If you are a true lover of the periodic jewelry, the style and miniature art of art deco jewelry will definitely take your heart away. Originated in Paris, art deco jewelry is a rare combination of aristocratic preferences with a modern touch that enhances the individuality of its wearers.

To many people, titanium is a mysterious term. Titanium jewelry: General understanding of the public for this metal is that it is a very hard substance, and some may know that is very light as well, especially for folks who own any titanium jewelry or watches. We would like to clarify some common myths about this metal and give brief explanation for each one.

Titanium is a newly found metal
Titanium is new to many industries and recently applied to many new applications, but the metal was first discovered in 1791, in England. It was discovered by an amateur chemist in an impure form called rutile. It was not used widely until the last century because the technique for extracting titanium from its naturally occurred ore remained a failure until 1910. It was used in many applications after it was shown that its alloys can be produced commercially by reducing titanium tetrachloride with magnesium in 1940.

Treasured, rare and always adding sparkle into our lives, diamonds will never fall out of fashion. Life’s most endearing moments – engagements, birthdays and anniversaries – are celebrated with diamonds. But most people believe that a diamond with color is an inferior jewel. Not so, according to many classic jewelry designers. On the contrary, colored diamonds are some of the most precious stones around.

Jennifer Lopez’s 6-carat fancy pink engagement ring and Paris Hilton’s 24-carat, $5 million fancy yellow engagement ring are credited with bringing colored diamonds back into the spotlight.

Like Hilton and Lopez, many women yearn to set themselves apart from everyone else. The rarity of fancy yellow diamonds – only 2 percent to 3 percent of diamonds mined in the world are considered “fancy yellow” – makes them popular among women who want to make a statement with their stones.

Since 1955, the Scarselli family has been producing and selling some of the world’s highest quality yellow, blue and pink diamonds available on the market. Known worldwide for three generations as masters in the art of colored diamonds, they possess an extensive inventory of special and unique stones in all colors, shapes and sizes, as well as their much sought after signature jewelry pieces.

Many people have their own jeweler’s loupe these days and love to look at their jewelry with it. Unfortunately not everyone is taught how to use a loupe properly. Using a loupe is not terribly difficult, but using it properly can really help you examine your own jewelry for identifying characteristics, cracks, chips, or other damage without having to run to the jeweler every time to smack your ring on something hard. Before we look at how to use a loupe though, I would like to explain some of the characteristics of loupes so that you can select a quality magnifier for your own use.

Selecting a loupe:
The first thing to look at is the magnification. Loupes can be found with 2x magnification up to 30x, or even more, magnification. For our purposes it is best to use a 10x loupe since this is the magnification that is used by the gem grading labs to grade diamonds. Less magnification may not show enough detail, while more magnification may give you an unrealistic expectation.

The next thing to look at is the number of lenses a loupe has. The inexpensive loupes tend to have a single lens. These are fine for casual use, but may introduce focus and clarity issues. A triplet loupe has three lenses that correct your magnification to present the clearest possible view and help correct any color issues that may be introduced by reflected light.

Nothing makes a Christmas tree sparkle like Swarovski Crystal’s collectible holiday ornaments. If you are unfamiliar with the brand, just think of the star that tops the most famous Christmas tree, the one showcased in New York’s Rockefeller Center. In 2004, the company won the prestigious honor of creating the 9 feet wide, 550 pound star that’s the focal point at the top the incredible tree. Swarovski is a company well known for its crystal collectibles but they did not begin creating limited edition Christmas ornaments until the mid-nineties, starting with a series of crystal angels. Recent years have produced intricately designed snowflakes and stars.

Taking time off from expanding their rainbow nation of children, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have taken to designing pieces of jewelry.

The celebrity duo have designed “The Protector” collection featuring a snake with Asprey, to benefit children of conflict. The collection is set to go on sale later this week, according to sources.

Prices start at $525 for a silver baby spoon with a curving, serpent-shaped handle, and all net proceeds from sales will go to Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which was cofounded by Jolie in 2006. The charity raises awareness and funds to educate child victims of war, conflict and natural disasters.

Jolie was quoted as saying, “These are the children who most need a safe place to learn, a place to heal, a place to learn reconciliation, a place to build a better future and a place – to just be children. Yet the education for these children is often forgotten. Tens of millions of children and adolescents in conflict are not in school.”

Jolie has also attributed the serpent theme to a ring she was given in the shape of a snake, when she was pregnant with Shiloh. She’s since considered the serpent a talisman and protector of her family.

Diamonds are allotropes of carbon , whose hardness and high dispersion of light make it useful for industrial applications and jewelry.

Diamond in Greek means “impossible to tame”.

Diamonds are found mainly in central and southern Africa ,although significant sources of the mineral have been discovered in Canada ,Russia ,Brazil ,and Australia.

There are Synthetic Diamonds and Natural Diamonds.

