Christie's NY Auction

---Christie's NY Sale Garners $16M, 84% Sold by LotChristie’s latest New York jewelry auction generated $16.62 million insales, with 84 percent of the items sold by lot and 83 percent byvalue. The highlight of the sale was a pair of pear-shaped D-colorflawless Forevermark 17.01- and 17.79-carat stones, which sold for$3.55 million, or $102,000 per carat, to an unnamed private buyer.

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source: Rapaport Trade Wire
12/19/08

Kwiat Opens First Boutique

Kwiat celebrated the opening of its first store with a party at the location at 725 Madison Ave. The 1,000 square foot store opens on the 100th anniversary of the formation of family-owned business.

Source: Diamond District News
September 2008

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---Cartier Opens in Seoul

Cartier opened its first store in the fashionable Cheongdam-dongdistrict in southern Seoul. French architect David-Pierre Jalicondesigned the boutique that was inspired by the Korean wrapping clothor bojagi. Cartier decided the timing was right to open in Seoul asthe luxury market is growing rapidly in the South Korean capital.


Source: Rapaport TradeWire
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Bulgari Opens in Paris

Bulgari opened a new store in Paris at the corner of Avenue George Vand Rue Francois 1er. The luxury retailer's CEO Francesco Trapanicalled Paris a lucrative market not just because of the Frenchclientele, but also the hordes of tourists and the presence of majorflagship boutiques.

Source: Rapaport TradeWire
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4 Carat Diamond Found

---Visitor Finds 4ct+ Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State ParkOne visitor to Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park found arectangular shaped 4.42 carat rough diamond, but it was even moreremarkable that he dug-up the gemstone only 30 minutes after hissearch began. According to park officials though, the lucky guy,Dennis Tyrrell of nearby Murfreesboro, searches for diamonds on aregular basis at the park. This new find was Tyrrell's largest diamondto date.

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Jacques Cartier

"The iridescent baubles were in fact so rare that according to legend, Jacques Cartier bought his Fifth Avenue flagship store in 1917 by plunking down $100 in cash, plus a strand of perfectly matched natural pearls."

Types of Oysters

South Sea Cultured Pearls- Pinctada maxima: Produces 1 pearl pear shell.
Black Tahitian Cultured Pearls- Pinctada margaritifera: Produces 1 pearl per shell.
Akoya Cultued Pearls- Pinctada fucata martensii: Produces an average of 4-5 pearls per shell.
Freshwater Cultured Pearls- Grown in varieties of freshwater mussels. Produces up to 100 pearls per shell.

Source: Paspaley

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Baroda Pearls

Christie's Magnificent Jeweles Auction on April 25, 2007

Reported by Gary Roskin, G.G. FGA

In a third case was a jaw-dropping diamond and pearl necklace created by the 100-yearl old Indian design firm Bhagat. Its center was an old-style-cut pearl-shape diamond weighing 13.31 cts., and it was accented by diamonds in rose cuts, briolettes, and faceted beads as well as a seed-pearl tassel.

The highlights were the Baroda Pearls-a suite of large natural pearls including a double-strand necklace, earrings, brooch, and ring-and a 22.66 ct. Kashmir sapphire.

The suite of natural pearls, once owned by the Indian Maharajas of Baroda, sold for $7,096,000. The centerpiece is a double-strand graduated pearl necklace strung by Cartier using 68 natural pearls from the Maharajas' colletion. The pearls measure from approximately 9.47 mm in the back to 16.04 mm at the center.

The $7 million hammer price is reportedly the largerst ever paid for a suite of natural pearls of the size and quality. The sizes of these oriental pearls were impressive, especially in the necklace's 16 mm center pearl. That pearl, an important piece in its own right, has a hammered appearance, as if the nacre had been worked by an oyster with bench training. Also noteworthy were the nace quality and luster of the earring drops.

Rarity was an important factor in the final sale. Many of the pearls were noticeably off-round, and all were more creamy than off-white. This is not unexpected for natural pearls, but the building up to the auction created an expectation of something even more impressive.

At the back of the necklace, Cartier added a platinum clasp with a substantial old-mine-cut round brilliant diamond weighing approximately 8.57 cts. Along with the necklace was a pair of ear pendants, so called because each earring highlighted a drop-shape natural pearl, each measuring approximately 13-15 mm wide by 22 mm long, enhanced by old-European-cut and old-mine-cut diamonds, with a button-pearl top, each measuring approximately 12.5 mm wide by 10 mm thick. A brooch set with an oval natural pearl, measuring 17 by 19 by 15 mm, and a natural button-pearl ring rounded out in the suite.

Originally printed in JCK July 2007 by Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA

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Diner Finds Pearl in Plate of Clams

AP
Posted: 2007-12-31 23:06:55
Filed Under: Nation News, Weird News

LAKE WORTH, Fla. (Dec. 31) - A Florida couple could be having an extra happy new year after finding a rare purple pearl while eating a plate of steamed clams. George and Leslie Brock stopped into Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar on Friday during a day at the beach. George Brock was about halfway through a dozen clams when he chomped down on something hard - a rare iridescent purple pearl.

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