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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Gold roses, anyone?

The roses, which were made of Au99.99 gold foil were displayed in the shape of a heart at a jeweley store in Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu province on Dec 15.

They are worth 600,000 yuan (US$90,165) and were bought by a man, whose surname means 'gold' in Chinese, according to an online report.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

UAE hotel erects 11-million-dollar Christmas tree


ABU DHABI (AFP) - – Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars on Wednesday.
It is the "most expensive Christmas tree ever," with a "value of over 11 million dollars," said Hans Olbertz, general manager of Emirates Palace hotel, at its inauguration.
The 13-metre (40-foot) faux evergreen, located in the gold leaf-bedecked rotunda of the hotel, is decorated with silver and gold bows, ball-shaped ornaments and small white lights.

But the necklaces, earrings and other jewellery draped around the tree's branches are what give it a record value.

It holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, said Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery.

"The tree itself is about 10,000 dollars," Olbertz said. "The jewellery has a value of over 11 million dollars -- I think 11.4, 11.5."

This will probably be an entry into the Guinness book of world records, Olbertz said, adding that Emirates Palace planned to contact the organisation about the tree which is to stay until the end of the year.

Asked if the tree might offend religious sensibilities in the United Arab Emirates, where the vast majority of the local population is Muslim, Olbertz said he did not think it would. "It's a very liberal country," he said.

The hotel has had a Christmas tree up in previous years, but this year "we said we have to do something different," and the hotel's marketing team hatched the plan, said Olbertz.

The tree is not the first extravagant offering from Emirates Palace -- a massive, dome-topped hotel sitting amid fountains and carefully manicured lawns.

The hotel, which bills itself as seven-star, in February introduced a package for a seven-day stay priced at one million dollars.

Takers of the package have a private butler and a chauffeur driven Maybach luxury car at their disposal during their stay, as well as a private jet available for trips to other countries in the region.

And in May, the hotel opened a gold vending machine, becoming the first place outside Germany to install "gold to go, the world's first gold vending machine," said Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the machine.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Diamond swapper nabbed

A MAN has been arrested for swapping real diamonds with replica diamond crystals at goldsmith shops.

Police arrested the 38-year-old suspect on Thursday night.

The man entered busy goldsmith stores, pretending as if he wanted to purchase a one-carat diamond and asking to examine it.

He would wait for the shop attendant to look away or attend to other customers before swapping the genuine diamond for the fake. The man would then leave the store claiming he needed more time to consider.

The suspect was caught near Yio Chu Kang MRT station in an operation staged on Thursday.

He will be tried in court for cheating on Saturday under Section 420 Chapter 224. If convicted, he faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine.