World's most famous 'unseen' diamond

By Jane O'Brien
BBC News, Washington

The room was dimly lit. Armed guards stood at both entrances and enormous ironclad doors were slid shut to seal the gallery.

Nobody spoke above a whisper as we waited for the first glimpse in half a century of one of the world's most extraordinary gems.

The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond was last seen in public at the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels. After that, it disappeared and its whereabouts remained a mystery until Laurence Graff, a billionaire diamond dealer, bought it at auction in 2008, appending his surname.

He and his son Francois were in the gallery of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC as the blue stone, was brought up from a secret vault and finally revealed.

Flawless beauty

"I've been privileged over the years to own some of the world's most important and famous diamonds, but I would say that the Wittelsbach-Graff is the most valuable and the most beautiful," he said.

Sitting unadorned on a silken white cloth, it glittered grey and blue in the low light. Classed as "internally flawless" it is said to have exceptional colour and becomes intense orange when viewed under ultraviolet light.

read all

News : Christie's Auctions Two Huge Gems

March 26, 2010, jewelry.com

It's auction time again. See the two stunning stones that are causing a stir this time around.

Jewelry lovers may not be able to afford the gems and jewels offered for sale at big auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's, but we can certainly gawk at the incredible display from afar. To that end, we give you two stunning pieces on the block for the upcoming Christie's New York sale on April 22^nd: The Catherine the Great Emerald and The Emperor Maximilian Diamond.

The first stone comes in the guise of a large emerald and diamond brooch once worn by one of the world's most powerful and ruthless female leaders, Catherine II of Russia. The hexagonal-cut stone weighs between 60 and 70 carats and is surrounded by rose and old mine-cut diamonds. The estimated price for this little beauty clocks in at around $1 to $1.5 million.

read all

Jewelry Magazine : Ross-Simons Gets Busy with Two New Titles

Apr 18, 2006 6:48 PM , By Jim Tierney and John Fischer

Cranston, RI-based jeweler and décor merchant Ross-Simons has launched two new titles. Last month it mailed Via, which sells fashion-forward jewelry. And this month it introduced Global Treasures, specializing in jewelry and gifts from around the world.

Via mailed in early March to 1.1 million customers and prospects, primarily women 30-50 years old who have an average annual income of $60,000. This audience is both younger and less affluent than the typical Ross-Simons customer, a 58-year-old woman with an average income of $120,000-$150,000. " identified a new customer segment that we werent capturing," says Ross-Simons director of merchandising Patricia Ginesky.

Ginesky describes Via as 'chic, trendy, stylish, edgy, teetering on a little sexy!'.With items such as Italian gold hoop earrings for $275 and multistoned necklaces from $225 to $395, Via moves away from Ross-Simons's more traditional, conservative offerings of cultured pearl bracelets and rainbow butterfly pins.

Ross-Simons dropped 865,000 copies of its other new title, Global Treasures, this month. It plans to follow up in mid-May with a mailing of 735,000. So far the book is going primarily to customers, says senior marketing director John Buleza. Items range from hammered-silver cuff bracelets from Israel that sell for $127.50 to a pink-tourmaline-and-diamond necklace from India for $2,995. A smattering of non-jewelry items for travelers are also included, such as a $299.95 cashmere travel kit that includes a throw, a pillow cover, socks, and an eye mask.

At the same time it launched the titles, Ross-Simons also killed two others: Gift Book Digest and Fashion Preview.

source : http://multichannelmerchant.com/mcmweekly/Ross-Simons_new_04182006/