Jewels worth six million euros stolen

PARIS (AFP) - - Jewellery worth some six million euros (8.4 million dollars) was stolen in a hold-up Saturday at the elite Chopard store in Paris's Place Vendome, police said.

The theft happened at around 3 pm (1300 GMT) at the premises near the Ritz Hotel, an official at the Paris police headquarters said, giving no details.

Chopard makes watches and jewels for the stars and has branches in most of the world's capitals.

In December thieves staged a record 100-million-dollar jewel heist at the Harry Winston boutique in the posh Avenue Montaigne of the Champs-Elysees.

Suspicion fell on the international gang known as the Pink Panthers.

Below: One of the shop windows of the elite Chopard store in Place Vendome in Paris. Jewellery worth some six million euros (8.4 million dollars) was stolen in a hold-up Saturday at the elite Chopard store in Paris's Place Vendome, police said.

Lovenia Forbesi Echinoderm

This is a Lovenia Forbesi Echinoderm probably from a Morgan Limestone, Mannum Formation. The locality is from the Murray River in South Australia

Age. Oligocene to L. Miocene

Approx. 23 million years old , now don't you feel young?

Ammolite

Another nice flashy ammonite...

This one shows iridiscence with a predominant red play of colour!
I think the thing about ammonites is that they are found in a variety of shapes and designs.. perhaps just Mother Nature's way of creation!

Ruby Ring in need of make over..

Got this ruby ring on an impulse buy...

I like the design of the band.. with that celtic band feel...

But somehow or rather, I just feel weird with rubies, or perhaps stones that colour...

Hope the ring can get a makeover soon....

What do you think?

Fancy Gold in your liquor?

This is really something interesting I spotted recently!!!

Imagine drinking gold?

That's not a far fetched idea!

Goldschlager is indeed a novelty booze. It is a clear cinnamon liqueur, swirling with hundreds of tiny flakes of real 23k gold.

Take a close look at all the gold flakes!

Stromatolite

This may resemble the micro crytalline quartz, Tiger's Eye, but in fact its a fossilzed bed of algae, known as Stromatolite.

A closer look of the specimen shows layers of different colours!

Stromatolites (from Greek στρώμα, strōma, mattress, bed, stratum, and λιθος, lithos, rock) are layered accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae).

Trilobite Elrathia kingi

This is a nice collection of Tribolite Elrathia kingi. I actually recevied this set from a friend for my birthday years back.

From small to large.. the details of this fossilized trilobite specimen is very well preserved!

Trilobites ("three-lobes") are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites first appear in the fossil record during the Early Cambrian period (540 million years ago) and flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before beginning a drawn-out decline to extinction when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders, with the sole exception of Proetida, died out. Trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 250 million years ago.

Fossilized Crinoids

This fossilized crinoid specimen was obtained from a local book shop:

Can see millions of them fossilized, so much that it gives the entire specimen a 'marbled' look!
A close up view on the polished side reveals:

Many crinoids resemble flowers, with their cluster of waving arms atop a long stem, they are sometimes called sea lilies.

Scrubs

Think nursing is a boring job?

It's really time to change your point of view, especially after reading Scrubs, an online magazine that covers topics ranging from mind, health, beauty, style, work , love, news, entertainment and even money! It really lives up to what it claims as the nurse's guide to good living!

Currently running on the site is a Scrubs poll that is inviting readers to choose their favourite fictional portrayal of a nurse. I personally choose Carol Hathaway from the ER series because Carol is sensitive towards the lack of recognition the ER nurses experience. The fact that she was involved in a failed suicide attempt by barbiturates shows that she is human after all and has emotions, the part whereby she recovers and gets back to work shows her strong will power that I believe portrays true character in nurses!

Apart from the entertainment, there is also a great segment on the site which is known as The Tip Jar, which is almost similar to Auntie Agony. I personally enjoy reading this segment because, you need not have to be a nurse to use this tips. I was reading the post on how to spot a depressed person, and came across seven great pointers, which I think is extremely useful in real life!

Orthoceras

Orthoceras , which means straight horn, is a genus of extinct nautiloid cephalopod.

