Christie's To Auction Christina Onassis Jewels

Christie's International will be auctioning a collection of 45 pieces of jewellery belonging to the late Christina Onassis, as part of a vintage jewels auction on the 11th June.

Highlights of the collection include a stunning pear-shaped 38-carat Harry Winston diamond, which was worn as a diamond pendant necklace by the only daughter of the famous shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. The necklace is expected to fetch between 1.8 and 2.2 million pounds.

A Faberge semi-precious stone buddha, dating back to the nineteenth century, will also be up for auction. Christie's estimates that this will fetch between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds, although experts believe it could fetch more than this. The buddha was kept on the yacht owned by Aristotle Onassis, which he named after his daughter. The buddha's hands and head move on springs and pivots, which would have been set in motion by the movement on the sea.

The collection also includes a ruby and diamond necklace by Van Cleef and Arpels, and a sapphire and diamond necklace expected to fetch around 120,000 pounds. The whole collection is expected to fetch up to 3 million pounds, and includes rings, bracelets, necklaces, watches and oddities.

Christina Onassis was dubbed the "poor little rich girl" during her lifetime, as she struggled to find happiness despite her family wealth. She was married and divorced four times, and had a much-loved daughter, Athina, but she continually struggled with issues of self esteem and depression. She died in 1987, aged just 37 years, leaving her two-year old daughter as the heiress to the huge family fortune.

A Licence To Own Diamond Jewellery?

When do you need a licence to own a diamond jewellery piece? The answer is when the diamond jewellery can actually kill!


Having managed to make the world's smallest gun, the makers SHG SA in La CHaux-de-Fonds have developed a diamond and gold version.




Made entirely of 18 Karat gold and complete with 127 (2.53 carats of Vs quality) diamonds, the customised SwissMiniGun sells for up to £30,000. Only 5.5 centimeters in length and with ammunition of 2.34 millimeters caliber, the SwissMiniGun is the smallest revolver and rim fire ammunition in the world.


The gun is available in Switzerland and Europe but not the UK and you will need to have a proper gun permit!


Read more about the gun here.

Heritage Makes A Comeback

Some of the world's oldest and most famous jewellery houses are drawing inspiration from the past, in an attempt to compete against the global luxury fashion brands such as Gucci, Dior and Versace.

Nowhere can this be seen more dramatically than in Paris. The Chaumet jewellery house originally made its name as the jeweller to Napoleon, and their current collection reflects this history, including bracelets with love messages inspired by Napoleon's gifts to Josephine.

Cartier's recently created collection "Inde Mysterieuse", pays homage to its longstanding love affair with the Indian sub-continent, which dates back to the start of the century, when Louis Cartier became fascinated with the Maharajahs and Moghul art. The past has been brought into the present to create jewellery pieces that are fine examples of modern design and creativity, whilst maintaining a clear historical influence.

One of the biggest challenges facing traditional jewellers is the need to appeal to new markets, and particularly to younger generations, who have been born into a globalised marketplace dominated by powerful brand names and modern marketing expertise. Traditional jewellers therefore have to adapt to the changing marketplace, recognise their strengths and weaknesses, and adopt new marketing strategies.

Whilst history provides a rich source of inspiration for jewellers, perhaps the greatest strength of the historic houses is the dedicated craftsmanship and skill they offer. These qualities allow the jewellers to work closely with the client, and to create unique, bespoke pieces of jewellery that are highly personalised. This is something that the global fashion brands will never be able to compete with.

Victoria & Albert Museum To Open New Jewellery Gallery

The Victoria & Albert Museum will open the new William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery on 24 May 2008. It will display 3,500 pieces of jewellery from the museum's impressive collection, which is renowned to be one of the finest and largest in the world.

The collection tells the story of European jewellery during the last 800 years, with fine examples of pieces worn by historic figures during this period. Highlights include jewelled pendants given by Queen Elizabeth I to her courtiers, diamonds worn by Catherine the Great of Russia and the famous Beauharnais Emeralds given by Napoleon to his adopted daughter.

A four year renovation has taken place, thanks to the generous donation of William Bollinger, including a complete re-design of the area.

New additions to the collection include Lady Mountbatten's "tutti frutti" ruby, sapphire, emerald and diamond bandeau, which she purchased from Cartier in 1928, as well as additions to the Cartier, Lalique and Tiffany collections.

Whether you're a history buff, jewellery aficionado or simply someone that enjoys a nice piece of jewellery, this is sure to be an enjoyable and educational day out.

