It's not an easy time for Zale's, the ubiquitous jewelry seller. Jewelry sales are down across board, Zale's is part of the widely circulated e-mail cautioning gift card shoppers, and with a bleak holiday season ahead they have created a couple of new offerings to tempt shoppers.
Zales has also introduced new pendants and charms to show support for the troops including a sterling silver engraved dog tag with the option of 1-3 initials featured on the front face of the tag, a round charm offered in both 14K gold and sterling silver with a choice of service emblem and a sterling silver military cross pendant, again with the choice of branch.
Their big advertising effort is focused on the Celebration Diamond, a new patented diamond cut that features 102 facets. Celebration Diamonds are available in round and princess cuts and each is set in an 18 karat white gold cathedral mounting with platinum prongs and "Celebration" inscribed inside the ring. The complete line includes engagement rings, solitaire earrings, and necklaces with prices from from $1,499 to $44,995. The holiday season is often a popular time for engagements and Zale's is hoping the economy won't scare off the would-be betrothed.
Given the recent lackluster art auctions, people are understandably wary about the Art Basel Miami Beach show next month but the warm weather art event still hopes to attract the wealthy. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Cartier, which is the only jewelry sponsor of the event, will debut two jewelry collections, a high jewelry collection with tasseled pieces using sapphires and red spinels and Hypnose, an Art Deco-inspired line of black and white rings, pendants, bracelets and drop earrings. The collections will be displayed at the fair inside the Cartier Dome, which will feature a new visual installation, Diamonds, Gold and Dreams created by the filmmaker David Lynch, from Dec. 3 through Dec. 7. The piece includes a seven-minute "floating diamond" projection that will be displayed each hour accompanied by a musical score in an atmosphere that includes golden-fabric walls, gold-printed carpeting, gold trimmed display cases, an ornate curved display case for thePatiala necklace, and gold-accented furniture with reflective glass tops. The jewelry pieces will arrive in Cartier boutiques in March.
Louis Vuitton's 1001 Nuits (or 'Nights') is a striking collection of brass, pewter, and multi-colored crystals that come together to form a group of sparkling, logo-heavy jewelry pieces perfect for wearing this holiday season. Available in Amarante or Orange color schemes, the collection includes earrings, bracelet, brooch, ring, necklace, and even a hair barrette (an accessory that often gets forgotten these days) all of which tie together nicely but can also stand alone. Key design features include inset multifaceted strass crystals and a logo-engraved nail located at the center of each flower. $355-$890
The venerable Walters Museum in Baltimore, Maryland is opening up their vaults for Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry. The exhibit highlights the passion of Henry Walters (1848–1931) who collected jewelry from a large variety of cultures and periods. His collection runs the gamut from Mesopotamian stone pendants to masterpieces created by Tiffany and Co. The exhibition brings together more than 200 pieces of jewelry, combining extraordinary highlights from the holdings with objects from the Walters' vaults, The exhibit runs from now until January 4, 2009. A small sample of some of the pieces on display is in the gallery below.
On Nov. 24, Sotheby's in London is offering an amazing array of objects by famed Russian jeweler Carl Fabergé in its impressive Imperial & Royal Presents sale. Fabergé is best known for his incredible jeweled eggs, though he produced many other iitems as presents for the Russian Tsars and their family.
It is these latter items, including picture frames, sniff boxes, vesta cases, paper knives, compacts and pill boxes, that are featured in the auction. The top-priced lot is a Fabergé silver-gilt pearl and enamel heart shaped photograph frame enclosing a miniature of Empress Maria Fedorovna, circa 1890, est. $90,000 - $120,000.
One of our favorite items is this Fabergé enamel and silver frame (above) with a photograph of George, Duke of York, later George V, a present from Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, est. $30,000 - $45,000.
At the Victoria's Secret fashion show in Miami on Friday, some very special things were worn by some very special women in some very special places.
I'm talking about Adriana Lima in a $5 million Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra with white and black diamonds and rubies, and Heidi Klum in a sexy red bra and panty set laced together with strands of diamonds and adorned with giant red sequined wings.
As you can see, it was a glamorous show flanked with silver palm trees and many of the most beautiful women in the world. There were 68 outfits in total, each with its own spectacular theme. See our ten favorites in the gallery here.
Gallery: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show November 2008
The Victoria's Secret fashion show will be on CBS on December 3rd.
A new set of diamond-covered earbuds have hit the market. The latest come from Belgian jeweler Casa Gi and are on sale at the Clive Ranger jewelry shop in Bristol England for £3,499. They are made from 18K gold with 59 small diamonds individually set in gold on each earphone. The pieces match the rest of the Casa Gi line so you could make yourself a bit of a parure but with earbuds instead of earrings.
In a beautiful new book called Tiffany Style: 170 Years of Design, the famed jeweler's design director John Loring has gathered for the first time in one volume the most renowned and memorable pieces ever produced by the company. In this "best of Tiffany" collection, "readers will find a spectacular array of objects, from Louis Comfort Tiffany's famous lamps and vases to opulent silver tea sets to Andy Warhol's whimsical Christmas illustrations to Elsa Peretti's signature heart pendant," the jacket copy notes. Loring draws on Tiffany's unparalleled archives for sketches, design material, photographs spanning the last 170 years, and more.
