Jewellery News

Are men spending more on their wedding rings? It looks like for many of them, the plain, simple wedding bands don’t fit the bill any more. They seem to be looking for something that is different, unique and sets them apart rather than make them blend in. So from different metals to different designs, men are now having a great deal of say in the choosing of their wedding rings.
So what has been happening to the traditional gold wedding rings? There seems to be a fashion wave that has been washing over the old idea of wedding bands and there’s such a wide choice available now. There are so many metals to choose from – besides the traditional yellow gold, there’s platinum, white gold, silver and what men are considering more masculine metals like tungsten, black gold, titanium, black titanium and palladium. Men seem to prefer the greys, blacks and silvers to the traditional yellow gold. There is a demand for mixed metals as well which are being used to make rings into designer rings. It’s not just about the choosing of the metals – men are also looking at precious stones like diamonds inset in the metal and at unusual and unique engraving.
Why is this happening after centuries of seeing the wedding ring as just a symbol of being married? Maybe it is because men are getting married later now and they have more of a disposable income to think of everything they wear in terms of reflecting their style. There’s a lot more emphasis today on individuality when it comes to fashion and what better way to increase your style quotient that to have a unique and stylish wedding ring – not to mention a very expensive one? Today, more and more men are investing in what are called signature rings which are made just for them.

Paul Craig, the landlord of The Beer House which is in Sunderland on Bridge Street is on the verge of closing down, again. It used to be called The Central but it had been closed and empty for a couple of years. Then, it reopened as The Beer House and Paul ran it with his 80-year old father and his wife. However, the going was tough and they realised that it was just not viable to keep the pub open any longer.
In order to meet expenses, Paul and his wife had pawned their jewellery and had to even pawn their gold wedding rings. Paul’s father even started putting his pension into the running of the pub. As they were small, the banks would not help out and the three of them have found that unless it is a game day when the pub is full, the rest of the time, there are hardly any people who walk in. So they are now doing what they have to, though they don’t really want to. They are shutting shop.
According to them, the whole system works against them and they are now very sadly saying Goodbye to all the hard work and are leaving for Kuwait, to work there. The people who come to the pub are shattered too and they know they are going to miss it come the next game day. The Craigs complained about the electricity, about the banks inaction, the huge amount charged by payday loans and in short, the whole system.

The Bachelor stars are in the news so often but rarely does one hear of a girl going and choosing her engagement ring and tweeting about her for all the world to see. Where was Ben Flajnik in all this? He didn’t seem to be anywhere around. So maybe we have to give her the benefit of the doubt and maybe she was only picking up the ring after she had it refitted or something.
This was no ordinary ring. It was a Neil Lane diamond engagement ring and this famous designer designs all the engagement rings for all the Bachelor as well as Bachelorette shows. The picture that Courtney tweeted had her and Neil Lane looking thrilled with the ring. A spokesperson for the star said later that she went in to get the ring resized. After all, Courtney and Ben are engaged. Courtney also seems to have developed a fondness for the designer – she must be thrilled with the ring he designed for her.
So now the rumours are that she actually went to discuss wedding rings with the designer. The two say they are definitely getting married though they have not picked the date or the place as yet. Maybe they will get around to doing it very soon. According to Courtney, the wedding could be in Sonoma where they met but Ben says it might even be in California or Arizona – so it looks like they haven’t got down to specifics yet.

When people swear eternal love to each other, they tend to sometimes border on the stupid and very often, you find that in the heat of the moment, walking on Cloud 9, they do things that they bitterly regret later. Take tattoos, for example. What happens very often is that you tattoo the name of your lover – who you think you will be with from now until eternity – and maybe a year later, you’ve gone your separate ways. In every other way, you can cut the person out of your life but what about the tattoo? It just means a very painful process to get rid of it.
That’s what Kathy Griffin realised when she had a wedding ring tattooed on her finger. She’s 51, she’s divorced, that is the only tattoo she has. She married Matt Moline in 2002 and they got divorced four years later. Kathy said she got the tattoo because she just did not like the idea of wearing a ring. She says that she has tried taking if off and has gone through 5 laser treatments but it looks like it has made up its mind to stay.
The comedian might have done well to be conventional and wear a wedding ring like most other people. Right now, she is another statistic in the list of people who have got tattoos and regret them. Like Russell Brand who is in the process of getting rid of all his tattoos after he and Katy Perry broke up. You might be married for life anymore but you might be tattooed for life so it’s better to think a hundred times before you get that tattoo done. And maybe it’s better not to get personal with a tattoo.

