March 26th, 2008

Tip: Do not put your engagement ring in a balloon filled with helium

red balloonsSad story on Yahoo! News:
Honey, will you marry… Oh. Never mind…

“It is the one moment every man wants to get right — and which London floor-fitter Lefkos Hajji could hardly have got more wrong.

The luckless 28 year-old’s dreams of giving his sweetheart, Leanne, 26, the ultimate proposal have literally vanished into thin air.

Hajji, of Hackney, east London, had concealed a $12,000 engagement ring inside a helium balloon. The idea was that she would pop the balloon as he popped the question.

But as he left the shop, a gust of wind pulled the balloon from his hand and he watched the ring — and quite possibly the affections of his girlfriend — sailing away over the rooftops.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he told The Sun newspaper.

“I just watched as it went further and further into the air.

“I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me.”

Hajji spent two hours in his car trying to chase and find the balloon, without success.

“I thought I would give Leanne a pin so I could literally pop the question,” he said.

“But I had to tell her the story — she went absolutely mad. Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring.”

He is hoping the ring will still turn up.

“It would be amazing if someone found it,” he added.

(Reporting by Peter Apps. Editing by Steve Addison)”

Take home message? While it’s romantic to put an engagement ring in a unique place as a surprise for your girl, it won’t be romantic if the ring gets lost. Nothing wrong with using a CZ in a setting as a temporary ring, even if you have to attach a sticker saying this ring is redeemable with a real diamond upon saying yes. Use your imagination, but be smart :)




March 18th, 2008

Get Smart: Buji Bijoux is essential

Buji Bijoux is essentialHot new designer, buji bijoux is starting to make some waves. They made the February 2008 edition of inStyle Magazine with their honeysuckle rose earrings. Their all a-flutter hoop earrings are now the “essential item” in OK Magazine, and on the red carpet, their jewelry has been seen on Hilary Duff and is going to make a cameo in Get Smart the movie. Definitely a designer to watch!




March 14th, 2008

72 carat D Flawless going on auction April 10 at Sothebys Hong Kong

72 carat flawless diamond auctionImpressive diamond is going on Auction soon. It is an exquisite 72 carat pear-shaped D Flawless. Here is Yahoo’s take on the story:

“NEW YORK – A 72.22-carat diamond, so large it could fill a tablespoon, is expected to bring up to $13 million when it goes on auction next month.

Cut from an original rough diamond, the D-color, flawless gem is prized for its pear shape and GIA-graded excellent polish and symmetry. D-color is actually colorless and considered the most highly valued.

It was previewed in Manhattan on Monday and will be offered on April 10 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong galleries, which estimates its value at $10 million to $13 million. The buyer has the privilege of naming the stone.

Sotheby’s said the most expensive diamond and jewel sold at auction, the pear-shaped, 100.10 carat Star of Season, brought $16.5 million in May 1995.”




February 5th, 2008

Robert Scoble back from Davos reporting on Methane Gas to Diamonds

farts to diamondsI was reading the latest news from my feeds and noticed a story about Diamonds from an unlikely source. Robert Scoble, formerly of Microsoft. He met some cool technologists at Davos who told him about their work.

I was never into fart jokes, so I did not repeat his headline in reporting the story, but our readers should find the story interesting. Dig in.




February 5th, 2008

NY Times: Lasers change colors of platinum, aluminum & titanium

NY Times article: lasers metal goldFrom the NY Times comes news that researchers at the University of Rochester can use a tabletop laser to turn aluminum into gold.

Neat trick :)




January 28th, 2008

Joi and the Chocolate Factory

Joi Ito and the Chocolate FactoryGmail has this cool feature that helps you waste even more time than email does alone. They let you add your RSS feeds to a list which are fed back to you one at a time in web snippets on top of your email.

So while you’re reading some boring note from your boss or whatnot, you can see the latest, coolest headlines from the feeds you watch.

Today Joi Ito caught me with an intriguing headline about a TCHO beta. Expecting a cool new tech site I never heard of, I headed over there.