(Is Michelle Obama a First Lady of Fashion? Click the photo and decide for yourself!)
Much has been made of the black and red Narcisco Rodriguez dress Michelle Obama wore when Barack Obama made his victory speech on election night but what about those sparklers in her ears? Vogue UK reports that the big dangling earrings are 18K white gold triple dangle earrings in pear, oval and marquee shapes covered with small diamonds. Fashion reporter Hitha Prabhakar prices them out at $10,275. Since Michelle Obama has said that the soon-to-be First Family buy everything they wear, we can only assume these were a special occasion splurge.
Outfitter J. Crew now offers a jewelry line, available at its new J. Crew Collection store on Madison Avenue in New York City or online. The pieces are simple and reasonably priced, but better suited for weekend wear than your best black-tie outfit. There is a Fashion category as well as a Fine category. Fashion includes necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, and pins in prices from $25 - $228. Fine includes mostly pearl items -- earrings, bracelets, and necklaces -- in prices from $65 - $495.
Louis Vuitton has just launched two patented diamond cuts.
These tough economic times give us few excuses to splurge on items that will be out of fashion in a couple of months. Louis Vuitton diamonds are the antidote to this problem.
You probably recognized the maker of these diamonds before even reading the heading. That's the kind of brand recognition that guarantees the longevity of Louis Vuitton.
These classic cuts, reminiscent of Louis Vuitton's signature prints, are sure to be in style forever. Size may vary, but these are the kind of diamonds you pass down to your grandchildren. They are not so much a splurge as a sensible diamond investment.
The rounded and pointed flower cuts you see at right may not be right for an engagement ring (who would brand love like that?), but for earrings and other decorative jewelry, these cuts are sure to be a hit.
The Vuitton diamonds have between 61 and 77 facets and have been set into a bracelet, a pair of earrings, two brooches, a ring and a necklace-the latter consisting of 1,001 tiny brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 15 carats, coexisting with 65 round flower diamonds (49 carats) and 79 pointed ones (44 carats), for a combined bling bang of 108 carats that retails for about $4 million.
I'd most like a pair of studs just like these. Mismatched, but recognizably a pair.
Italian jeweler Bulgari has announced a campaign to support the "Rewrite the Future" campaign of Save the Children. Through the "Rewrite the Future" campaign Save the Children is committing to providing quality education to eigh million children living in conflict-affected areas. Bulgari wants to raise 10 million euros by the end of 2009, of which one million euros will be donated by Bulgari in advance. Bulgari has created a silver ring for the campaign which features the Save the Children logo engraved inside. The ring will be on sale from February 1 to December 31, 2009 in all Bulgari stores throughout the world, in some selected department stores, and on Bulgari's e-commerce website for $290, $60 of which will be donated to the campaign.
Bulgari will also create a collection of 15 pieces of high jewelry and eight high-end timepieces, valued at three million euros. This collection will be officially presented on in June 2009 in Rome, on the occasion of Bulgari's retrospective exhibition "Between Eternity and History" to celebrate 125 years of the Bulgari brand. This collection of jewels and watches will be exhibited at various events throughout the year and the auctioned off on December 7, 2009 in New York and proceeds will be totally donated to Save the Children.
A historic blue-gray diamond will go on sale at Christie's London on December 10. The diamond, a 35.56 carat beauty, is known as the Wittelsbach diamond and as the Telegraph reports, it was given to Infanta Margarita Teresa by her father King Philip IV of Spain on the occasion of her engagement (to her uncle Leopold I of Austria no less). It was part of first the Austrian and then the Bavarian crown jewels before ending up back in private hands. It has been part of the same collection since 1964.
The diamond has the ideal combination of rarity (blue diamonds of this size are extraordinary scarce) and historical provenance and has been estimated to bring as much as £10 million at Christie's. Even six months ago it would seem a slam dunk that this gem would meet or even exceed estimates (in May a 13.39 carat blue diamond stunner sold for a world record price of $8.9 million). Now, however, even those at the highest ends of the market are cautious.
Paloma Picasso has launched her latest collection for Tiffany, a group of earrings, pendants and bracelets she's calling Zellige, and which employ age-old mosaic techniques. Picasso told The Canadian Press she was inspired by the tiled fountain at her Marrakech home, and that, to her, "Jewelry is about timelessness. A piece of jewelry is here to stay much longer than a dress or gown."
She also recognized that jewelry is perhaps as much about the wearer as the piece itself. "A lot of emotion is attached to jewelry. It's meant to be part of someone's life," she said.
Clearly I'm behind on my Gucci ads because I just noticed that Drew Barrymore is the face of the company's Horsebit jewelry line. According to this post from Fabsugar, dated almost a year ago, Barrymore is the first celebrity chosen to promote the line. I just spotted one of the ads in the September 2008 Travel + Leisure, so I guess Barrymore either signed a contact for a year or more, or the company is happy with how sales are going. The cocktail ring Barrymore's wearing, for example, is 18kt yellow gold with brown diamonds, total 5.76 carats: $10,890.
Given the recent lackluster art auctions, people are understandably wary about the Art Basel Miami Beach show next month but the warm weather art event still hopes to attract the wealthy. 
On Nov. 24, 
Louis Vuitton has just launched two patented diamond cuts.
