Jewelry News

Engagement Season is Upon Us!

Did you know:

1,870,000 is the number of brides who show up at the altar each year who have been given an engagement ring

40% of grooms purchase engagement rings from a local, independent jewelry store

Proposals are increasingly becoming more public affairs. In 2009, 68% of grooms proposed privately; in 2011 that number dropped in 57%.

15 months is the length of the average engagement

90% of engagement rings are round or square shaped diamonds (followed by emerald, oval and marquise, in that order)

76% of men still get down on one knee to propose

How will you pop the question for the big day?!

Bride's wedding dress and wedding style provided by Laura's Couture

Jewelry News

Jeweler's Rediscover Rose-Cut Gemstones

In a flashy, brilliant-cut age, designer Michelle On prefers the subtle beauty of the rose -cut stone. "I am really attracted by the special light-diffusing elegance inherent in rose-cut diamonds," she says. "They have a mesmerizing, soft brilliance. Imagine light pouring through the clearest of water."

-via InStore Magazine

Jewelry News

1500-Year Old Ring May Have Royal Roots

"The $50,000 the Yorkshire Museum paid for a sapphire, gold and glass ring is turning out to be money well spent. Found by a local man with metal detector near the village of Esrick in 2009, the ring may have been made for the King of France, 1,500 years ago. "This sapphire ring is even more special than we had previously thought," says museum curator Natalie McCaul. A conference of global experts earlier this year made a few conclusions about the piece: The sapphire was probably cut during the Roman Era and the ring desgined around it. The wear on the rings suggests that it was worn for at least 50 years before it was lost. "Nothing like it has been found in this country," claims an exuberant McCaul."

-via InStore Magazine

Jewelry News: Diamonds

Diamonds Setting World Records

The Mouawad Group has set a Guinness World Record for the most valuable necklace, Guinness confirmed to National Jeweler on Friday (March 2013).

Mouawad's L'Incomparable diamond necklace is 18-karat gold with 637 carats of diamonds and is valued at $55 million, making it the most valuable--not expensive, Guinness said--necklace existing today.

THe piece features the 407.48 carat natural fancy-deep yellow "Incomparable" diamond, first made public in 1984. It is the largest flawless or internally flawless diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, GIA Director of Public Relations Stephen Morisseau said.

In addition the necklace has 35 round diamonds, 27 pear-shaped diamonds, nine heart-shaped diamonds, five emerald-cut diamonds, five cushion-cut diamonds, four oval-shaped diamonds, three Asscher-cut diamonds and two radiants.

The necklace set the Guinness World record on January 19. The necklace was unveiled atthe Doha Jewellery and Watch Exhibition, which too place February 25 to March 3 in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar.

-via The National Jeweler

For the Fashionista

15 Years Later: Sex and the City

It is hard to believe that the iconic television show Sex and the City first aired 15 years ago today. With that news it's exciting to take a look back at the memorable jewelry from the show. See a few pieces from the jewelry boxes of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda below. One of the most memorable would have to be the "Carrie" necklace, what do you think?

Jewelry News

The Great Gatsby

We all know that Jay Gatsby can throw a party but what do you think of the art deco jewels that sparkle on the women in the movie? If you haven't seen the newest rendition of the movie you must!

View the trailer for a bit of fashion and glitz!

Diamonds & Cars

A Diamond Bentley Toy Car

What is a day without some astonishing use of jewelry among the hip-hop set? No worries - these stories just keep on coming. Jayceon Terrell Taylor, aka The Game, gifted his son with a remote-control miniature Bentley -- one hesitates to call it a toy -- and then covered it in $100,000 worth of diamonds. Why? Because he can. The game tweeted "props" to NYC jeweler Richie Nekatov, for managing to get 150 carats onto the car.

-via INSTORE magazine

Christie's Auction Sets Records

The Princie Diamond

The Princie Diamond - sold at auction by Christie's

A pink diamond owned for nearly three centuries by Indian royalty has set a new auction record at Christies. The so-called Princie Diamond brought a top bid of $39.3 million Wednesday in New York City - roughly $1.1million per carat - greatly surpassing the previous house record of $24.3 million set in December 2008 with the sale of the Wittelsbach Diamond. The stone was not the only record-setter at the auction. The sale itself realized a combined total of more than $81.35 million, "marking the highest various owner jewelry sale total in the United States," according to Christie's.

-via INSTORE magazine

Diamonds and Cancer Treatment

Diamonds Show Promise as Cancer Treatment

UCLA doctors are touting a new treatment for one of the most virulent and difficult to treat forms of breast cancer -- injecting patients with tiny diamond particles that bind together and serve as a dispersal agent for chemotherapy drugs. Tested so far in mice, the diamond mass somehow reduces the toxicity of chemical agents used to treat "triple negative" breast cancer. Said one researcher: "The agent we've developed reduces the toxic side effects that are associated with treatment and mediates significant reductions in tumor size."

-via INSTORE magazine

Swarovski Running Shoes

Now these are some running shoes we can really get behind.

Normally the ladies at Measetique Jewels prefer high heels, occasionally the cute and well-styled ballet flat. But after reading the below article from InStore Magazine, we find ourselves coveting this pair of running shoes! (For us US readers, football = soccer!)

"Swarovski has demonstrated in the past their willingness to cover virtually anything with crystals - from the interior of a Lamborghini to Susan Boyle's toenails - in order to get a media hit. Their latest PR stunt is leather Nikes embedded with 4,000 crystals. The company believes that the shoes are the most expensive pair of football boots ever used in action. "Action" here means a pre-match warm-up and photo-op during which they were worn by a French footballer who ditched them for real shoes once the game began."

via InStore Magazine