Daily Jewel Sponsors Crowd Jewel Competition

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  to some of us it is a day that symbolizes Love and really beautiful feelings...to others it can be a really difficult time....that is what I want this competition to bring to the table.

So this is your challenge...as professionals you know that you want your style and emotion to come through in everything you do.  But, you also want to make something that is lovely that a customer would wear with pride.

BRING IT!  Your theme is "Valentine's Day"!   Contest Opens TODAY!  Deadline for entries is Sunday, Feb. 5th.  See the Crowd Jewel Facebook page for more...

Enter on the Crowd Jewel page on Facebook!  You've heard of "Crowd Sourcing"?  Well at Crowd Jewel one winner is chosen by the "crowd" and one by the Sponsor (this time that is ME!).

...and at the end of the contest I will be featuring the winners right here on my WILDLY ;-)  popular Daily Jewel blog which can bring you both public and Industry interest and we all know it is about getting more eyes on the goods!

I am sitting here in sunny Tucson Arizona at the largest Gem & Jewelry Show in the country and I can't wait to see the submissions and the opportunity to get to know two amazing new Design winners!

About Crowd Jewel
"Our style curators hunted high and low to find the best jewelry designers in the world, and invited them to submit their exclusive designs on Crowd Jewel to compete for your votes.

View the entries, vote for your favorite, and at the end of the competition at 12 PM PST on Sunday, February 5, 2012, a Crowd and Sponsor favorite will be announced. You will then be invited to the limited edition sale of the winning pieces.

Don't forget!! After you vote, be sure to fill out the Crowd Jewel survey to enter yourself for a chance to win your choice of the Crowd or Sponsor favorite. "

Royal Asscher and CoutureLab Support Seven Bar Foundation

Royal Asscher and CoutureLab Partner 
To Support the Seven Bar Foundation

Royal Asscher is thrilled to announce the debut of jewelry from its Stars of Africa and Shining Stars collections on CoutureLab in benefit of the Seven Bar Foundation.

CoutureLab, a luxury gift website which sells fine and rare to come by products from around the globe, focuses on quality, heritage and craftsmanship - a perfect fit for Royal Asscher’s specially crafted and unique jewelry.

Royal Asscher Diamond Company (www.royalasscher.com) is renowned for its unique heritage and history, which includes cleaving the world’s largest rough diamond in 1908, the Cullinan, presently housed in Great Britain’s Crown Jewels. Royal Asscher diamonds are considered to be among the best in the world – always guaranteed to be of exceptional quality and craftsmanship. In addition to creating beautiful diamond jewelry, Royal Asscher has a strong collective social conscience and considers ethical and social responsibility to be of paramount importance.

Seven Bar is the brand for the empowerment of women. As a social enterprise, Seven Bar fuels microfinance institutions by driving profits with purpose with cause-marketing brand partners. The result is empowered women, enriched communities and higher GDP. Royal Asscher’s jewelry on CoutureLab will serve more than just an aesthetic appeal; 20% of the retail profit from the sale of each piece will benefit the Seven Bar Foundation and help extend ladders to women out of poverty.

Renata Black, founder of the Foundation says, “The Royal Asscher Family provides the best quality jewelry on the market while simultaneously  empowering women. It really doesn't get better than that. We are honored to call the Royal Asscher Family our steadfast partners because you feel the goodness in the DNA of their product."

Royal Asscher’s beautiful and innovative Stars of Africa and Shining Stars collections consist of diamonds encased within fluid-filled sapphire domes, which allow the diamonds to float freely like snowflakes in a snow globe. The result is cascading diamonds that emit light, fire and beauty, creating a truly mesmerizing effect. Each piece is intricately handcrafted by expert craftsmen in Florence, Italy, adding much allure to these already beautiful and unique pieces.

