It’s probably not the best time to be selling a diamond-covered pen. Luckily only one is for sale per year. The Aurora Diamante contains over 30 carats of De Beers diamonds on a solid platinum barrel. It has a two-tone, rhodium-treated, 18KT solid gold nib and is personalized with a coat of arms, signature or portrait. Aurora Pens says it is the only over 30 carat pen in the world.
Bloomberg News reports today that Zale Corp. has hired investment bank Rothschild, for the purpose of evaluating restructuring options.
Zale has posted significant losses during the last seven consecutive quarters and has closed more than 200 locations in the 2009 fiscal year.
Most recently, reports late last week stated Zale Corp. has canceled some orders with suppliers during the vital holiday season.
During November, a month which has typically represented approximately 25 percent of Zale’s total revenues for the second quarter, Zale reported an 18.6 percent drop in comparable store sales.
Stay tuned.
Online sales for the holiday season calculated up to December 18th have increased 4 percent to $24.8 billion, compared with the corresponding days last year, according to the latest report from ComScore.
Most notably, Tuesday, Dec. 15, set an individual-day spending record with $913 million, the first such day to surpass the $900 million threshold.
The Chicago Tribune reports of a novel Chicago venue in which to propose to your gal.
A Museum.
Specifically, the Field Museum .
For $350, museum staff will prepare a special display case with your engagement ring in its Grainger Hall of Gems. When you walk by, you can reach in and surprise your dearest and make your proposal.
The $350 fee includes a champagne toast and optional add-ons are available.
Since the case was installed in mid-October the unique engagement package has been a hit with couples (and a moneymaker for the museum), with seven proposals.
Darrell Cravens and Mark Vadon, formerly of Blue Nile are shifting their gaze and e-commerce interests to the other end of the age spectrum.
Babies.
They have launched the website Zulily ( pronounced Zoo-lily) a private sale shopping site focused on children’s apparel, baby gear (car seats, strollers, toys), and maternity furnishings.
Private sale just means you have to sign up as a member of the site, and then you get access to special deals, like big discounts on a limited number of brand-name and designer items. The site will have its beta launch sometime in the first quarter of 2010. “We’re really excited to launch a new brand and new company around products for kids,†says Cavens, who most recently worked at Microsoft after spending nearly nine years at Blue Nile.
Zulily has received a $4.6 million Series A funding round led by Maveron, the Seattle venture capital firm founded by Howard Schultz and Dan Levitan. Maveron is known for its investments in consumer and tech businesses like eBay, Drugstore.com, Pinkberry, Shutterfly, and Cranium.
Zulily plans to start out doing one to two sales per day of five to 30 items each. Its revenue model is straightforward retail.
Interesting e-commerce concept; from Diamonds To Diapers…or is it the other way around?
Stay tuned.
The Nintendo Wii SUPREME is definitely unique and definitely the most expensive in the world. It takes six months to make one and it requires 2,500 grams of solid 22ct gold. The front buttons are made of 78 x 0.25ct flawless diamonds which total 19.5ct. Only three such consoles will be made and they will each cost almost half a million dollars.
Why do this? The Wii is already obsolete. The Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 are superior products and are going to support motion controlled gaming into 2010 and at that point Nintendo won’t have a competitive console anymore.
A total waste of money.
Famous footballers John Terry, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand decided to sell their shoes. And to justify the costs, they just bejeweled it a bit! With a total of 7,444 precious stones on the three pairs, the total value of the shoes comes to around $563,400! If you look at John Terry’s Umbro boots alone, they are studded with 2,734 shining rocks. The shoes bear his children’s names, Summer and Georgie, and come with a red and the cross of St George embroidered on the tongue. The studs come with 84 black diamonds and set in white gold. And his famous No.6 has been set in white gold surrounded by over 27 carat of white diamonds and around 11 carat of sapphires. This pair alone is valued around $197,600. Manchester United striker Rooney’s blue and white Nike boots have 2,576 gems with over 10 carat of white diamonds and 31 carat of black diamonds. His famous No. 10 is created from rose gold and this pair is valued around $183,000. The last pair owned by Rio Ferdinand, are black and white Nike boots spray painted in a graffiti-style artwork. His famous No. 5 is crafted in rose gold too but it comes with gold-tipped laces. With 2,494 stones consisting of over 18 carat white diamonds, 15 carat black diamonds and almost 11 carat of rubies, this pair is valued at around $197,600 as well
A 39-carat, D color diamond from India’s famed Golconda mines called the “Evening Star” fetched $5.4 million at Christie’s, the latest in a line of remarkable diamonds to dazzle at auction.
An anonymous buyer snapped up the stone, paying $138,000 per carat for the diamond dubbed the “Evening Star” because its previous owner liked to wear it out at night.
It was part of Christie’s “Magnificent Jewels from a Distinguished Private Collector” sale, held Thursday in New York.
The sale of the “Evening Star” comes on the heels of the record-setting $10.8 million sale of “The Vivid Pink” diamond Dec. 1 in Hong Kong and the $7.7 million sale of the 32.01-carat D-flawless Annenberg Diamond in October.
The combined total for Christie’s “New York Jewels” and the “Magnificent Jewels” sales was $25.18 million, with 85 percent of the goods sold by lot and 97 percent sold by value, according to the release.
Other notable lots include a modified rectangular-cut fancy intense blue VS1 diamond of 7.02 carats, which went for $3.89 million to an anonymous buyer, and a 36.78-carat, D color internally flawless diamond, purchased by a member of the U.S. trade for $3.39 million.
In addition, a pair of D-VVS pear-shaped diamonds of 10.21 and 10.51 carats garnered nearly $2.1 million, while a modified cushion-cut fancy intense yellow diamond of 40.92 carats was auctioned off for $1.11 million.
Diamonds remain a Girl’s Best Friend, even in this difficult economy.
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