Color-n-Ice

Pretty Prehnite

2012-01-12T20:24:00.002-05:00

Jewelry collectors are an adventurous lot today. Boldly going where no gemstone fan ventured before--

Sure you can pick up amethyst or citrine. They are glittery specimens for the jewel box.

But for those of you yearning for highly individualized stones, consider the elusive and delicately toned prehnite.

This hard to find stone may form as a stalactitic aggregate or even as a nodule. Check it out. Quite fascinating.

It's found in colorless condition but also yellow or the charming softly yellow green. The vitreous pearly quality of this gemstone adds another layer of mystique to the unfamiliar stone.

Designer Alissa Frazer of Agrigento Designs
pairs skillful shapes in metal to mesmerizing stones that capture her imagination. She's drawn to the hypnotic luminescence emanating from a prehnite stone. "It always seems to have an internal glow within the stone. Gives a mystical, ethereal quality." Just because it's an exotic stone doesn't mean you save it for rare occasions. "The color is so soft and neutral it can be worn with anything," Frazer finds.

The 18K gold over Sterling Silver Prehnite ring Courtesy: AgrigentoDesigns.com

Almost Priceless Wedding Bands

2011-12-14T21:42:00.001-05:00

Here's a question for the retailer specializing in bridal jewels. How long does it take to actually sell a million dollar wedding band? To clarify, there is no ginormous center stone. But let's add that we're talking about matching His - Hers bands.

Show of hands. Who guessed a few minutes for a million dollars? Boy are you good. At Christie's New York spectacular auction of Elizabeth Taylor's personal jewelry, Mr. & Mrs. Richard Burton's wedding bands earned a cool $1million US after only a few minutes of rabid bidding. Marc Porter, Chairman of Christie’s Americas said.,“The sale of Miss Taylor and Richard Burton’s wedding bands for over $1 million after an epic 16-minute bidding war was a fitting grand finale to the live auction portion of this amazing jewelry collection. We look forward to more great results this week, as the auctions continue with sales of Elizabeth Taylor’s fashion, accessories, decorative arts and memorabilia collections.”

This all occurred on the second day of the two day jewelry auction which yielded 100% items sold; totalling US$ 137,235,675 (£87,830,832/ €105,671,470. It makes the sale the most valuable jewelry auction in history.

Not so hard to believe. After all, there will never be another Liz. They don't make stars like that--at least those kind, anymore.

Perfect Peregrina Pearl

2011-12-13T21:41:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time all pearls were natural, meaning that they developed spontaneously inside a mollusk. Early in the 20th century famed pearl man Mikimoto changed all that when he successfully cultured pearls by means of inserting a foreign object into the soft tissue of the lowly bi-valve.

The legendary Peregrina is both natural and enormous. Did I mention famous too? This 16th century bauble is approximately 50 carats--except that pearls are weighed in grains. This one is 203 grains, which was quite a whopper even to Spain's King Philip II, one of the first owners of this prized pearl.

Richard Burton, a history buff, bought the treasure for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. She didn't tell him right away when her pekingese chewed on it after she accidentally dropped it.

Today, the extraordinary jewel set a world record for a pearl sale, fetching $11,842,500 at Christie's New York in less than five minutes of furious bidding with clients shouting out their million dollar bid increments. Now that's how to do an auction.

Statement in Stone

2011-10-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

Color, cut and inspiration. That's about it when it comes to planning a sensational colored stone jewelry item.
Color speaks a language of its own, and designers make sure it tells the story they want to say. Cuts, poor or great make the stone, gem cutters will tell us.

But on occasion, the exquisite quality of a colored gem will need thoughtful rendering to elevate it to its highest potential. For instance, most all natural colored gems have inclusions. It's one of the ways gemologists separate same color stones from each other in the laboratory. Conversely if one doesn't see certain oft occurring inclusions in a gem, it is subject to intense scrutiny -- in case it is not genuine.

When fine quality colored stones find their way to the cutter's bench, experts make sure to fully exploit its pristine purity. It's a marvel to behold, and is applauded by collectors.

Bulgari flaunts the high quality in their period and amethyst and diamond rings. Nothing much else is needed to showcase these superb stones, than the smooth pebble finish given to these beauties. Stroke of genius to understand when less in more.