There is something so special about diamonds, and they are so valuable, that people have been trying to make them for a long time. Synthetic diamonds were first produced in 1953, in Stockholm ,Sweden by ASEA ,Sweden’s major electrical manufacturing company. Pressure was maintained within a device at an estimated 83,000 atmospheres for an hour to produce these diamonds.

For many people, there’s only one way to propose and get engaged: with a diamond ring. It is considered to be a symbol of a man’s enduring love that he will spend a large amount on a large diamond that the woman can then show off to her friends and family – it shows that he can and will support her for the rest of her life.

This post will address most questions many people have about buying jewelry at Costco. If you have never thought about buying a piece of jewelry from Costco, well you better think again!

Before we answer the jewelry question, we need to explain the Costco Model. This recession may really challenge Costco’s business model. The company has built itself around being the upscale warehouser–paying premium wages to its workers, while carrying premium products. You really don’t want to be the high-cost provider in a deflationary environment–at least, not as long as wages remain sticky. It’s also less broadly distributed, centering itself near relatively affluent areas. In most cases, that’s a good place to be. But so far, the recession has taken a disproportionate toll on those with substantial assets. Regardless, Costco continues with a very standard markup structure ranging from 20-30%. How can Costco survive at 20-30% markup? Simple, they make a huge profit on the membership fees. The 20-30% markup on merchandise basically covers about 100% of their fixed costs, the rest including the membership fees is all profit.

There is something about a cameo that it truly captivating. Be it the attention to fine detail, the elegance of the portraits, there is simply nothing quite as beautiful as a cameo, and they never go out of style. Cameos can be made from variety of materials, such as abalone, wood, bone, coral, ivory, agate, glass, plastic, various shell types, and layered hard stone which comes in a variety of colors.

Molded cameos are usually made of glass. They usually consist of either one or two colors. Often the colors are swirled together. Glass cameos are usually quite shiny. Molded cameos are also molded from plastic. The wedgwood style cameos were made from plastic. Plastic makes a terrific imitation shell cameo. Older cameos were often made with celluloid using two colors. Occasionally, but not very often, natural materials are molded. One way to tell if a cameo is molded is to look for a roundness in the detail and a lack of sharp and precise lines. To identify glass cameos look for the presence of mold marks and ridges or dimples on the back.

Shell cameos are carved from a single piece of shell. Shell is soft, so it is very easy to carve. Shell cameos are usually two colors. Shell cameos have a thin concave back, with the exception of abalone and mother of pearl which are usually flat on the back and somewhat thicker. Coral Cameos are usually a single color, and also have a flat back.

Well its about time we have some positive news to report on the state of retail jewelry business in the US. According to the National Jeweler, things are looking up for luxury goods in general, and jewelry, in particular, according to the latest statistics for the month of October released by SpendingPulse, an information service provided by MasterCardAdvisors.

In October, apparel sales increased 3.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, luxury goods overall increased 6.5 percent and jewelry increased 7.2 percent, while department store sales declined 1.5 percent, according to SpendingPulse results released on Tuesday.

The holidays are coming up and the UK’s Hallmark Jewelers are ringing in the season with the most expensive Christmas ornament in the world.

Adorned with 500 diamonds—three of them one carat apiece—arranged along a snowflake pattern and orbited by 188 rubies, The World’s Most Valuable Christmas Bauble, as they call it, is a truly exquisite and unique piece of holiday décor.

Work on the Bauble began on Boxing Day (December 26th, for stateside readers) 2008 and took almost a year to complete. The two halves of the interior orb were cast in London’s Hatton Garden Jewellery Quarter. The bulb was unveiled at a VIP gala and its designer, Mark Hussey, plans to display it in his Titchfield store should a buyer not be available.

The Christmas Bauble is valued at £82,000—over US $136,000.

When does a good thing become too much of a good thing?

A recent episode of Dancing with the Stars provides a clue.

Carrie Ann Inaba appeared on the show wearing a diamond and platinum bracelet, ring and diamond and platinum drop earrings, all by Neil Lane.

If she had stopped there things would have been fine. The spectacular diamond ring spanned one and a half fingers. On the other arm was the Art Deco-inspired diamond and platinum bracelet at a cool 30 carats and $150,000. And framing Inaba’s pretty smile were triple teardrop earrings, set with 6 briolette diamonds totalling 15 carats and $75,000.

For reasons known only to Inaba, or her stylist, a large pearl brooch of unknown origin was also pinned to her shimmery white dress and a necklace draped down to her décolletage.

Some Info About Cheryl Fornash
I’m excited to create a unique business in Richmond. After 14 years in the retail jewelry business and 20 years as a marketing representative for IBM, I have been inspired to start a business that combines my expertise in the jewelry business and the technical knowledge gained from my career at IBM.

