One thing that most people know is that emeralds are a major gemstone and that they are expensive. That’s largely because emeralds are a type of the mineral beryl and they are rare. They come in varying shades of green.
It is chromium, vanadium or iron elements in the stone which make that lovely green color. [...]

One activity that you will undoubtedly appreciate when preparing for your wedding ceremony is the wedding ring selection. Like most young girls, you have probably spent most of your life dreaming of the perfect diamond wedding ring. Hopefully, you and your fiance have decided to shop for rings together, or you have informed him of what you like. You will wear the wedding ring for a significant amount of time and it only makes sense that it’s something that you like. If your knowledge of diamond wedding rings is limited to size, it’s a good idea that you obtain more information before you make your wedding ring selection.

The universe of colored gemstones is endlessly fascinating, for centuries, nearly every culture has held the belief that colored gemstones possess magical powers or the ability to provide the wearer with certain attributes.
This way of thinking has motivated the world of fashion. Natural gemstone jewelry is mystical in all of its beauty. Women need to [...]

Another great opportunity to hear Richard Wise  speak!  Richard is a noted bench jeweler by trade on top of being an excellent writer and speaker.
For its 33rd Gemstone Gathering, the Gemological Institute of America GIA Thailand has invited Richard W. Wise, a graduate gemologist and president of R.W. Wise, Goldsmiths Inc., to share his experiences. [...]

New cutting edge jewelry line from Coach will have them all standing in line. We love these new jewelry designs!

News & Trends: Michelle Trachtenberg may be one of Hollywood’s hardest working actresses. The star of Gossip Girl and Mercy has teamed up with Poppy from Coach to create her first jewelry collection.

The Michelle Trachtenberg for Poppy collection is as multi-faceted as Michelle’s roles, combining pretty gemstones with chunky hardware. Poppy describes the look as “confident yet romantic, rockin’ yet refined.”

The collection is filled with colorful Swarovski crystals handset in Coach’s signature hardware.

Each item is a statement in itself including rings, earrings, chunky multi-strand necklaces and cuff-style bracelets.

Personally, I love the Jackie O pearls meets Mr. T, “Pearl and Chain Necklace” combo that perfectly reflects a hardcore girly-girl.

As with everything else in life, sometimes we fall into habits in how we wear our jewelry. We put the brooch on out left shoulder, we wear the same necklace with the same dress and the same earrings.

This article will help stimulate your thinking about how you wear jewelry. It’s not exhaustive — if you have other ideas of better ways to use jewelry, let me know. Pins are perhaps the most versatile of jewelry. In addition to the usual shoulder or lapel, they are often worn with scarves. Try these other ways of wearing your pins to extend your jewelry vocabulary.

Thanks to aggressive publicity campaigns sponsored by the diamond industry, anyone buying a diamond can confidently go into the transaction armed with enough information to ask the right questions. In the pre-purchase stage, you’ll likely query the seller about the five C’s: carat, cut, clarity, color and cost. As long as you trust the jeweler, you can be confident about the value of the gem you’re interested in based on his or her answers. But what about pearls? What questions do you ask? What does a high quality pearl look like? What are traits to avoid? Here we’ll tell you what makes a pearl valuable. We’ll also give you questions to ask your jeweler and tools to judge these lustrous gems yourself.

Pearl Value Factors

While there is no international standard for grading pearls, there is a system that is commonly used to evaluate these beautiful colored gemstones. Developed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the world’s largest non-profit institute of gemological research and learning, this grading system considers seven pearl traits when determining value. They are: size, shape, color, luster, surface quality, nacre quality, and matching. Let’s take a look at each one as it relates to the beautiful cultured pearl.

Jewelry insurance comes in many forms and varieties and only an insurance agent can provide accurate and specific advice. However, it helps to know enough about jewelry insurance to ask your agent the right questions and to be aware of how the process works. The time to ask your insurance agent the questions is before you insure an item, not when you need to file a claim. Read the fine print in your insurance contract to be sure it provides the coverage you expect.

Everybody, especially women, loves jewelry. It’s an accessory that one cannot simply do without. However, people are hard-pressed to keep it clean and sparkling. You can of course take the help of a professional jewelry cleaner, but these can be pretty expensive.

There are numerous ways and means thorough which you can keep your jewelry in ship shape throughout the year. What’s more you can employ these methods from the comforts of your home. They are easy to do, and easy to learn. Here are a few tips on keeping your jewelry clean and sparkling throughout the year:
Cleaning Your Precious Diamonds

The process is quite simple. Take a glass bowl, and pour some Vodka into it. Take your diamond jewelry and swish it inside the bowl. Take it out and then rinse it with clean, clear water and wipe it dry with a soft cloth. Moreover, if your diamond jewelry is really very dirty, then it is advisable that you dip a soft toothbrush in the vodka and scrub the jewelry delicately. This process will clean and add the requisite sparkle to the diamond jewelry in no time at all.

Los Angeles–From black-and-white diamond combination to snake designs to turquoise, there seemed to be no parameters for the jewelry-wearing starlets who made the red-carpet rounds at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.

The SAG Awards, which took place Saturday, and were broadcast live from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, were the second key award event of the season, following fast on the heels of the Golden Globe awards. In both cases, jewelry designers and stylists took full advantage of the moment to put jewelry on the red carpet.

One of the largest natural pearls in the world will go on display tomorrow at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

The marvelous piece of nature’s gift named ‘Pearl of Sheikha Fatima’ is one of the rarest pearls found so far.

The exhibition is organized by the Abu Dhabi-based Pearl Revival Committee (PRC) under the patronage of HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairperson of General Women’s Union (GWA) and Supreme Chairperson of the Family Development Foundation.

The exceptionally rare pearl will be the major attraction of the Natural Pearl Display, which is being held in from 25th January 2010. The Display, which PRC is organizing with the support of Robert Wan, “the emperor of pearl”, will also feature a number of the world’s rarest natural pearls and pearling master collections, including a showcase from K.C. Bell, one of the world’s leading experts on pearls.

A natural salt-water nacreous baroque pearl – length of 4 inches (10.2 cm), circumference of 6 inches (15.2 cm) and 856.58 carats (171.3 gram) in weight – the pearl is almost twice as large as the Hope pearl, which is displayed at the British Museum of Natural History, and almost 11 carats heavier than the Burma pearl. It has been incorporated into the design of a stunning sculptural jewel of a Centaur, a Greek mythological creature that was believed to be half man and half horse; the pearl forms the torso of the Centaur, with the remaining parts sculptured in gold.

Remember the old line from the Woody Allen movie Annie Hall? “Relationships are like sharks; they move forward or they die.” That thought applies to the jewelry industry, too, which has to move forward, as well, or face becoming, at worst, irrelevant or, at best, an afterthought.

As we know all too well, consumers are gripped by what one might call an “electronic gizmo revolution.” How can–or how will–jewelers develop a relationship with the revolution, or at the very least capitalize on its sales and profit potential?

How can jewelers develop a framework for electronic innovation in an extremely competitive environment that is changing at warp speed?

Several innovation-focused firms, both here and overseas, have started their own electronic innovation building strategies already. There’s Paragon Lake in Lexington, Mass., which used enhanced computer technology to develop a “virtual display case” for jewelers that allows retail customers to build their own custom pieces.

A all inclusive guide to understanding diamonds. Understand what is on the diamond certificate. How two diamonds of the same size, color and clarity can vary in price by 35%! Both visual and detailed explanations of a diamond’s size, color, clarity and cut, and how each of these factors independently influence prices!

Zale Corp. announced late Wednesday that Chief Executive Officer Neal Goldberg and two other executives are no longer with the company.

The change in leadership will help renew Zale’s focus on its core diamond business and help return the company to profitability, the company said in a statement.

Women’s Jewelry Association’s (WJA) Women in the Know Conference (WITK), scheduled for Friday, March 12, 2010 at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City, will feature as its headliner Ivanka Trump, jewelry entrepreneur, social and style icon, businesswoman, best-selling author, international TV personality and daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump.

A summa cum laude graduate from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Trump is the executive vice president of Development & Acquisitions within the Trump Organization and a co-founder of the Trump Hotel Collection. She undertook her first independent project outside of the Trump Organization in 2007 – the launch of Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry on Madison Avenue in New York City. A luxury diamond jewelry line developed in partnership with Dynamic Diamond, the collection features timeless and elegant gold and platinum jewelry designs that offer a modern interpretation of the best jewelry classics from the 20s to the 60s, now available at her boutique and also offered at wholesale to select retailers internationally.

The inspiration behind Ivanka’s new venture came from her mother Ivana’s collection of diamonds and gems, as well as from pieces her father gave her through the years. With her design philosophy, “to inspire elegance among the women of a new generation,” Ivanka’s goal is to design important pieces with a youthful, refreshed elegance that fits perfectly into the lives of today’s intelligent, self-assured, social women.

When selling any type of jewelry, be it bridal or cultured pearls, your displays make all the difference in how well your items sell. Customers are often drawn to those dazzling jewelry displays that offer shimmering lights and vibrant colors. Different types of pearl jewelry can be displayed in such ways to attract the eyes of customers. Use the jewelry display tips below to increase cultured pearl sales in your retail store.

The Great Wall of China is not working. Built in 200 BC to protect the land from Mongols hoards, the Great Wall is a symbol of the vast breadth and scope of the economic development of the Chinese nation. International corporations have taken the place of invading Mongols, as they have occupied the Chinese worker in factories across the country. With the approval of the Chinese government, businesses around the globe have made China their main industrial source for all things manufactured. The silver jewelry industry is one such example.

Quality has become a meaningless word in today’s marketplace, but genuine quality still exists. From the rigorous process of selecting the perfect materials to the strict attention to the finest detail of functional design, find out exactly what defines true quality hand crafting.

Are all Tahitian pearls black? What’s the difference between a cultured pearl and a natural pearl? Are freshwater pearls inferior to saltwater pearls? Are South Sea pearls really golden?

Good questions. With all the different pearl colors and types out there, it can be difficult to know just what you’re looking at. For those interested in buying pearls, or for gem enthusiasts who wish to learn more, here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about pearls.

The Report Shows a Stronger December Caps a Stabilizing Retail Environment as Sectors Show Positive Year-Over-Year Growth Since Black Friday
This Year, Driven by Strategy, Not Panic, Retailers Hold the Line on Discounting

Jewelry and Luxury: After a volatile two months, Jewelry ended the season up 5.6%, with both high and low ends of the category showing marked strength. Again the extra shopping day helped the year-over-year growth rate. Although the Luxury retail ex-jewelry category showed some weekly improvement throughout December, it finished the season more with a slight increase of 0.8% over the 2008 holiday season. Luxury is another category that would have been lower without the additional shopping day this year.