Very Fancy Sapphires

2011-10-24T18:53:00.000-04:00

Blue and sapphire seem like natural pairings, but to sapphire lovers, nothing compares to fancy sapphire. All other colors except blue are called Fancy Color Sapphire with this corundum mineral. And there are a rainbow of varieties to please any gemstone fan.

Sultry Sophia Vergara wears bold pendant earrings by Sutra in gold and orange sapphire which light the frame of the face in an earthy warm glow. What other colors do sapphire occur in you ask? How about green, lavender and yellow for starters.

JUST HOW FANCY IS IT?
With so many colors in this corundom variety, there has to be some way to sort out the value. The clearer and more vivid the color, the more highly prized the stones are. When the fancy sapphire appears in a lighter, more pastel hue, then clarity is a big issue; inclusions are much more readily seen in pale shades.

HOW TO VALUE IT
The important things to remember with sapphire, is this precious gem is extremely durable. Next to diamond, it rates highest on the Mohs scale, and that's a good thing. Also, the colors are naturally occuring, and who doesn't opt for the real McCoy when possible?

Images: Sutra 18K yellow gold and orange sapphire and diamond earrings, Retail $26,500: D'Orazio & Associates, Beverly Hills

Pearl Perfection

2011-10-18T21:12:00.002-04:00

Christie's released results from their Tuesday October 18, 2011 Manhattan auction. The New York Magnificent Jewels lived up to its name. Amongst the 177 lots offered were the much lauded Vivid Yellow pear shaped diamond, all 32.77 carats of it. An annonymous buyer paid over $6.5 million dollars for the yummy sun drop stone.

In fact, the gems were so sensational, one of the more demure items may have had its thunder stolen from it. It should not be overlooked. Listed as "a natural pearl and diamond strand necklace of forty-nine graduated natural pearls found its joyful buyer paid 10 times the pre-sale estimate. Going to Middle East Trade the results list stated.

The estimate placed these pristine baubles at $100 thousand dollars, but the buyer knew he had the pearls of great price shelling out $1,058,500 for the lustrous orbs.

Notice the close up on the clasp; helping one to identify the age in which it was made. The well cut diamonds with the open culet and an Old Miner's squarish shape date the piece to the era when all pearls were natural.
Pearl collectors with a yen for the real deal -- natural pearls--must scour the fine auction houses of the world in search of these beauties. A century back, when Japan's Mikimoto began successfully culturing pearls, natural pearls became a thing of the past. Today,except for auction houses one might never gaze at a single pearl that was the rare and random result of nature.

A natural pearl is substantially heftier than it's cultured counterpart. A natural pearl is pure nacre, except for a tiny irritant at its center which started the whole process of layering smooth nacre over foreign matter.
Cultured pearls were helped along with the surgically precise insertion of a nucleus bead, thus insuring that the mollusk would develop a pearly globe within.

Photo Courtesy: Christie's Images Ltd., 2011

Orange-sicle Ice

2011-10-12T17:06:00.000-04:00

Pricey Gem Turns Heads in Hong Kong
Sotheby's Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Sale had a spectacular 4.19 carat Fancy Vivid Orange diamond up for bid. Found a buyer too at $2.96 million to boot. Divvy that up to $705,587 per carat; making this sunny stone the highest per carat priced fancy colored diamond on record--ever.

Fancy But Hard to Find
Popular as fancy color diamonds are becoming, certain fancy colors will always be exceptionally hard to find. Pure spectral hues of any color diamonds narrows the field, and within that group, straight red or straight orange are exceedingly scarce to put it mildly.

Anomalies Mark These Special Stones
Fancy colored diamonds can appear in any source around the world. But the Kimberly Premiere mine is known for producing some extraordinary fancy oranges. Of the few orange fancies found, they are often type 1b, which also is an indicator of low thermal conductivity. These fiery rocks have other anomalies as well. Gemologists may discover high amounts of nickel (Ni) in orange stones they test, and some even fluoresce a pink-ish orange. Scientists also tell us these particular fancies often appear with several kinds of crystal inclusions within the stone.

Where to Find Them
The Asian market leads the global interest in rare fancies like this superb rarity. Savvy collectors there acquire the best of the best, so when something this amazing comes up for sale, one can be sure to see it auctioned in the Far East.

