Hoping for Famous Diamonds

When I think of famous diamonds, I can’t help but to think of the most powerful influences in the world - love and royalty. The history behind the largest diamonds typically is a love story or one of great power.

When other people think of famous diamonds, the one that comes to mind first is usually the Hope diamond. Although it is on the list of most famous diamonds, it comes in at number 10. The Hope Diamond is known by several different names, such as, the Blue of France and the Tavernier Blue.  It has been described as one of the mostfamous diamonds. Many believe this diamond is cursed. Legend has it that the infamous Hope diamond brings horrible tragedy to the owner. The most widely believed origin of the diamonds curse can be tracked to 1653. This is when French merchant, Jean Tavernier acquired the blue diamond in India. It is said the he plucked the diamond out of an eye from a Hindu statue. For his sacrilege, he was said to have been attacked and killed by dogs.

One of the most famous stories the curse is when it was purchased by the McLean’s in 1912. Shortly after obtaining ownership of the diamond, Evalyn McLean started living a life of constant sorrow. She lost her husband when he left here for another woman, her daughter committed suicide and her son was killed in a car crash. Needless to say, she ended up being committed in an insane asylum.

Many of owners of this diamond have had lead tragic lives. This famous diamond now resides in the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

Charm Bracelets: The Ultimate Personalized Jewelry

Out of all the different types of jewelry available on the market today, there is one that not only allows you to customize it when it is purchased, but continues to be customization for years to come after. No other form of jewelry can offer the inherent freedom that is possible with charm bracelets.

Once reserved for teenage girls, charm bracelets have found a home in many women's jewelry collections. The reason is that most of these women were given their bracelet for their birthdays, weddings or even for the birth of their first child. They were given by a close friend that spent the time to choose the perfect charms to adorn the bracelet. Many of the gifted charms are reminders of important past events and surely an inside joke or two between old friends. In many cases, tears are shed upon opening such a simple gift, yet it contains an incredible amount of emotional weight.

This type of bracelet makes for outstanding gifts for the obvious reasons, but also because new charms can be added to them as time goes on. There will always be new, important events between friends and plenty more inside jokes that are immortalized in the charms. Not to mention, new charms are always being designed, which almost guarantees that no two charm bracelets are alike.

Protect Your Kids with ID Bracelets and Tags

Every mom wants to protect and ensure the safety of her kids.  These precious little gems are your whole world and you would go above and beyond to safeguard and monitor their every step. Let’s not go leashing our kids along with the puppy, or scrawling phone numbers on little arms either. There are some pretty cool and affordable options to help mom breathe a little easier during the next school outing or family day trip to the zoo.

You can always go high-tech and drop a tracking device in your kids backpack. But we’re not into the Mission Impossible approach. There are some really great options for ID bracelets, necklaces, or tags. These choices can range from beautiful gold and silver cuffs, to the dog-tag variety. Remember the last concert you attended? Well, maybe not! I bet you remember those wristbands they required to let you consume alcoholic beverages. They have these available for children too.

So, instead of gearing your kid up for the apocalypse or strapping them down like Fido, make the better choice and go with an ID bracelet or even a stamped tag. Tags can be worn, or attached to backpacks or belt loops. There are an abundance of options available for you parents. So, ease your minds a bit and visit a local jeweler to help you out with your options. Or visit some website that features child safety gear.

Vintage Cameo Locket of Memories

I was garage sale-ing the other day when I happened upon a pristine cameo locket.  The ivory cameo was the profile of a woman with up-swept hair and a high collar (no doubt wearing it’s own cameo pin – oh, the irony) and the backing of it was a deep blue.  It was set in a metal that appeared to be sterling silver.  It had a price of $2.