Turns out it’s even better. He and a couple people from Wired magazine invested in a Chocolate Factory. So put down your diamonds for a moment and give the chocolate beta a try.  Then report back. $4.00 for a 50g bar.




January 10th, 2008

Charlie Wilson’s Diamonds

Julia Roberts War & diamondsI just saw Charlie Wilson’s War. Not a bad movie at all. Of course you need to take movies and article and news reports that purport to tell you inside stories of CIA covert operations with a grain of salt. They are covert for a reason. They are a secret.

Published accounts of real events are easily manipulated. Who will be able to confirm or deny the story?

Sometimes a story is told to achieve an agenda, sometimes because the writer knows a little bit and needs to turn it into a compelling enough story to sell it. But if you look at these kinds of movies as somewhat fiction, they can be fun.

That’s NOT why I’m blogging about it. The reason for this post is that Julia Roberts wears some outstanding jewelry with enormous diamonds throughout this film. Even if for nothing else, our readership should enjoy that aspect of the movie alone. But besides, it is a good film.




December 24th, 2007

Susan Sarandon gets flak for cocktail party at Lev Leviev’s store

susan sarandon ny post lev levievThe NY Post shouts: “JEWELER FOES BLAST SARANDON“. Politics in the Middle East is never simple. A Jewish group is upset with Lev Leviev not over any issue around diamonds, but his support for Jewish Settlements in the West Bank. His store has had picketers in front of it, on and off, since opening, and Sarandon apparently crossed the lines to attend a cocktail party.

Funny, the article mentions the Apthorp building. I just attended a cocktail party there myself and knew that I had heard something about the owner but couldn’t remember who it was. Not too many buildings like that one in New York.




December 24th, 2007

Judge Alex Diamond Case

judge alex on diamondsI’m a fan of the TV court shows. Watched The People’s Court since Judge Wapner’s days. You learn a lot about people and the law from watching these shows. My favorite episodes revolve around Jewelry, although most episodes are about tenant law, puppies that got sick after purchase, used cars that go bad within a couple weeks and family members not paying back loans.

Today Judge Alex had a case of a Jeweler who was accused of switching diamonds.  Fascinating case, at least if you’re in the business.

Now Alex is my favorite of the current crop of Judges (Marilyn Milian comes in a close second). It turns out, that besides being a former cop, former trial attorney and judge, Alex used to sell diamonds as well. Interesting…

Well this lady bought a ring off eBay. She didn’t follow up the purchase with an appraisal. Then she brought it into a Jeweler to get a matching band made. After she got back the ring, she noticed a little indentation in it. But she didn’t know much about Jewelry. She thought it was severe, but I think it was something easily polished away and both Alex and the Jeweler felt the same way.

The plaintiff lost the case. She thought that the Jeweler pulled out the small baguettes and switched them for diamonds of a worse quality.  Alex got an appraisal from a Jeweler he knew, who appraised the quality of the diamonds as identical to what her eBay ad said. I was really surprised at that. She got lucky with that purchase, but it’s mind blowing that so many customers have absolutely no clue as to when they are getting a good deal or getting had…

It’s clear she didn’t prove her case. She had to prove the condition before sending it to the Jeweler by getting an appraisal and then get another one after it came back from the Jeweler with issues. But just going by her recollection is not going to win her the case.

For those who have seen the show and wonder how to handle such a purchase…well first eBay is not the best place to buy Jewelry. But if you do want to use them, make sure the seller has a certificate from a reputable lab on the center stone. Then have the Jewelry appraised after receiving the item. Make sure the center stone matches the cert.

As Judge Alex said, for small stones, the labor is probably more expensive to the Jeweler than the gain in switching stones…let alone the loss in reputation. And if you have a cert on the center stone, the plot and specs are as good as a fingerprint and you can feel safe sending in the Jewelry for work. At least in terms of not worrying that stones would get switched. Also take lots of before and after pictures. Close-ups and from all angles.

Overall I thought the Judge did a great job.