Shapely Diamonds . . . And Stars

2011-09-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

When miners find diamond crystals, called rough, any number of shapes may be present. But diamonds have a crystal habit as it's called. So several shapes are likely to be found, and each one has its own glory.

Often the original crystal shape may be obscured by the rough-housing that occured on its arduous trip toward the earth's surface. Alluvial (marine) deposits may also turn up water worn diamond crystals. All fascinating stuff, and scars tell the story of their journey from mine to Oh My!

One of the crystal shapes that diamonds have are called macles. These naturally formed triangular shapes are the result of the crystal structure at the atomic level. Neat, huh?

When jewelers love the diamond as much as the design, they will find a way to tempt the savvy collector with clever placement of the crystal au naturele. Just what Diamonds in the Rough accomplished with their cocktail ring shown here. Perhaps the greenish colored stone was nudged a bit to conform to the exact size of the colorless diamond---nevermind. It's an inspired and provocative piece--that starts a conversation about the origin of diamonds.

Jennifer Lopez rocks this stunner at the Pure Nightclub in Caesars Palace, LasVegas.

Image Courtesy: D'Orazio & Associates: Diamonds in the Rough Cocktail Ring, Retail: $92,000.

Someone Say Red?

2011-09-23T20:03:00.003-04:00

Red red red. The rich royal ravishing hue has maintained most favored color status amongst gem lovers for eons. Color speaks for us, some say. And gemstone collectors say that red speaks bold and confident, but also symbolizes the heart.

We love spessartite in its most saturated form. It's a garnet you see. Garnets are members of a wide and harmonious family given to a 'you're all welcome here' philosophy. So you can't just toss out one chemical composition for these stones. Having said that, let's say that spessartite is a manganese aluminum variety.

Check out the rough crystal specimen with its surrounding ore. Garnets please with their hardness and their ability to take a fabulous polish. All the better to sparkle plenty.

Recent furor over unscrupulous treatment applied to low grade ruby making it seem quite the gem, has resulted in a buy-shy mood for jewelry fans who adore scarlet stones.

Here's a great solution. Chic and stunning, spessartite garnet delivers the bold look ruby fans crave with a bonus to boot. You're more likely to acquire that impressive sized spessartite garnet than a similar sized ruby. Did we mention spessartite is also completely natural? No treatments needed on these beauties.

Couture designer Victor Velyan knows just how to show off this splendid spessartite specimen.

Image Courtesy: D'Orazio Associates: Victor Velyan spessartite ring

And the Gemmy goes to . . . .

2011-09-19T22:38:00.001-04:00

So many glamorous gowns, so many jewelry choices. The 63rd Annual Emmy Awards held in Hollywood on September 18th paired lovelies with lovely wardrobes including jewelry befitting big and small-screen royalty.

Big Bang Theory actress Melissa Rauch accentuated her pastel hair with champagne diamond waterfall earrings. Important diamond earrings are plentiful at these affairs.

What makes these one-offs particularly head turning is that they are styled from 34 well coordinated champagne diamonds in their original crystal shape. So to make a matching pair--well, that's something to toast!

Champagne diamonds are a ritzy moniker for naturally colored diamonds that come straight from the ground bearing a mellow pale yellow tint---wonderful and flattering to many skin tones with their warmed up glow. Accent round cut diamonds are the perfect foil to sparkle plenty while allowing the festive big stones to play up their individuality.

Cheers to a great pairing of color, shape and style!

Images Courtesy: D'Orazio & Associates: Diamond in the Rough 18k white gold "Champagne Bubbles" earrings; 34 rough diamonds totaling 38.44 cts and micro pave diamond accents, $58,000

Moonstone Mysteries

2011-08-16T22:06:00.001-04:00

A prominent aspect of moonstone that jewelry fans fawn over is its mesmerizing trait of following the viewers' eye with a glowing effect that seems to float upon the stone. Moonstone's unique characteristic is called adularesence. The phenomenon is the result of structural anomalies in the crystal formation itself. So the hypnotic effect is infinitely repeatable--and delivers intrigue every time it's worn.