Lita Asscher, President of Royal Asscher of America says, “Royal Asscher supports CoutureLab founder Carmen Busquets’ vision for her website as a  place where the stories of the products and the people behind them would be celebrated – where clients could not only learn about the heritage and see the true value of it, but also fall in love and own a piece of it. I believe Royal Asscher’s jewelry fits perfectly with CoutureLab’s vision and we are thrilled to partner with them to help empower women.”

For more information on Royal Asscher, visit www.royalasscher.com. 

To purchase Royal Asscher jewelry on CoutureLab please visit www.couturelab.com. 

GIA Museum Spotlights Rare Book Collection

GIA Museum Shines Spotlight on Rare Book Collection

Original and one-of-a-kind archives on display

GIA’s (Gemological Institute of America) latest museum exhibit, Tablet to Tablet: Treasured Pages from Past to Present, showcases more than 26,000 pages from rare books on gems, minerals, and natural science dating back to the 15th century. The collection is on display at the GIA museum in Carlsbad and will be open to the public until early summer 2012.

Tablet to Tablet: Treasured Pages from Past to Present features rare books, minerals, crystals and period artifacts from throughout the history of mining and gemology. Image © GIA

 The exhibit encompasses the development of gemology, crystallography, jewelry manufacturing and design, valuation of gemstones and precious metals, diamond mining and more. Among the 15 cases of books and distinctive objects, is the documentation of one family’s incredible wealth: the Romanov jewels and regalia.

“Visitors are amazed at how fascinating rare books are when combined with gems, jewels and images that reveal their stories,” said Dona Dirlam, director of GIA’s Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center. “The museum and library have assembled the best of the best from our archives; books written in Roman times, those printed around the time of Columbus, and one written by a 17th-century French diamond merchant about his travels to India.”  

The oldest book on view is a 1496 edition of Pliny’s Natural History, which includes content dating back to 77 CE. Pliny died during the first recorded eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, yet his surviving records serve as the foundation of ancient gemology.

This edition of Marbode’s treatise, called a “lapidary”, was published in 1511.
Originally written in a 742-line poem, it is a list of 60 gemstones, some of which do not exist,
and is arranged in alphabetical order rather than by mineral species. Image © GIA

One-of-a-kind works include original renderings of jewelers’ designs, a handwritten book from 1840 about minerals from Great Britain illustrated with intricate hand-colored plates, and a self-published book containing original artwork that the author, Wendell Wilson, created for the Mineralogical Record.

For more information about Tablet to Tablet, visit the GIA website. Visitors can schedule a tour at the GIA campus in Carlsbad 24 hours in advance by email or calling 800-421-7250, ext. 4116 or 760-603-4116.

About GIA

An independent nonprofit organization, GIA (Gemological Institute of America), established in 1931, is recognized as the world’s foremost authority in gemology. GIA invented the famous 4Cs of Color, Cut, Clarity and Carat Weight in the early 1950s and in 1953, created the International Diamond Grading System™ which, today, is recognized by virtually every professional jeweler in the world.

Through research, education, gemological laboratory services, and instrument development, the Institute is dedicated to ensuring the public trust in gems and jewelry by upholding the highest standards of integrity, academics, science, and professionalism. Visit www.gia.edu.  

Source:  Gemological Institute of America

Celebrity Jewel: Kwiat on the Red Carpet

Celebrity Jewel: Platinum at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards

Celebrities in Platinum 
At Hollywood Foreign Press Assoc. 
for the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards

From Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman's stacked bracelets, to Angelina Jolie and Jessica Biel's diamond stud earrings, Hollywood's leading actresses chose to celebrate their achievements with enduring platinum jewelry at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Platinum is naturally white, so it never changes color or fades, thereby maximizing the brilliance of diamonds and colored gemstones. It is the ideal setting for the red carpet, and all of life's most important moments.

