diamond District), we usually feel the vibrations up here!
With the nature of our industry and the strain it places on the jewelers, vendors, dealers, brokers and manufacturers, we all rely on this vacation as a time to re-energize before it's back into the daily grind as we prepare for the upcoming holiday season.
Our company will be closing for the first two weeks in July when we will be away on a much needed vacation. During this time, you won't see any updates to this blog.
While it's really tough for us to be away from our computer screens for any lengthy period of time, we recognize the need to get away for just a bit.
See you all when we get back and we hope you all enjoy your own vacation time!!
Yes, it's tough....but everyone needs a break!