Some moonstone packs a double whammy with asterism--a star effect. From nearly opaque to translucent, this stone occurs in a wide array of manifestations and a variety of colors.

This gem mineral is June's birthstone along with pearl, but has more often than not been a collector's jewel.
The stone is a member of the feldspar family of minerals, and there are lots of siblings in this tribe.

What fans applaud in moonstone is that it is all real, baby. No enhancements were introduced to modify its color or its amusing traits.

Orange moonstone is an exotic version of this collector's stone. Brumani aptly names their collection "Flamboyant" with their expressive orange moonstone pendant earrings accented in diamonds.

Image Courtesy: D'Orazio & Associates: Brumani Flamboyant Collection 18 K Gold Earrings with Orange Moonstone and Diamonds, Retail: $7853, http://www.brumani.com/

Savoring Tsavorite

2011-08-11T23:32:00.003-04:00

Such a pretty face. And so young. The green grossular garnet we know as Tsavorite is a rather new discovery in the gem world. We think of garnet as red mostly. And the lively verdant garnets from the windswept bushland of East Africa's Kenya-Tanzania border were first randomly discovered in the latter part of the 20th century.

True, British geologist Campbell Bridges was on the trail of gemstones in 1967. But the odd lumps of earth bearing green sparkly bits threw him off. There had rarely been a sighting of green garnet, and never in the quantity that he would eventually find.

New gems are not all that common and when they are as dazzling at these colorful jewels, their fans are legion. This elegant gemstone packs all the pure green that emerald fans could ever dream of. What is doesn't have you don't want. And that's fractures. We adore emeralds so much, we forgive them for having so many natural fracture-like inclusions we've knicknamed them jardin as they look like branches growing.
Tsavorite stones appear wonderfully absent of those hard-to-mask inclusions that plague emeralds. They are a completely natural beauty to boot. No enhancements on these lovelies. The crystals take a magnificent polish and that contributes to their jaw dropping brilliance.

Take a look at them in their natural state, at the mine site.

The imaginative designer Yael pays homage to the majesty of these precious stones from far away Kenya. His stylish tsavorite bracelet seen at the top revels in well-matched stones carefully assembled to create a masterful tribute to these exotic treasures. Had not Bridges stumbled upon those peculiar lumps of earth bearing green garnets, the world would have one less miracle to admire.

Tsavorite Necklace Image Courtesy: Yael Designs.http://yaeldesigns.com/
Natural tsavorite crystal Image Courtesy: ruby-sapphire.com

Yippee Ki-O Ki-Yay!

2011-08-09T21:09:00.001-04:00

What's gold and leather and sparkly and makes you want to kick up your heels? That would be some mighty fancy Centennial Celebration Tony Lama Boots, of course.
The legendary cowboy boot manufacturer of El Paso, Texas is getting ready to celebrate 100 years of boot making. Presidents, rodeo stars and Hollywood's rhinestone cowboys have all worn these iconic western gear.

Boot lover, custom jeweler and gemologist Susan Eisen, also an El Paso resident, got into the swing of it by creating a commemorative fourth-edition El Rey boot covered in 100 diamonds (get it?) and rich 14 karat gold buckles.

“It was an honor to be chosen to adorn these one of a kind boots for Tony Lama and to show how the art of diamonds and gold can help celebrate momentous occasions in the lives of people, families, and corporations” said Eisen.

See her adjust the buckles on her wearable work of art.

These not-for-sale El Rey IV boots valued at over $50,000 will be accompanied by security while on display at western specialty retailers all over the US throughout 2011.

Image Tony Lama boot courtesy: Susan Eisen

FEEDING FRENZY

2011-08-06T16:52:00.001-04:00

In High jewelry, and that means anything too ritzy for most jewelry fans, price and whimsy often go hand in hand. Why not? When you've got that much stash, you can be downright cheery about everything.

Animal attraction remains a favorite jewelry motif dating back thousands of years. It's a way to get in touch with ones' wild side without actually getting mussed up. Fair enough.

House of Cartier knows a few things about High Jewelry and tongue-in-cheek design. Here a pair of emerald and diamond studded crocks take a playful nip at one another and in doing so create a dazzling circlet around the neck of the fortunate wearer.

You should get one. It's about $200K.