My mom used to tell me a story of how her grandma had a cameo locket and if memory serves me right, it was incredibly similar to this cameo.  In her cameo, my great grandmother had a picture of my great grandfather, who was off at war.  My great grandmother, while raising her three children in the 20’s in his absence, would wear that cameo and clutch it to her heart while praying every night before she went to bed.  She would pray for strength, enough money to keep her children fed and clothed and most importantly, the safe return of her husband.  All her prayers were answered. 

This story resonated with me and immediately came back to me upon the viewing of this cameo.  It made me smile and brought me back to an innocent time in my life, listening to a story of a tumultuous time with my great grandparents.

$2 for a this cameo locket????  I paid it.  

Outside the Jewelry Box: Custom Jewelry Design

Custom jewelry design is offered by most professional jewelers at affordable rates, which is half of why this trend has never really fallen out of favor with jewelry lovers. Bringing in your own designs and watching them come to life is an extremely gratifying experience, especially if you are looking to give the finished jewelry piece to someone as a gift.

There are a lot of options open to someone looking to customize a piece of jewelry. First, decide what kind of jewelry you are looking to work with. Are you concerned with using specific gemstones or metals? Do you have a design you want to work off of, like the eternity symbol? All of these are concerns and ideas you would want to bring in with you to your consultation.

Overall, when looking into custom jewelry design, one of the most important things to keep in mind is flexibility. The jewelers are often more than happy to work with you in order to really bring your idea to life and turn it into wearable product.  Plus, they bring years of experience to the table. Working closely with them and considering with their suggestions can help ensure you create a great piece of fine jewelry that is very personal.

Let the Professionals Handle Your Jewels: Jewelry Repair Services

You wouldn't let a first year med student perform brain surgery on you. So why would you let anyone but an expert professional repair your fine jewelry? I know I wouldn’t. That’s because I view jewelry as more than the obvious precious metals and valuable stones that it’s made of. No, they’re more than that. They are physical reminders of precious memories that I never want to forget. That’s why I only trust established jewelry repairservices when life happens.

 Unfortunately, chains have a tendency to snag and break, metal rings bend, and jewels fall out of their settings. If anything like this happens, the natural tendency is to put the broken piece in your jewelry box and slowly, but surely forget about it. Every time you see it sitting sad and broken in its corner, maybe with other functionally challenged jewelry, you think to yourself that you should really do something about it. Yet you never do. Why?

Stop seeing them as broken hunks of metal and rock. Embrace the intangible emotion they represent. You bought them for a reason or someone gifted them to you because you obviously mean a lot to them. Don’t let those emotions sit idle in a box as you slowly forget about the meaning behind them. There are many reputable jewelry repair services that can get your functionally challenged pieces back to like new condition and back on your wrist, ears, or neck where they belong.

Love is celebrated: Journey Jewelry

I have lived in a lot of places across the country and in doing so I have become friends with a lot of people. One of the perks of meeting people from all over is that they tend to be pretty different from one another. You learn different things, discover new styles, and see a different point of view, all things that I help make for a more interesting life. The story I want to relate to you now is about a friend I met out west and how he introduced me to the style of journey jewelry.

My friend had been with his girlfriend for a long time. When I say long, I mean I’m pretty sure they went to their first dance in seventh grade together. Even though they studied at different colleges, they stayed together, still in love with each other. After college, when they were both living in the same town, they knew it was time to do something, to move to the next step. Thing is, these two people aren't the most conventional couple in the world, so the something they wanted to do was something different than the norm. Only thing is that they didn't know what that would be.

They did know that they wanted to celebrate their love with a piece of fine jewelry, so they visited the professional jeweler who had been in their town ever since my friend could remember. They were looking through the collection of affordable jewelry, not really sure what they wanted when the jeweler approached them. They told him their story and without hesitating he pulled out a beautiful gold chain with a small diamond attached. He explained that is journey jewelry, and how it worked was that each passing milestone of their life together, they add another, slightly larger diamond. Immediately they knew it was perfect for them, and when it comes time to buy something unique to celebrate your life together, I think it will be perfect for you.