New Search Facility On The Diamond Store.co.uk

We have wanted to impliment a better product search on the Diamond Store for some time. So we have recently teamed up with SLI Systems and we are testing their search technology, if you have used the next website (www.next.co.uk) then you have probably used this system.

Early signs are that it is a winner!

Why is it good for our visitors / customers?

It handles mispells, makes search suggestions, gives "drill down options" and it is incredibly accurate!

For example if you search - pink sapphire - you get a page of pink sapphire products (as you would expect!!) but you also get prompts asking you if you meant....pink sapphire earrings, pink sapphire rings, pink sapphire pendants etc... see screenshot below....

It remembers POPULAR searchs and it also learns as it goes...so the more it gets used the more accurate the results will be!!!

Please have a play with the search and let us have some feedback...

Try our new search here

Thanks

Gary

Wedding Planning Website

If you're planning a wedding and would like some help, a good website to check out is Wedding Chaos. The site has a wealth of information about every aspect of planning a wedding, including wedding invitation ideas, favour ideas, brides maid dresses, wedding photographer advice, bridal flower bouquets and even help with the bestman speech, best man toasts and choosing the wedding rings.

The Diamond Store Launches Star Buy Diamond Engagement Ring Collection

The Diamond Store is delighted to announce the launch of the stunning Star Buy diamond engagement ring collection, offering customers the opportunity to save even more money on that all important engagement ring purchase, without compromising on quality.

All diamond solitaire rings currently on sale at The Diamond Store are accompanied by an official AnchorCert certificate. This certificate is an independent assessment of the quality of the diamond in question, and gives confidence and peace of mind to the purchaser regarding the integrity of the jewellery purchased. However, there is always a cost involved in obtaining expert advice and certification, and this is included within the price of the ring.

The Diamond Store is always looking for new ways to offer exceptional value to its customers, and the new Star Buy collection does just that. By replacing the AnchorCert certificate with a Diamond Store Certificate of Authenticity, validated by Diamond Store expert jewellers, savings of approximately 20% are passed on to the consumer. The personalised Certificates of Authenticity provide a full description of the jewellery piece including diamond and metal characteristics, and can be regarded with the same confidence as any other certification. The Diamond Store is a proud member of the British Jewellers Association, the BJA.

Each of the diamond engagement rings within the Star Buy collection can also be found within the standard Diamond Store diamond engagement ring collection, where they have a higher price tag and AnchorCert certificate. They are exactly the same rings - the only difference between them is the accompanying certificate and price difference! An illustration of this can be seen in the following example: the H/Si 0.33CT Diamond 18K White Gold Solitaire Ring is priced at 609.00GBP (RRP: 1,145.00GBP) and is AnchorCert certified. The exact same ring, manufactured by the same team of people (Star Buy H/Si 0.33CT Diamond 18K White Gold Solitaire Ring), can be found within the Star Buy collection priced at 479.00GBP. This offers a significant saving, and gives somebody the opportunity to either pocket the saving or upgrade to a higher quality ring without breaking their budget.

The Diamond Store also provides free insurance valuations on all items of jewellery sold. Each valuation is for the recommended retail price rather than the price paid and is fully personalised to include the customer's name and address as well as a full product description. Valuations are sent out with each order and can also be downloaded directly from the customer login area within the site at a later date.

With free insured delivery, a 30 day money back guarantee and expert advice, The Diamond Store offers a great service as well as fantastic prices. There is also an enormous choice of jewellery, from diamond rings to earrings, pendants, bracelets, necklaces and cufflinks.

New Images For Diamond Eternity Rings

Our diamond eternity rings have proved to be extremely successful since their launch in October. We have therefore decided to invest in high definition photography for the range.

Diamond Jewellery is notoriously difficult to photograph. Not only are the objects relatively small, the reflective surface of the gold and the gems make lighting and close photography very difficult, as you are constantly trying to avoid unwanted reflections. Photographers often wrap everything up in white to minimise this effect and also increase the distance from camera to object, resulting in a compromised image. High definition photography uses extremely high resolution formats to maximise detail. Well, you'll see a huge difference when we bring them out.
In addition, we will be offering more views of each ring to give a better perspective of the eternity ring to give a better sense of these beautiful rings.The formulae of dedicated craftsmanship, attention to detail and careful diamond selections have ensured many satisfied customers. The new images, to be launched June, will allow you to especially appreciate our attention to detail.

Whatever the celebration, eternity rings are a sure way of expressing the right emotions for the occasion. View our collection here: Eternity Rings