GILT COMPLEX

2011-08-04T17:20:00.001-04:00

Let the gems and design do the talking. In an era when jewelers are becoming ever more cautious with the use of two supremely precious commodities--diamonds and gold, it's luscious eye candy to see both of these luxurious items so well placed in one piece of jewelry.

White gold remains a fashion fave with icy white diamonds. And it's a nod to their clarity and high color when white gold is the setting for colorless diamonds. Lesser grade stones would not look as radiant set in white gold.

Quality white diamonds are becoming ever more pricey and there seems to be no abatement for their demand. Reason? As the middle classes in China and India soar, demand there has escalated in tandem.

This imaginative bangle in white gold with yellow gold accents boasts pristine colorless diamonds from the atelier of Vahan Jewelry.

Image: Vahan 14k gold and diamond arrow bracelet, Retail: $5,075 Courtesy: D'Orazion & Assoicates

Grey and Gold are not Polar Opposites

2011-07-30T21:38:00.000-04:00

Designers clamor for place of prominence in a swelling community of superstar jewelers. Unexpected gemstone pairings, new forms, and undiscovered gemstones all help jewelry artists via for top ranking in the ever evolving world of high jewels.

Gold is a recently maligned metal owing to its huge and unending price leaps. Many couture jewelers are resorting to using silver and other metals as a mix or instead of karat gold in their pricey collections.

But gold fans are still drawn to the malleable metal with its intense luster. Newer colors of gold emerge that appeal to designers and that find their way into the toniest of bijoux.

One gold variation that has yet to become widely recognised is grey gold. We think it's an interesting alternative for platinum. Platinum is a softer precious white metal that will soon turn a ring into one with the beloved and distinctive soft patina. Except the soft patina is not beloved by all jewelry fans. Maybe grey gold will do. It provides an extra layer of interest to diamond rings and with its cool appeal, makes for a stand-out piece of jewelry.

Grey gold alloys are made by adding silver to pure yellow gold along with manganese and copper in a specific formula. Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco wears a 3+ carat diamond engagement ring from ritzy Parisian jeweler Repossi set in grey gold. Very princessy, no?

Jewelry As Art----Art As Jewelry

2011-07-28T18:30:00.002-04:00

As jewelry collectors become more sophisticated, they demand more from their jewelry. Quality and value aside, serious jewelry fans focus on what's referred to as the art-jewelry niche. These are sculptural creations, whose design and entire form can stand alone as a serious art object.

But they are wearable art and so their utility doubles; with more opportunity for people to enjoy these original objects. Jewelry designers draw inspiration from their fertile imagination or simply by looking at the world around them. After all, the most exquisite design elements are found in nature.

Take the spider for instance. Or rather, let designer Richard Rothenberg take the spider. "The inspiration (for his realistic SpiderBot necklace) actually came from a real spider that was hanging outside my window at home. As I looked at it's head, abdomen and legs close up, I was intrigued by how nature created these hard working little insects."

After designing and manufacturing jewelry for decades, Rothenberg said the task of interpreting a spider into a sculptural and realistic jewelry item was a breeze. "I did however, want to place it in a natural environment just as I saw it outside my window; so I designed and built the interior of the display box to achieve that effect."

So the logical home for his sculptural jewelry object would be for it to live in its natural environment. "This way it can be displayed and enjoyed as art between wearings," he said.

Original SpiderBot necklace by Richard Rothenberg with diamond accents and an 8mm Black Pearl Retail. $1300.00 (Custom Display extra)

On Fire Opal

2011-07-26T09:01:00.000-04:00

Opal lovers are legion. One reason for this mass appeal is simply because the natural stone comes in such a broad range of colors and wildly varied appearance. From transparent to dreamy translucent to opaque, opal becomes something for everyone.

Gemologists love to study the stone's structure as it is actually a mineraloid; it's amazing crystal system is amorphous. Under high powered magnification, micro-spheres appear which accounts for some opal's refraction of light and aura borealis-like color play.

Other gems we love have a crystal habit which is composed of flat sided micro-structures that handle light by reflecting it back to the eye.

As jewelry fans have more access to stones from distance locales, new favorites emerge. Opal lovers are increasingly fond of Fire Opal which mostly comes from deposits in Mexico.