Angelina Jolie
-Platinum and diamond stud earrings (25 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

-Platinum and diamond ring (12 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Debra Messing
-Blackened platinum, amethyst and emerald drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

-Platinum and emerald ring by Lorraine Schwartz


Julianna Margulies
-Blackened platinum, green jade and diamond drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

Emma Stone
-Blackened platinum and ruby stud earrings (19 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Jane Lynch
-Blackened platinum, black diamond and blue sapphire earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

-Blackened platinum ring by Lorraine Schwartz

-Blackened platinum bracelet by Lorraine Schwartz

Lea Michele

-Blackened platinum and diamond earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum and emerald ring (29 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz


Sarah Hyland

-Blackened platinum and multicolored diamond flower earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

-Platinum and diamond ring by Lorraine Schwartz

-Platinum and diamond cuff by Lorraine Schwartz

Kate Beckinsale

-Platinum and diamond mesh bowtie earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

-Platinum and diamond braided cuffs by Lorraine Schwartz

-Platinum and diamond geometric cuff by Lorraine Schwartz

*Total is 300 carats of diamonds

Paula Patton

-Platinum and diamond "Firecracker" earrings by Kwiat

-Platinum and diamond bracelets by Kwiat

Madonna
-Five platinum and diamond bracelets by Neil Lane

-Platinum and diamond cocktail ring by Neil Lane

Diane Lane
-Platinum chandelier earrings with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane

-Platinum cocktail ring with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane

-Platinum bangle bracelets with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane

Andrea Riseborough
-Platinum and diamond necklace (25 carats) by Neil Lane

Natalie Portman
-Platinum and diamond drop earrings by Harry Winston

-Three platinum and diamond bracelets by Harry Winston
-Platinum and pear shaped diamond cluster ring by Harry Winston

Jessica Biel
-Platinum and diamond opera length necklace worn down her back by Tiffany & Co
-Platinum and round solitaire diamond stud earrings by (6.12 carats) by Tiffany & Co.


Naya Rivera

-Platinum ring with an oval cabochon moonstone by Tiffany & Co.

-Platinum and round solitaire diamond stud earrings (6.11 carats) by Tiffany & Co.

Piper Perabo
-Platinum and diamond cuff by Tiffany & Co.

-Platinum and diamond stud earrings by Tiffany & Co.


Zooey Deschanel

-Platinum Estate ring from 1970 featuring pearl and diamonds by Van Cleef & Arpels

Dianna Agron
-Platinum bow bracelet with onyx and diamonds from the 1920's by Fred Leighton

-Platinum line bracelet with diamonds and onyx from the 1920's by Fred Leighton


Helen Mirren

-Platinum pendant earrings, sapphire & diamonds, 1950's by Fred Leighton

-Platinum barrel link bracelet, sapphire & diamonds, 1930's by Fred Leighton

Tilda Swinton

-Platinum and diamond wing brooches from 1900 by Fred Leighton


Reese Witherspoon

-Platinum and European cut diamond drop earrings (9 carats each) by Fred Leighton

-A pair of platinum and diamond bracelets from 1900 by Fred Leighton
-Platinum and diamond bracelet from the 1920's by Fred Leighton

Julianne Moore
-Platinum earrings with diamonds and emerald bead tassels by Fred Leighton

Sharon Osbourne

- White and grey diamond drop earrings by Dena Kemp (price upon request)

- Circle diamond ring by Dena Kemp (price upon request)

Shaun Robinson

- Black and white diamond drop earrings with 68 black diamonds totaling 5.01 carats, and 210 white diamonds totaling 17.13 carats (price upon request) by Dena Kemp

- White diamond cocktail ring totaling 5.61 carats (price upon request) by Dena Kemp

Kristina Guerrero

- Diamond earrings set with pear shape and princess cut emeralds by Dominic Jones for Gemfields (retail price: $25,000), www.gemfields.co.uk

- Black diamond cuff (26.89 carats) by Dena Kemp (retail price: $36,000)