As nervous as the bridegroom is, so is the best man and probably every man in this position has been afraid of losing the wedding ring entrusted to him. It does happen once in a while that this fear is justified as can be seen in what happened in Wantage way back in the early 50s. Now, as the couple celebrates their 60th wedding anniversary, they remember with amusement just what happened.
It was in 1952 and as the best man Derek was handing the ring to the groom, it fell out of his hand and dropped in to the church grating. This happened at St Andrew’s Church at Letcombe Regis and the ceremony just had to go ahead even though the ring was gone. They found another ring – the bride’s sister’s, actually – and the wedding was solemnised. The platinum wedding ring had rolled down the pipe and they retrieved it after the ceremony from two feet below. Just as the couple was signing the wedding register, the ring was found and put on her finger. The bride wore the ring and she has been wearing it for 60 years now.
The couple, John and Betty Harraway can still recall how they watched in horror as the ring rolled down that grating. Betty has worn the ring on her finger ever since. Maybe they were just lucky that the ring got lodged on that pipe so they could retrieve it. Their diamond anniversary celebration was held in Wantage in a pub and they were joined by friends and family.

Most people would be aghast if it were suggested to them. Whither all the romance and the wonder of a proposal? That’s when a diamond engagement ring would be most appropriate. However, there’s a new idea being mooted by LeeLee Sobieski who aired her views in an interview where she turned this whole concept that has been fixed in people’s minds for so long, upside down. The Deep Impact actress might have sounded a bit garbled and rambling but underneath it all, there was a bit of sense in what she was proposing.
What she feels is that an engagement should warrant a simple band – nothing fancy, just a token of a promise made and given. It should be the wedding where an expensive ring like a diamond ring should be slipped on to the bride’s finger. Otherwise, she feels, it really isn’t fair on the man because he ends up spending a huge amount on the ring and there are times when an engagement breaks off. At least in a marriage, there is some semblance of continuity though with the divorce rate rising, one wonders.
According to LeeLee, the diamond ring should be a culmination of the run-up to the marriage and it should be the end of waiting to get married, not the beginning. This way, a diamond is not really used as an incentive to get married too. Just a simple band means there’s no pressure on either side and it also means that the size of the diamond would really be up to the man when it comes to the wedding ring. Maybe the couple can discuss the ring together too – but it should be part of the wedding and not the engagement. In some weird way, she does have a point and maybe it’s time to relook at the traditions.

Remember how the royal engagement ring spawned thousands if not millions of lookalikes? Well, on a smaller scale, it looks like it is going to happen again. One wonders why this urge to wear a ring just like the one a celebrity is wearing. No sooner did a picture of the ring appear than a certain jeweller got three orders for a ring exactly like that.
The 7-carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring has been turning quite a few heads. After seven years of being together – and having six children, some their own, some adopted, the couple seems to want to make it legal because of their children. As the kids are growing up, the older ones especially want the two of them to get married and they say they are doing it for them.
Angelina and Brad – or Brangelina as they are usually called fell in love when they were shooting the spy thriller, Mr and Mrs Smith. Brad was married, Angelina was divorced and the one who got everyone’s sympathy then was Brad’s wife, the adorable Jennifer Aniston. However, she is very much in love with Justin Theroux now so she says she has no qualms about going to their wedding. It looks like she is well and truly over the hurt now. And it looks like Angelina Jolie is all set to settle down to marriage – motherhood always did come easy to her so there’s no problem there.