This fiery chili-pepper hued stone makes for exciting jewelry like award winning designer Yael's Fire Opal and diamond ring shown here. The smoldering stone seems to be lovingly restrained by delicate strands of diamond. This ingenious pairing of icy cool diamonds and the torrid toned opal is an unexpected treat; obviously the designer found a muse in opal.

Fire Opal and Diamond Ring Courtesy: Yael Designs

Cool Coffee Color Quartz

2011-07-26T00:11:00.001-04:00

Maybe it's just the unrelenting heat. Anything cool will do right about now. Is it a mirage or does this delicious gemstone bring to mind a cool clean iced coffee?

What it is actually, is a wonderfully carved trillion shaped smokey (or smoky) quartz, cleverly set in a rose gold ring to further enhance the smoldering smokey tone of natural quartz. LeVian interpreted this dusky stone in a warm colored gold which complements the earthy tint.

This material may be found as true deep espresso brown like we see here. But smokey quartz is also mined in yellow-browns, even grey hued crystals, and from time to time blackish stones that can almost appear opaque. Quartz is one of earth's most abundant materials, and the mineral is found clear, and in myriad natural colors in deposits the world over.

But geology plays a part in the formation of all minerals, so the natural components in the earth will affect its color. What every collector values in smokey quartz is that its deep toned coloration.

How'd it get that way you ask? All quartz is a silicon oxide material. And the smokey quartz variation is the result of free silica that was formed by the silicon dioxide that was irradiated.

Zap.

LeVian Smokey Quartz and 14K rose colored gold ring $1047 Courtesy: D'Orazio & Associates

Dazzle of Druzy

2011-07-23T10:03:00.000-04:00

Spelling variations of this exciting natural gem occurrence are as follows. Please take note. Drusy, druzy, and even druse. What all these spellings refer to is a beautiful natural variation of quartz that results in almost micro-mini crystals developing inside a host stone, often of another mineral entirely.

Druzy delivers a big wallop in the make a first impression department. Jewelry fans see this alluring stone as a mystery, and it actually is.''

Tiny crystals, or druzies form within another host stone, usually covering a large area. The material is quartz, and often the druzies will take the color of the host stone. When the ground water that transports dissolved silica is forced by pressure into porous areas of the host rock, minute druzy crystals form as a result.

This enchanting stone variation is not lost on imaginative designers who see these mysterious formations as design elements in their original jewelry collections. Top notch designer Radhika Tandon, president of Isharya tells us "Celebrities really enjoy the druzy pieces . . . with their chic look and just enough edge."

Single Line Druzy Cuff by Isharya Image Courtesy: D'Orazio & Associates

Wild Life Subdued

2011-07-19T20:04:00.000-04:00

Animals are a recurrent theme in many dramatic jewelry designs. Their magnetism is unmistakable, and they beckon with the call of the wild. Nothing new, jewelry lovers have embraced the wild side in adornment for centuries.

Ancient Etruscans, Romans, Egyptians, even prim and proper Victorians had a yen to connect with their primitive alter ego by including snakes, leopards, tigers even exotic bugs (those wacky Victorians) in their favorite jewelry.

A more contemporary take on this wild animal love is from Miriam Salat who figured out how to draw the best of the best from vintage jewelry components into a modern sensibility to thrill trend-setting jewelry fans. Enjoy the view--no cage required.

Lion Head Cuff by Miriam Salat: Retail $1,835

Ruby Red and Ravishing

2011-07-19T00:05:00.002-04:00

Yes, there are new stones cropping up all the time. But the trinity of colored gems, sapphire, emerald and ruby will always be coveted. In ancient days, ruby was more desired that diamonds. Still today, there are some rubies that surpass the per carat price of diamonds. That has to do with the fact that rubies over 2 carats in rough are exceptionally rare. Harvesting ruby has often been more difficult than diamonds if you can imagine. So when it's all working--the claret tint, the carat size and the crystalline clarity, then you've really got something.

Rubies are mined in exotic locales, with names like Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma. The last country is called Myanmar today. And there's North Carolina. Ok, that's not so much exotic, but corundum (ruby) is found in gemmy deposits in those homey hills.

