The Hoard Gazette blog is devoted to fashion, beauty & grooming. And of course jewellery: designer jewelry, jewelry making, vintage jewelry and restoration techniques. We try to include only practical information and tips which could be used in everyday life and would like to invite you to share your style, experiences, information and tips with us. Write us, we want YOUR INPUT!
Thank you for all your support new & old friends of Hoard @ our GSS booth at Raffles City!
It was a pleasure meeting you lovely people and we are looking to meet you gals at the next opportune!
As our stock collections have run low via the road show, we will be working hard to create new creations for the coming quarter. Rest assured that we'll always be producing one of a kind creations for all you designer jewelry lovers out there!
We'll also keep a lookout for more funm quirky foreign designer jewelry out there and bring in the goodies, we promise!
This rare, large13.39 carat blue diamond ring sold for a world record high price of 8.9 million dollars at Christie's auction in Geneva.
The stone is a type IIb diamond which are prized by jewelry lovers and collectors and contain small amounts of boron which gives them their color. They also have the property of being semi-conductors that conduct electricity.
An interesting read for all designer jewelery lovers, collectors and just plain you and me who would like to know more about the big rocks we're obsessed with and how much value there is in it, really..
Diamonds like any other commodity, are very much the marketed, perceived value which operate by the economic rule of supply and demand.
Though diamonds may not at all be rare (annual world production of gem-quality diamond exceeds sixty million carats --- TOP SECRET), some diamonds are more precious than others, and they may not even warrant the price tag of what you may be buying! On the reverse, the most precious gem stones, may not even be worth much market value...
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 most precious stones (Some of the following are surprisingly affordable, simply because the general public doesn’t know or care about them and thus demand is relatively weak)
PAINITE Origin: Burma (Myanmar) states of Kachin, Mogok The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s.
SERENDIBITE Origin: Sri Lanka, India The name comes from the old Arabic term for Sri Lanka, Serendib, India
POUDRETTEITE Origin: Mogok, Myanmar A Mohs hardness of 5 poudretteite is the softest stone on this list — too scratchable for a ring but suitable for earrings, a pin or a pendant if care is exercised
GRANDIDIERITE Grandidierite is a bluish green mineral, found primarily in Madagascar. It is trichroic, transmitting blue, green and white light.
JEREMEJEVITE (ye-REM-ay-ev-ite) Origin: Namibia Jeremejevite is colorless, sky blue or pale yellow stone.
MAJORITE Origin: Purple form of garnet discovered in 1970 in the Coorara meteorite near Eucla, Western Australia. Majorite forms under the extreme pressure that occurs 250 miles (400 km) or more beneath the earth’s surface or from the shock of a meteorite impact.
TAAFFEITE Last Origin: Sri Lanka The number of Taaffeite existent is equivalent to a cupful only. However, despite such rarity, it's cheaper than diamond. Colorless Taaffeite go for between 500USD - 4000USD per carat depending on color strength
MUSGRAVITE Origin: South Australia, Greenland, Madagascar, Antarctica
There is another species chemically and optically similar to taaffeite, MUSGRAVITE, which is even rarer. Facetable musgravite was first reported in 1993; as of 2005 there were eight such specimens
BENITOITE Origin: San Benito County, California, USA Benitoite is a strong blue with a dispersion similar to that of diamond, and fluoresces an intense blue-white under UV light
COLORED DIAMONDS Strongly colored diamonds, called fancies, can be genuinely scarce. About one carat out of every 10,000 sold is a fancy. These shades include yellow, green, blue, orange, brown (“champagne”), purple, gray, black (called carbonado, recently shown to be meteoric), milky white, pink and red.
Red (ruby red) is by far, the rarest. Prices have so far ranged from about $800,000.00 to $1.9 million which makes this substance one of the world’s most concentrated nonradiological forms of wealth
Few people know where I've been to lately. Sorry for having 'disappeared' for awhile and for the slow email replies.
I've been in frenzy of creative high. And the result is a barrage of new works.
Here are some bracelets I've done. Was Victorian inspired, so that explains some of the old-world jewellery styles. And of course, kept up the quirky styles!
Will be uploading them (& more) on the online store very soon. Enjoy!
Movie Props Trivia - Titanic Heart of the Ocean Necklace
I've been having this urge to start a thread about famous props (for the matter, jewelry) in famous movies.
First thing that comes to mind, seems to be 90s tear-jerker classic Titanic's Heart of the Ocean necklace. Above: Not the original but a decent inspired version.
Supposedly sunken into the depths of the ocean and unattainable, it has resurfaced in proliferate variations and numbers to suit the lusts of we people, who seek the unattainable.
History The necklace was fashioned from a large blue diamond worn by Louis XVI. Shortly after his execution in 1793, the diamond disappeared and was believed to have been made into the Heart of the Ocean.
Source of the original Replica Some online sources quote that original first replicas (paradox?) were sold as limited editions by J Peterman, which was of course sold out in by nature of its affordability.
Wikipedia Jewelers Asprey & Garrard were inspired to make a real Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace. The result - 170 carat (34 g) heart shaped sapphire with 65 diamonds, totalling 30 carats (6 g). Celine Dion wore it at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony as she sang Titanic's theme song "My Heart Will Go On"
Guide on Buying A search on Ebay saw many replicas (as usual) including some variations of J Peterman's which does no credit at all to the certificates of authenticity. But if you aren't picky on a cliched novelty gift, maybe that will suffice.
But do not deviate too far from the original:
Original pendant was about 1 3/4 inches in length
Huge blue diamond and numerous smaller clear diamonds surrounding (good replacements - crystals, semi-precious stones or even better, sapphire will be best as replacements)
Length of necklace - pendant should dangle on upper chest. Short of the bosom.
That said, enjoy your quest for a fine replica! (paradox again)
Trivia #1 continued: Reintroducing the Penannular Brooch
#10: Last of the coveted ancient items list:
Penannular Brooch "A Penannular Brooch is a pin often used by the Celtic peoples in ancient times. It is still used today in the formal wear of the Scots. A pin is tethered by a frame in much the same shape as a horse shoe. Allowed to travel but not disconnect, the pin works with the frame to fasten clothing together."
Btm (R): Hunterston brooch - based on one of the most elaborate brooches found in Scotland
It consists of a round buckle-like frame and a pin and it is worn like this:
