The Aurora Pyramid of Hope

Was browsing thru wikipedia when I chanced across this very interesting diamond exhibit known as the The Aurora Pyramid of Hope which is the most comprehensive natural color diamond collection in the world!

Pictures from Wikipedia
All the colors of the spectrum that diamonds exist in are represented in various shapes, saturations and modifiers including blue diamonds, pink diamonds, red diamonds, green diamonds, orange diamonds, purple diamonds, violet diamonds, yellow diamonds, olive diamonds and brown diamonds. Also represented are color changing chameleon diamonds. Aurora Pyramid of Hope was put together by Alan Bronstein and Harry Rodman over 25 years.

What a beauty...

Definitely a must see for all diamond lovers!

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing all blog readers

A Merry Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the continuous support over the past year!

How to buy Christmas jewellery for your girlfriend

An interesting video..

Something in line with the festive season!

How to buy Christmas jewellery for your girlfriend- Great tips! enjoy!

Feature Friday: Lee Hwa Jewellery Facebook page

This week's Feature Friday is not really on jewellery design, but rather on how a Singaporean jeweller, Lee Hwa Jewellery has moved onto using the popular social neworking site, Facebook, to keep its customers and fans updated!

Be intrigued by the numerous photos from events like Lee Hwa Diamond Odyssey - Municipal of Haute Luxe, Terrain of Glamazons, etc...

Check out the page on Facebook!

Vintage jewellery

With the Christmas around the corner, are you thinking of what accessories to match your outfit for your party?

If you are thinking of vintage as a theme, don't forget to jazz up your outfit with vintage style rings or even vintage pendants! Vintage jewellery definitely has more character and emotions attached to them compared to commercially mass produced modern pieces, which can be molded by the thousands.

Navigating the vintage jewelry market, be it at the auction house or the retail malls, can be of a challenge to both the novice to the expert!

When shopping for vintage jewelry, you should look for a period piece that speaks to you and fits your personality and dressing style. If you plan on wearing the item every day to work and play, make sure it is versatile in a way that it will be able to match with both business and weekend wear.

Another tip in buying vintage jewellery is to choose a piece that you will wear and future generations will want to keep, such an item should also have a strong resale value. Try to stay away from trendy items and stick to the evergreen classics designs that will still be in style years from now.

Some interesting vintage rings I have come across recently include:

Silver & Gold Vintage Ring studded with a Zircon Gemstone.

It is an extremely interesting design that comes in two colour tones ( gold and silver) which are shaped into swirling patterns that join to create a cage-like, concave shape. Additional gold embellishment atop the silver base creates an abstract, flower-like pattern.

Another eye catching piece would be this:
14K Gold Vintage Style rind wide band

This is a very simple wide-banded 14k gold ring that is also elegant at the same time. Small, raised divots throughout the gold band give the simple ring some texture. Looks indeed a evergreen piece destined to withstand the waves of time!

Feature Friday: Montblanc Ingrid Bergman La Donna Fountain Pen

In their continuing celebration of famous screen actresses, Montblanc have released this special edition pen in honour of the work of Ingrid Bergman. The famous Swedish actress won three Oscars and was celebrated for her roles as film star and mother of four children. The pen is inspired by the sleek. cosmopolitan elegance of the 1940s.

Cartridge Fountain Pen, 18 K gold nib with heart-shaped hole. Metal cap engraved with a pattern and coated with a mother-of-pearl style lacquer, decorated with Ingrid Bergman´s signature. Red-gold-plated clip set with a royal-purple amethyst (approx. 0.25 ct). Barrel is made of black precious resin.

Friday Feature - CatherinetteRings

Welcome to my very first Friday Feature, where I feature some interesting and new designs.

Today's spotlight in on Catherinette Rings, which specialises in Steampunk Jewellery. What is steampunk anyway? According to Wikipedia,teampunk is a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.

Alright, enough with the long and lengthy introduction.

Here's some of the interesting rings featured for sale by Catherinette Rings on Etsy:

(All images from Catherinette Rings)

Robot Ring:

A ring made with clock gears and Sapphire jewel vintage watch crown:

My personal favourite, Ring with Boulder Opal, which I have of course, reserved!
So, if you are into quirk and interesting sculpture rings, check out Catherinette Rings on Etsy!

"Vivid pink" diamond sells for record $10.8 million

HONG KONG (Reuters Life!) – A rare, 5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off for a record $10.8 million in Hong Kong on Tuesday, putting some shine back into the world's rare and large stones market which was badly hit by the financial crisis.

The stone, of a "vivid pink" hue and considered near perfect, but not quite flawless, triggered brisk bidding in Christie's autumn sales of Asian and Chinese art in Hong Kong.

The price smashed the previous record, set 15 years ago in Geneva for a 19.66-carat stone that sold for $7.4 million. The pink gem's per-carat price of $2.2 million was also the highest ever paid for any diamond at auction, Christie's said.

"No stone has ever been sold for $2 million a carat, we were used to ... a million dollars a carat for colored diamonds but never 2 million," said Francois Curiel, Christie's Europe chairman. "This is an absolute record that is not going to be broken for a while I believe."

The stone, set in a so-called "cushion-cut" ring by famed jewelers Graff Diamonds, was just a quarter the size of the Geneva stone and not quite flawless but the stone's "vivid pink" is considered near perfect. Curiel described it as a "fabulous pink diamond, probably one of the rarest stones I've ever seen."

While the South African-mined diamond isn't quite rated flawless given minor blemishes, Christie's said that these could be removed by minor repolishing.

Christie's has a track-record of putting rare polished stones up for sale in Asia, given its confidence in the depth of the Asian market for the world's top gemstones and artwork.

Last May, before the financial crisis began to hurt the global auction market, Christie's sold a squash-ball-sized, 101.27-carat diamond in Hong Kong for $6.2 million.

Despite this, some major gems have disappointed in Asia, including a 72.22-carat "D" flawless white diamond that failed to hit its reserve price in a Sotheby's Hong Kong sale last April, falling short of its $10-12 million pre-sale estimate.

While the world's most expensive jewel ever sold at auction is the "Wittelsbach" blue diamond, a 17th-century deep grayish-blue stone that fetched $24 million last year, top red and pink gemstones are also known for stratospheric valuations.