Considering how few pink diamonds there are, there have been a few large ones in the news lately. In their New York sale, Christie’s sold the famous 9 carat pink diamond ring that had belonged to the late Huguette Clark. The successful bid was by a diamond investment company. This sale really set the record for pink diamond prices.
The pink diamond ring was designed and made in 1910 and it is one of the most famous diamonds in the world from the legendary Clark collection. In fact, it was named the Clark Pink. The diamond is a wonderful purplish pink and it is a cushion cut stone fashioned by Driecer & Co. The £9.75 million sale made it the most high priced pink diamond to date and it really was the crowning jewel in a wonderful collection of jewellery from the Clark estate. The whole collection has been a source of fascination for the media, lovers of jewellery and collectors all over the world. After Liz Taylor’s jewellery collection, this raked in the most amount in sales.
The other jewellery in this New York sale included a stunning platinum diamond ring of 15 carats, a Harry Winston necklace, a yellow diamond necklace, a Cartier nearly 20 carat diamond ring and a Van Cleef & Arpels 31.5 carat diamond ring. The whole Clark collection fetched a really great price and it was well over what the organisers had ever anticipated.

Like gold, diamonds may soon become a commodity if the many investment professionals who are dealing in it have their way. Maybe soon, it will be something that it traded in all over the world in the same way as gold is traded. Today, gold is traded like most shares, back by gold stocks and these are among the world’s most traded shares.
Till now, diamonds usually brought to mind diamond rings and diamond jewellery but maybe the time will soon come when diamond will be traded like stocks and shares – paper money backed by diamonds. There is a proposal that has been put forward to the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to make diamonds a commodity that can be traded which means that all you need is an online trading account to trade in the precious stones. The index would be linked to a vault in Belgium where 1-carat diamonds would be stored to back the fund.
Harry Winston, the famous jewellery store is said to be working with a Swiss associate to create a fund too. With the kind of interest in diamonds and looking at how widely it is bought and sold, many people feel it is time that trading on diamonds began. The advantage with gold and diamonds as commodities that can be traded is the fact that they last long and are not subject to corrosion and damage. Time was when investors would have felt that the market could be manipulated because De Beers held such a large stock of the world’s diamonds but today, that is not the case so the chances of a diamond bourse coming in are very high.

The young lovers are in the news again because they were spotted looking at jewellery. Was Justin Bieber looking for an engagement ring for Selena Gomes is what all their fans are asking. After all, it wasn’t just any jewellery that they were looking for, they were specifically looking at rings. And not just at one store – they looked at diamond rings at a few stores and obviously that set off a spate of rumours with people wondering just how quickly they were thinking of making it official.
Most people are quite sure that Selena Gomes will be wearing a diamond engagement ring soon. The couple has been together for a while and even though they are so young, they seem quite committed to each other. Even their close friends seem to feel that an engagement is in the offing between the two singers. All said and done, they look so sweet together and so made for each other.
Just recently, they were caught on camera kissing at the Lakers game. Actually, Kiss Cam caught them and they just had to kiss for the camera at the game which was being played at the Staples Centre. They looked very happy doing it, even though they were both cheering for different teams. However, in spite of everything that seems to the contrary, the official view is that they are not engaged. Or so their spokespeople hasten to tell everyone who is listening. The problem is, people are seeing something very different. Justin’s manager says that the rumours provide a lot of entertainment to the team but they are not true.

Tiffany’s woke up to a surprise a few days ago when it realised that over 5% of its stake was picked up by the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. The company has performed well in spite of the recession and economic downturn and this new injection of money could take it even higher in the luxury goods ladder. It was only when the filing was done that they realised the value of the stake the Qatari fund held. The rumour mill had been rife with prospects of increased investment but it is only now that the true pictre of who and how much has emerged.
Tiffany’s has a wide range of luxury goods and jewellery to offer all over the world today but it is its classic solitaire diamond ring which it made so popular that it is always associated with. They had predicted that sales could go up by 10% this year and as such, they really were seen as a very attractive investment option for many wealth funds. Of course, this also makes the Qatar wealth fund the largest single investor in the company. This isn’t its first investment in luxury goods companies around the world but it is certainly its first in America. They have previously invested in Harrod’s, London and LVMH which is the group owning the brands Dom Perignon, Louis Vuitton and Dior. They also own stakes in Glencore, Iberdrola, Lagardere and Miramax. While they have bought certain names outright, in others, they own a sizeable percentage or are a part of a consortium that has bought into the company.