Claire Danes

-Platinum earrings with princess cut diamonds by Bulgari

Jessica Alba
-Platinum earrings with diamonds (37.14 carats) by Bulgari

Jodie Foster
-Platinum and diamond earrings (8 carats) by Bulgari

-Platinum bracelet with 84 diamonds (42.61 carats) by Bulgari

-Platinum and diamond ring by Bulgari




Sofia Vergara

-Platinum and diamond earrings by Harry Winston

-Two Wide Platinum and diamond bracelets by Harry Winston

-Platinum and diamond ring by Harry Winston

Jessica Chastain

-Platinum cluster earrings with pearl and diamonds by Harry Winston

-Platinum and diamond feather ring by Harry Winston

-Vintage platinum and diamond bracelet by Harry Winston

Emma Roberts (Warner Bros./InStyle party)
-Platinum and diamond cluster earrings (15 carats) by Chopard

-Two platinum and diamond cuffs (107 total carats) by Chopard

-Platinum and rose cut diamond ring (15 carats) by Chopard

Stacey Keibler

-Platinum and diamond cluster earrings by Chopard (9 carats) 

Queen Latifah
-Platinum and diamond chandelier earrings (30 carats) by Chopard

-Platinum and asscher cut diamond bracelet (40 carats) by Chopard

Penelope Ann Miller

- Platinum and diamond bib necklace (50 carats) by Chopard

- Platinum earrings with heart and pear shaped diamond drops (6 carats)  by Chopard

- Platinum and heart shaped diamond line bracelet (25 carats)  by Chopard

Andie MacDowell

-Platinum and diamond line bracelet by Chopard (14 carats)



 About Platinum Jewelry
Platinum is the ideal choice for red carpet jewelry because it holds diamonds and precious gemstones more securely than any other metal.   It is not only the highest quality metal, but its density makes it one of the most durable and enduring precious metals. Platinum is also naturally white, unlike white gold, which means it will not cast any tint onto a diamond or gemstone, allowing the stone's genuine color to sparkle brightly.

www.pgi-press.com.

SOURCE:  Platinum Guild International USA

新年快乐 Happy Chinese New Year!

恭喜發財 Kung Hei Fat Choy
YEAR OF THE DRAGON
Happy Chinese New Year
January 23, 2:39am EST
New Moon 2˚Aquarius

Howard Rubin, Inventor of GemDialogue, Passes Away

Howard Rubin, Inventor of GemDialogue, Passes Away

Howard Rubin passed away on January 17th at the age of 86. His sixty four years of gem trade experience touched every facet of the jewelry industry. 

After serving in World War II as an infantry soldier, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill to hone his skills as a diamond and colored stone setter. He studied gemology in the 1950s: first to become a better artisan by learning the properties of the stones he worked with, and then, in 1982 to enhance his knowledge of the science of color so he could develop a system that would allow jewelers to “talk” to each other. This became GemDialogue, that teaches a system for description and color notation of gemstones and fancy color diamonds – having made a permanent impact on the jewelry industry. GemDialogue will remain active and continues to support the industry.

Howard was the President of the AGS New York Guild from 1976-1977. From 1979 to 1988 he was the Vice President of Leer Gem Ltd., the color stone division of M. Fabrikant & Sons Diamond Company. This was followed by an enriched career as a consultant to companies like QVC, Walmart, I.B. Goodman, Charles & Colvard.

In 1990 and onward, Mr. Rubin acted as an independent consultant, appraiser and educator. In 1993 he joined his wife Gail Brett Levine’s appraisal practice company, Timeless, Inc., as senior evaluator and appraiser.

He was a Senior Member and the National Secretary of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers (NAJA) and was NAJA’s representative at The Appraisal Foundation serving on the Industry Advisory Council since 2004. Mr. Rubin recently received the 2011 Manhattan Chapter GIA Alumni Chapter Achievement Award.

He is survived by his wife Gail, four children, and one grandchild.