Do Diamonds Lose Their Sparkle?

Why do people allow their diamond jewellery to get so shabby? Diamond jewellery requires care attention or pretty soon your sparkling diamonds are reduced to looking like dirty glass.

My opinion is that people seem to think that diamond jewellery only sparkles when it is new. This is simply not the case. Natural diamonds are millions of years old, so you never buy them new! Diamonds are special, they are a part of eternity, and they will never lose their sparkle.

Take this recent event that I encountered not long ago as an example. My neighbour knocks on my door in a state of panic, she has inadvertently lost her diamond ring down the plug hole (quite a common occurence). As the resident jewellery, she thinks I can help her. What she really needed was a plumber, but I was happy to help a person in need. 30 minutes later, after dismantling her U-bend, the ring was recovered. She was delighted. Whilst rinsing the diamond ring, I notice the state of it. It seemed that she never took it off, even when washing up (which is how it ended up down the plug hole) the result was that dirt had built up under and around the diamond setting. After a little lesson on cleaning jewellery, I offered to take the ring in to the workshop to give it a polish. I gave it back to her a couple of days later and she was overjoyed. She couldn't believe that it could look like the day she first received it again.

It's simple really, look after your diamond jewellery and they will last lifetimes. When diamonds get dirty, clean them. When the rhodium coating of white gold starts to fade, go back to your jeweller and ask them to re-polish and rhodium them. Thats the beauty of them, they can always look like the first time you bought them!

Conflict Diamonds & Hollywood

Conflict diamonds (aka blood diamonds) are about to get a Hollywood makeover. The Blood Diamond, featuring Leo DiCaprio, will be released at the end of 2006 highlighting the problem facing the diamond industry.

Even more questions to ask the retailer! Buying a diamond is complex as it is. Consumers put a lot of trust in the retailer in the diamond buying process. The simple truth is that buying a diamond is an art, it can not be learnt in one day simply by browsing the internet. Yes there are some very good guides around but they need to be learned using real life diamonds as a reference.

The heightened awareness of the illicit diamond trade that will be generated by the forthcoming film will result in some difficult questions being asked of the retailer.

Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict in countries such as Siera Leone, Angola, Liberia. Accepting that atrocities have been committed on the back of illicit diamond trading, the diamond industry is keen to point out that new controls have been implemented to stop the trade in these diamonds.

In particular, the Kimberley Process which was launched May 2000 has gone a long way to make a diamond trader responsible and thus careful in purchasing diamonds from legitimate sources.

The new hollywood film will create some doubt in the minds of consumers. Retailers should not be scared of questions such as:

• Do you know where your diamonds originate?
• Can I see your company's policy on conflict diamonds?
• How can I be sure that none of your jewellery contains conflict diamonds?

Indeed, a retailer that is able to allay the consumer's fears implied in the above questions, will gain extra confidence from that consumer.

The result: A greater loyalty by the consumer to the retailer.

Diamonds Raise More Attention Than Wisteria Lane

Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan showed off a Gruvelli blue and white diamond watch at the Red Cross Katrina benefit in Beverley Hills. The Gruvelli watch was one of many auction items sold on the evening to raise money for the Katrina fund. Sheridan hosted the event and her watch eventually sold for more than a walk-on part on an episode of Desperate Housewives.

Precious Diamond Jewellery Collections

The stories and history behind jewellery collections are often more important to the valuation than the jewels themselves!

We just spotted an article in W Jewelry magazine whihc ranks the Top 10 collections in its latest issue:

1. Queen Elizabeth. Very few of us can boast a collection of tiaras and crowns but The Queen can. She also has a scepter that holds the mazing 53 carat Cullinan diamond and a 1904 Cartier necklace that was originally designed for Queen Alexander.

2. Farah Pahlavi. Although the former empress of Iran went into exile back in the 1970s and left many of her jewels behind she still holds an amazing collection of jewellery. The mainstay of the collection is a 4lb Ruby, Pearl, Emerald and Diamond Crown that took Pierre Arpels of Van Cleef & Arpels six months to make!

3. Elizabeth Taylor. The Hollywood star is the pinup girl for beautiful jewelry, The center piece of her collection is the Taylor-Burton diamond an incredible 69-carat pear-shaped diamond. Lucky Elizabeth has also received many other outstanding jewels as presents, including La Peregrina, a pearl also given to her by her former husband, Richard Burton, and a set of jewellery that was given to her by Michael Jackson which is adorned with gemstone-encrusted monkeys.

4. Lily Safra. This socialite favours antique jewellery, she collects pieces from Place Vendome jeweler Joel A. Rosenthal.

5. Dodie Rosekrans. Rosekrans has a thing for ancient jewels and for emeralds - including those previously owned by crowned heads of India and maharajas.

6. Prince Jefri of Brunei. He is said to decorate his gadgets with colored stones.

7. Queen Sirikit of Thailand. She's made it her mission to promote native gold and silver handicrafts, so she travels the globe showing off her personal collection of jewellery - and has those interested parties check out the Thai pieces, too.

8. Danielle Steel. Steel, author of romance novels, has a passion for big jewels that look good when she wears them. Her yellow diamond collection is believed to be unbelievable.

9. Princess Firyal of Jordan. Favours large earrings and has a fabulous colelction of jewellery despite the fact thattwo of the center pieces; (a brooch of Andy Warhol's and a Cartier bracelet owned by Wallis Simpson inscribed with a note from the Duke of Windsor) were stolen.

10. Barbra Streisand. She has a preferance for art nouveau-style jewelry. She recently sold one of her Lalique long-chain necklaces was at auction for $352,000.

Chopard Jewellery Brings Out The Basic Instinct!

Basic Instinct 2 opens on March 31st and actress Sharon Stone is once again on sparkling form thanks to her exclusive Chopard jewellery that she wears throughout the film.

Chopard are the "Official" jewellers to the film and they have kitted out Sharon Stone and her colleagues with a whole collection of jewellery, watches and accessories

Chopard also allowed Sharon Stone to pick her own pieces of jewellery to wear throughout the film and her favourite three pieces were: A Strada XXL Watch which was set in white gold and set with Diamonds and a mother of pearl dial.

She also choose to wear a ring on her thumb (unusual!), she choose two white-gold Ice Cube rings with diamonds, plus a diamond-encrusted ring sporting a heart-sized pink diamond at its centre.

Sharon Stone also wears, what she has called, "the most beautiful earrings ever seen", complete with diamonds and aquamarine drops.