Long ago in a far away land called mid century America, record player needles were used to listen to 'wax' or actual records. Ruby and sapphire or sometimes diamond needles were used to spin those ancient artifacts of the music world.

Next to diamond, ruby and it's blue twin, sapphire are the hardest materials known, and those gemmy needles did a great job of spinning the hits for an era's teenagers.

Shown here: Katerina Maxine Victorian Scroll Ring, Diamonds & Ruby

Today we put ruby to more glamorous use, like adorning celebrities. And it does a great job, don't you think?

Faceted ruby looks an awful lot like the natural crystal in transparency and tint. Notice how vibrant the color is. Imagine picking away at rock somewhere, and coming upon this rosy rock? Now we're talkin'

Jennifer Lopez wears Katerina Maxine Victorian Scroll Ring in 18 K White Gold with a Center Ruby Stone, Retail: $16,780; Courtesy D'Orazio & Associates

Searching Deep Within For Beauty

2011-07-18T14:27:00.001-04:00

In recent years, designers have sensed the desire in their customers for highly personal jewelry. Not only shall it be beautiful and have intrinsic value, but the most precious jewelry items will reveal something special about the collector. Could it be that technology, that runaway train, has created a fascination for a return to the natural world ?

Designers are definitely reaching for more exotic gems to offer their customers, and jewelry fans are embracing them with fervor. Stalactites are one of the most exotic gems placed in gorgeous contemporary jewelry we've seen.

Lovely and mysterious, these gems were once hanging from the ceilings of caves. Liquid minerals dripping down from the 'ceiling' as it were deep within underground caverns eventually harden into long tendrils. Some liquid minerals reach the floor underneath stalactites and form into mounds called stalagmites.

Take a look at a cave where stalactites are formed. Can you imagine anything so spectacular as the imaginative Nebula's Eye necklace by Nina Nguyen Designs owing its origin to this mysterious underworld?

Nebula's Eye necklace: Courtesy Nina Nguyen Designs

Jade Persuades

2011-07-16T12:50:00.002-04:00

Green toned gemstones are favored with both genders. There's something downright hopeful about the color green, and we don't just mean its association with 'green backs". Natural green stones are mined in just about every color range imaginable. Yellow green, grass green, and bluish-greens, all catch the eye of the viewer.

Jade is an ancient stone of incalculable color varieties; its toughness as a natural material has made it coveted not only for decorative objects but in fine jewelry for centuries. The geology of its discovery plays a huge role in what the color will look like. Two classifications for jade exist, something a bit unusual in the gem field. Jade can actually be a jadeite stone or nephrite material. Both valuable and interesting in their appeal.

A few decades back, seismic activity in hilly Guatemala exposed a mother lode of ancient blue green jade for which the ancient Mayans of the region were celebrated.

But the material is found in Asia where certain colors like Burmese (now Myanmar) jade is found, are considered the pinnacle of desirability.

Do a bit of scouring around yourself and discover what topnotch designers are doing with this verdant stone.
Adeler Jewelers feature a lively green jade stone in their original neckpiece. Simple. Timeless.

Green Jade and Diamond Pendant; 14k Yellow Gold Necklace, SRP: $11,995, www.AdelerJewelers.com

Step Out in Chrysoprase

2011-07-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

Designers are forever on the prowl for under utilized gemstones to populate their collections. This is one way for them to keep their customers enthused and even surprised with their new collections. Just because a gemstone is unknown to the customer doesn't mean they can't get a quick tutorial and get up to speed on its inherent value as a worthy stone for couture jewelry.

gems.com

Take a look at Chrysoprase. This most valuable member of the Chalcedony group boasts a lyrical soft bluish-green tint. You'll be pleased to learn that the colors of Chrysoprase are always natural. So don't panic; it's organic. In today's market, natural is ---well, naturally the better choice. No enhancements touched this beauty. Chrysoprase actually derived its soft elegant hue from the inclusion of nickel. While its species, Chalcedony is a form of the abundant quartz mineral group, Chalcedony by contrast is considered somewhat of a rare occurrence.

Designer Irene Neuwirth pairs the analogous tones of fine Turquoise and Chrysoprase together in a perfect union punctuated by lively white diamonds to form a spendid pair of pendant earrings.

Earring Image Courtesy: D'Orazio & Associates