Wishing You All a Wonderful Holiday

All of us at Windy City Diamonds join together to say thank you for kindness and to send you our very best wishes for the coming year

World Record at Diamond Auction

Recently, a new world record was set for a famous diamond. The well known Archduke Joseph Diamond fetched a fantastic price at Christie’s Geneva Auction held on Nov. 12th. The price? A cool $21.5 million, a world auction record for a colorless diamond.

This diamond weighs 76.02 carats, Antique Cushion cut, is D color, the rarest top white color, flawless clarity and was originally expected to sell for $15.0 million. The stone’s mystique stems partly from its origins in the Golconda mine in India, the source of other legendary gems such as the Koh-i-noor, the Hope, and the Regent.

The Archduke Joseph is the largest and most perfect Golconda stone to ever appear at auction, and it is named after one of its former owners, the Archduke Joseph August of Austria.

Stolen Wedding Dress made it to the wedding on time!

Imagine finding out that your wedding dress is gone because someone stole your fiancé’s car and your wedding dress was in it at the moment it happened! It sounds like a nightmare or something taken out of a movie doesn’t it? Well this happened in real life to a couple here in Chicago. A couple from Iowa drove into Chicago preparing for their upcoming wedding, which was going to be held in Chicago. They arrived late Friday night and stayed with friends for the night, parking their car on the street. Rather than bringing everything for the wedding into their friends home, they left their suitcase and the wedding gown in the trunk, and unfortunately for them, the next morning they discovered their car had been stolen! Fortunately for this couple, the Chicago police noticed a broken window on a car as it passed them by, ran the plates and found out that it was a “fresh steal”! When they pulled the driver over, the police discovered the luggage and the wedding gown in the trunk and contacted the owner that day. “Is the dress still in the car?” asked the groom? “It’s my fiancés wedding dress; we’re supposed to get married in the morning.” The dress, described as a white, full-length, strapless gown, which “boots out at the bottom” and has pearls along the top, along with the veil were all found and returned to their owner in time for the wedding.

We here at Windy City Diamonds are sure that tears of joy were cried after receiving the news that the car and all of it’s contents were found and returned in time for the wedding. Preparing yourself for a wedding can be a lot of fun but it can also be a little stressful, so just the thought of a bride losing her dress is not even conceivable. It was a miracle that the police not only caught the perpetrators but were also able to “deliver” the dress back to the bride, literally hours prior to her wedding. Situations like this still prove that no matter what happens in life everything will be just fine.

This is truly the Largest Diamond EVER!!!

There has been a recent discovery by a French and American team of astronomers that in the diamond world is fantastic!! A massive planet, Called 55 Cancri e, has been discovered, and this planet is basically one Giant Diamond! This heavenly body has a radius that is about twice the size of our planet, and is roughly eight times more dense, which means that it will weigh substantially more than the planet earth, but whose weighing a planet anyway? Rotation is so rapid that a year as we know it lasts only 18 hours. Hmmm, I wonder, would we get dizzy on this planet from the sparkle of the diamond, or the constant spinning that we will feel?!! Oh, by the way, Diamond hunters please take note of just a few drawbacks to your diamond mining plans: Surface temperature on 55 Cancri e is approximately 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit, and the big rock is some 230 trillion miles from Windy City Diamonds store! Angelina and Jennifer eat your heart out!

Summer Brides

Summer is here and that also means that wedding season is in full bloom. AS Most weddings are set for the summer time and this is the time where future brides and grooms start looking for the perfect piece of jewelry, here at Windy City Diamonds, we are always prepared to help you to choose just that piece for your very special day.

It’s wonderful that we live in a time where brides and grooms have so many options. Most brides tend to pick pieces that will compliment their dress but at the same time it’s most desirable to have one that may be worn for future occasions as well. Chandelier, tear drop and pearls earrings, are items that are extremely popular for brides, and as gifts for their brides maids! Something extremely classic that a bride may wear on her day is a beautiful pair of stud diamond earrings or a single solitaire pendant, which are also items that can be worn everyday whether you are in casual or dress up attire. Windy City Diamonds is here to offer you a fine selection of diamond stud earrings for you to choose from, and we have them to fit most any budget.

Your bridal party is also important on your special day and most brides and grooms tend to give gifts to their bridal party. Gifts can range from a pair of earrings to necklaces. You can choose items that compliment the color of the dresses or something that matches the bride’s jewelry as well. Grooms on the other hand tend to give cuff links or perhaps even a nice money clip. Once again there are many options to choose from and you’ll be surprised at how affordable these options may be! We’re sure that the friendly staff at Windy City Diamonds will help you to think of interesting and colorful ideas for you and your bridal parties so don’t be afraid to play, you’ll find that you can have a lot of fun, and that’s what it’s all about!!

Hypoallergenic Gold!!

As too many of us have learned, some people seem to be allergic to gold, or are they? The reality is, we are not allergic to gold, rather, some of us are allergic to the alloy in white gold, which is often nickel. Nickel does bother some people, but let me digress for a moment and give you some background.