I’m not your traditional retail store or an online retailer. I offer you the best of both worlds by providing more personal service, more selection and lower prices than a retail store. Also, I eliminate the risk of buying online. You can view a diamond or a piece of fine jewelry and have all your questions answered in the privacy and convenience of my Richmond office prior to making your buying decision.

As an importer, I can offer diamonds and fine jewelry at lower prices than any retail store or retailer on the internet. I import GIA and AGS certified diamonds directly from Israel and Belgium, and I have relationships with fine jewelry designers throughout the country. These relationships and the fact that I have avoided the high overhead of a retail store allow me to offer you diamonds and jewelry at incredible prices.

I feel fortunate to have an opportunity to create my own business, and with this comes certain responsibilities to my community. I continue to support such charities as Go Red For Women, American Heart Association and the VCU Massey Cancer Center.

It is unique to find a single source with the best prices on diamonds and designer jewelry. I have a passion for the jewelry I sell, and I’m committed to providing the very best prices, quality and service to my customers. I look forward to hearing from you.

We are fast approaching the holiday shopping season and with the economy as it is, most people do not have as much money to spend this year. As I began thinking about gifts for my loved ones and knowing I will be on a tight budget, I started searching for new ideas. Surprisingly, I found a great option in jewelry alternative metals. This collection of jewelry is made from metals such as tungsten carbide, stainless steel, and titanium to name a few. I was very impressed at how nice these jewelry pieces look as well as their durability.

Stainless steel jewelry is an alternative to a white gold or platinum look but at a fraction of the cost. Stainless steel will not stain or rust and is a very low maintenance metal type.

Another great alternative will be cultured pearls!

Gold continued its meteoric climb on Wednesday reflecting India’s central bank’s buying gold and the continued weakening of the US dollar. The New Delhi Reserve Bank announced it had swapped dollars for 200 metric tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund. The swap price was $1,086.10/toz, about $25 higher than the PM London Close of $1,061. According to India’s Finance Minister, the move was because the “economies of the US and Europe had collapsed”. That news propelled gold prices even higher closing at $1090 on November 4, 2009, according to the PM London Fix.

This could mark a turning point in the fine jewelry business if gold continues to increase as central banks diversify their dollar holdings in to alternative currencies and gold. The question is when does the price of gold reach a point where 10 karat and 14 karat alloys become too expensive to make wearable rings and jewelry? Part of the answer is subjective in that it depends on the emotional connection jewelry has with the consumer. While jewelry has never been a necessity if viewed in terms of such tangible purchases as shelter, food, and transportation, it has been an emotional necessity for many consumers during the better part of the last 60 years. Simply put, many consumers included certain types of fine jewelry, such as engagement rings, on their “must have” list.

(Nov. 5, 2009) — For more than 25 years, all attempts at culturing pearls from the queen conch (Strombus gigas) have been unsuccessful — until now. For the first time, novel and proprietary seeding techniques to produce beaded (nucleated) and non-beaded cultured pearls from the queen conch have been developed by scientists from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI).

With less than two years of research and experimentation, Drs. Héctor Acosta-Salmón and Megan Davis, co-inventors, have produced more than 200 cultured pearls using the techniques they developed. Prior to this breakthrough, no high-quality queen conch pearl had been cultured. This discovery opens up a unique opportunity to introduce a new gem to the industry. This significant accomplishment is comparable to that of the Japanese in the 1920s when they commercially applied the original pearl culture techniques developed for pearl oysters.

An ideal gift that you can give or receive on Christmas day has to be a token that holds affectionate meanings, and that being is a piece of ornate Jewelry. Jewelry can denote many things as in i.e. will you be my friend wife/husband or thank you for just being who you are.

Occasions are to numerous to mention for the giving of Jewelry.

Slippers become a habitual buy for dad, chocolates for mum are fattening, flowers die clothes fade, plus the entire above mentioned have a sell by date. So after they have gone that Christmas is forgotten. By giving the right gift then memories are forever.

In 1983, the country was recovering from a recession, unemployment was a 10 percent and gold prices were double what they had been five years earlier — but Joseph Lisitzky was still selling a good number of gold rings and watches out of his downtown Miami jewelry store.

Twenty-six years later, the simultaneous rise of the price of gold and the unemployment rate have hit Lisitzky-Rosner Jewelry especially hard, slowing sales to a sluggish pace.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in the last 60 years, no question,” said Lisitzky, who is 78 and has been in the wholesale jewelry business for more than half a century.

As consumers shy away from luxury purchases and potential buyers express shock at the current going rate of gold rings, bracelets and necklaces, jewelers have been hit with a staggering one-two punch of rising unemployment and soaring gold prices. Gold reached $1,070 an ounce last Wednesday, a new record for the metal. The price has tripled since 2003 and doubled since 2005. Up more than 20 percent this year, gold has seen a boost as investors have rushed to the metal as a long-term hedge against inflation. As a result, purveyors of gold have seen their sales nose dive.