This is a beautiful fossilized Orthoceras specimen whereby you can observe 3 different pieces of different sizes.

Fossilized Molar

What's this little weird thing?

It's actually a fossilized molar from the Oligocene Age sheep like mammal, Oreodon, Mericoidodon culbertsoni.

A clearer, close up view of the piece:

Tricks a Toothbrush can do!

What's this going to do with the overall topic of the blog?

No, I have not run out of topics to talk about, but this has to be a jewllery lover's best friend: a humble tooth brush with soft bristles!
Well, I use this toothbrush to clean my pieces of jewellery.

You can help to remove all the grime and dirt from wear.

Here is what you can do:

Get a mild dish detergent and mix with warm water in a bowl.

Put the gold item into this mixture and let sit for a few minutes; this aids in softening and removing the oils...

Use the soft toothbrush to gently scrub the jewellery.

Remove item from soapy water, rinse it and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth.

voila... gleaming and clean!

Flawless blue diamond fetches record £6.2m at auction

A flawless blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats has sold for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs (£6.2 million), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction, Sotheby's said.

The rectangular-shaped blue stone, mounted on a platinum ring, is the rarest to enter the international market this year.

The anonymous phone bidder, who won after a 15-minute war, has yet to name the gem.

The flawless diamond, which is smaller than a penny, was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year, and was the centrepiece of Sotheby's semi-annual sale in Geneva.

The stone sets a record price per carat for any gemstone sold at auction of $1,349,752 (£883,956), Sotheby's said.

The blue diamond bucked a trend at the auction, where rings, bracelets and necklaces on offer sold, on average, for almost 10 per cent less than expected.

I was a little bit concerned in this market," said David Bennett, head of jewellery for Sotheby's Europe and Middle East.

The previous record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond was $7.9 million (£5.2 million), including commission, for a stone weighing 6.04 carats at sale in Hong Kong in October 2007, also by Sotheby's.

Fossilized Dinosaur Bone

Fossilized dinosaur bone..

An animal's bones and skeletal structure are made through a process called "endochondral ossification," which is one of two types of bone formation (ossification), and is the process responsible for much of the bone growth in vertebrate skeletons.

Interesting cabbing material; Fossilized Dinosaur Bone used in jewelry is a very soft material, with a hardness of only 3 on the Mohs scale.

Fossil Coral

Time has really frozen in this wonderfully fossilized coral from Indonesia that has been polished into a cabobhon shape.

You can even see the colony of corals intact upon closer inspection.

Black Obsidian Axe Head

This is crafted from Black Obsidian, which is a volcanic glass. Rather primitive looking, this axe head is pretty sharp.

One of the tools probably used by early Mankind!

Ammonite

Another type of ammonite.

This pair is supposedly from Madagascar You can notice a slight Mother of Pearl like play of colour on the surface

A slice of mammoth ivory

While elephant ivory is not endangered to be traded under the CITES act, mammoth ivory is not on the list.

Got this sliced mammoth ivory:

You can even observe the fine criss cross lines along the cross section, indicating that its true ivory.

Fossilized Ammonites

Fossilized ammonites come in many shapes and forms!!!

This specimen comes from Somerset, England

As you can see from the close up pics, the inner area of the ammonite has been replaced by a quartz like mineral...

Trapezoid cut gem set

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this set of gem was: Hard boiled Candy!!!

Indeed this set of gems, not only has a very unique cut, but also a nice pastel candy colour!

The blue one is blue chaldecony.

whereas, the white one, is an opal. I have not thought of anything to set them in yet. Probably will keep them as they are at the moment. But they will make interesting sculptural pieces!

Cat's Eye Opal

These is my favourite kind of stone... opal..

But it does not have the normal play of colour..

This cat's eye opal shows chatoyance... which is an eye effect on the stone...

As you can see from the pics, it shows, an open and close eye effect..

Bugging Quartz

One of my newest purchase recently:

A pair of reverse carved quartz with a design of a cockroach-like bug in each.

I really like the details on these pieces, if you look carefully at the legs, you can even see that the artisian spent a lot of time carving the details.
Looks great for a pair of cufflinks...