Put on your miners cap and let’s go digging in our gold mine. As you may expect, in nature, gold is a bright yellow metal, it is never found in a "White" gold version. We need to make it white for jewelry, which is where the alloy comes in. Alloying is simply a mixing of metals for some purpose, which in the case of gold is to make it white appearing and to give it greater hardness as gold is quite soft naturally. Bring on the nickel. For many years, nickel has been the standard alloy used to turn yellow gold into white gold. Nickel is a pure white metal naturally, and adds hardness to the mix, but as I mentioned, some people do have an allergic reaction to this alloy, such as a rash or redness, sometimes itchy or just an uncomfortable felleing, but we now have a brilliant answer to this age old problem, without moving to the expense of platinum. Are you ready for this?? Technology is great, and we've figured out another metal, palladium, along with a few other trace metals, but not nickel, to alloy the gold with. Voila!! We have a white appearing gold, that is harder than the original metal as found in the ground, and remarkably, it appears whiter, and as an added benefit, without the need to constantly "dip" (re-rhodium plate) your jewelry!!

At Windy City Diamonds, we call this new metal "bright White" gold and we've been experimenting with it for over 2 years now with tremendous success. Hypo-Allergenic Gold! So for all of you out there that have some discomfort from your white gold jewelry, bring it in to Windy City Diamonds and let us re-manufacture your jewelry with this newer, technologically advanced, gold and alloy that will alleviate your problems, and without a huge expense!

Jewelry Trends for 2012
Summer is almost here and new trends in fashion as well as jewelry will be displayed everywhere. Major clothing designers and jewelry designer’s have worked together to create new and innovative pieces that will be worn by us this year. As a leader in Chicago's jewelry market, we at Windy City Diamonds love to share the latest trends and ideas in jewelry, and then we help our friends and clients to incorporate these ideas into their fashion.

Major Designer’s such as Versace, Gucci, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana just to mention a few, have created new jewelry trends for their runway shows for 2012. They definitely influence the trends that we will be wearing very soon. Most designers have gravitated towards rose and yellow gold in their jewelry pieces and in their collections. Also, the combination of those two metals will be quite prevalent in the jewelry that we will be seeing this year.

Rose gold and yellow gold are making a huge come back this year, and what is so great is that you can mix and match pieces which allows you to have more flexibility when wearing them.
Large bangles and cuff bracelets are also two items that will be really hot this year, even Tiffany’s has a created a collection to celebrate their 175th anniversary within the collection there is a large cuff bracelet in a pink tone and the rest of the pieces are in pink and white metals.

Many jewelry designers are using bold colors in their designs especially in bangles and earrings. They are exploring with different gemstones to add dimension and contrast to create edgy new pieces. This year will definitely be about color and size. The bigger and the more colorful will definitely be in, so be ready to step out of your comfort zone and add more color to your jewelry collection.

Make my day in Diamonds!!

How would you like to spend your day off roaming around a diamond mine, and make the find of a life time!

Recently a couple that was enjoying a day at Diamond State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas came upon just such an exceptional find. The Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only park in the world that lets the general public look for diamonds, and keep what they find.

A diamond, that has been named the “Silver Moon” was originally found weighing 2.44 carats and has been cut into a beautiful pear shaped diamond, that has been graded F in color (top white) and VVS2 clarity (exceptionally fine clarity). This diamond has been appraised by a local jeweler in Fayetteville, Arkansas for $21,000!! “It was beautiful in the rough and even more beautiful after it was cut” said the local jeweler.

Now this is that right way to go diamond hunting!

NEWS FLASH!! Largest cut emerald has questionable authenticity!!

NEWS FLASH!!!
Can you believe it? Just after we have all of the buzz about the world’s largest cut emerald being put up for auction, the question arises, IS IT REALLY EMERALD??

The gemologist that studied this giant 25 pound, yes you read right, 25 pound cut emerald cannot guarantee that the entire stone is emerald. He believes that it contains some emerald, but the stone has been dyed. How much dye you may ask? Well, no one knows for sure, which would mean that some or all of this giant stone may be what we call white beryl. Emerald is a green version of Beryl, much prized for it’s beautiful color as it is for the mineral that it’s made from. White Beryl on the other hand, has only a fraction of the value of green beryl.

The gemologist that looked at the watermelon size stone says “any enhancement by dye certainly lessens its value when compared to one that is naturally colored by Mother Nature”.

The owner acknowledges that the 57,500 carat oval cut stone has been dyed to some extent, but “the size of it is what makes it special”. He never submitted this stone to the GIA for inspection as the fear is that they would not call it emerald.

If it sells at the January 28th auction, it may fetch greater than $1.15 million dollars, but what can you do with a stone this large? It’s been suggested that it will make a great end table, or a wonderful conversation piece. The way I see it, it seems like expensive bragging rights for a stone that we are not even sure is what it is purported to be!

Largest Cut Emerald in the World being Auctioned!

Next week there is going to be an auction held by Wester Star Auctions in Kelowna, Canada of an Oval Cut Emerald that is being described as the “world’s largest cut emerald”. Care to take a guess how large this really is?? An amazing 57,500 carats!! I couldn't even image an Emerald this large. It weighs nearly 25 pounds and is the size of a watermelon!!

This Giant emerald has been named "Teodora", which means "God's Gift", and truly, an emerald this size must be God's gift.

This beautiful emerald has been graded by a gemologist who said the the forest green stone is definitely natural beryl (the technical name for this type of stone) and it has been only slightly treated. Enhancing treatments are quite common world wide for emeralds, but this one has only been very mildly treated.

Discovered in Brazil and cut in India, I'm amazed that they were able to cut it and maintain such a large size. Cutting a stone this large and heavy was a feat in itself, and I would have to say, quite impressive!

For any of you out there that are interested, this emerald has been appraised at $1.15 million, but the expectations for the largest cut emerald in the world at auction is actually quite a bit higher. Any bidders?