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?

Liz Taylor is going to have a Wopper of an Auction!!

Sometimes, We at Windy City Diamonds find interesting information on jewelry that we like to share with our friends. On December 3rd, there will be an auction of Elizabeth Taylors jewelry, including the Famous Taylor-Burton Diamond ring.

This gorgeous 33.19 carat emerald cut diamond is D color, the rarest white color available for a diamond and is VS1 clarity. This ring given to Liz Taylor by Richard Burton is estimated to sell for between $2,500,000-$3,500,000! So how many would you like??!! I know, you can stop drooling now, and check out a few more of her beautiful pieces of jewelry that is going up for auction.

Elizabeth Taylor's "The Mike Todd Tiara," is estimated at a mere $60,000-$80,000. How would you like to wear this Tiara for your wedding??

Elizabeth Taylor's "The Prince of Wales Brooch," is estimated to sell for between $400,000 - $600,000. Once upon a time everyone that was anyone had a brooch on when they went out Fancy. Today, we find that people are beginning to enjoy a nice brooch (pin) again, just for fun.

Liz Taylor's "La Peregrina" is an early 16th century pearl, ruby and diamond necklace made by Cartier. This necklace was a gift from Richard Burton and is estimated to fetch between $2,000,000 - $3,000,000!
Please check out other blogs from Windy City Diamonds for more fun and useful information!!

November's Beautiful Birthstone

Have you ever seen Imperial Topaz, the birthstone for November?

This is not the color that most of us think about with the November birthstone, rather, we all think about the alternate which has become much more popular in that last few years, Citrine, which is sometimes referred to as Golden Topaz, and is the Ayurvedic Birthstone for November.

Ok, here's the traditional stuff that some of us find interesting.Topaz is rated 8 out of 10 on the hardness scale, so it's really quite a nice colored stone to put into jewelry.

Golden topaz is given on the 4th, 19th or 23rd anniversary and is associated with the values of strength, wisdom, and courage.
Topaz golden color was believed by the Egyptians to be the glow cast by the sun god Ra.An amulet made out of Topaz was worn by the Egyptians to protect them from injuries.The Greeks believed it brought strength and made the wearer invisible, while the Romans thought Topaz had powers to improve eyesight. The name Citrine comes from an old French word, “citrin”, meaning lemon. Citrine, like all forms of quartz, was believed to have magical powers and was worn as a talisman against evil thoughts and snake venom. Citrine was considered to have medicinal properties and was commonly used as a cure for kidney and urinary ailments.

Topaz crystals can reach incredible size of several hundred pounds.
A 1680 carat, colorless topaz known as the “Braganza Diamond” is set in the Portuguese Crown Jewels and was originally thought to be a diamond.

Here at Windy City Diamonds we look for the unusual pieces to make into interesting jewelry as is this fine example that is currently exhibited in our specialty jewelry showcase.

This is a very unusual, 25.33 carat Heart Shaped Citrine that we set into a 14k White Gold pendant surrounded by 61 matched brilliant cut diamonds to create the brilliant contrast that is seen in this magnificent piece of jewelry.

Tales from the Hood

Windy City Diamonds is known as an engagement ring store. At Windy City Diamonds we are also known for our ability to custom manufacture most any type of jewelry, yet sometimes we are surprized with the requests that we recieve in our store. Last week we had a man come in to our store, looking around, not for an engagement ring or a wedding band, but for something a bit more unusual. After a few minutes of searching, and not seeing what he was looking for, he approached one of the women on our sales staff and asked "Do you sell Hand cuffs?" She looked at him and said, excuse me? "Do you sell hand cuffs" he replied. I'm sorry sir, we generally carry engagement rings and wedding bands, but we don't carry hand cuffs here. Well, after hearing this conversation, some of the other staff began to smirk a little. I must say, I thought that our sales lady acted very professionally, but she too thought that this was a very odd request in a jewelry store. This client then asked to speak with the manager and was directed in the direction of another male sales associate in the store. He walked over and asked again if we sell hand cuffs?

After a bit of discussion between our salesman and our client, we realized that he wanted minature hand cuffs, designed to hold his pony tail, just like the one that Snoop Dogg has!! This conversation turned out to be quite funny, and we're now making hand cuffs for his hair!

We do have fun here, and we try to help with each and every request!!

Opal and Tourmaline, Octobers Birthstones

October has two traditional birthstones, the Opal, and Pink Tourmaline.
October’s traditional birthstone, the Opal, is thought to create hope, faith and confidence in its wearer. This beautifully radiant stone has been treasured and worn for centuries. In Elizabethan England, the opal was treasured both for their beauty and their presumed protective powers. The opal has been set into the crowns and necklaces worn by monarchs to ward off the evil spirits, to protect the eyesight, and even ground up and ingested to ward off nightmares!

Opals are famous for the “play of colors” that are seen in most opals. Many of these stones will flash different colors of the rainbow when moved. Red, Blue, White, Black, Yellow, Green, there is no end to the beauty of this spectacular stone.

Most opals are found in Australia, but there are deposits found in Brazil, Mexico, the Czech Republic, and even in Nevada. Opals may be worn in wide variety of jewelry including rings, pendants, bracelets and earrings. Opals reached their peak in popularity in the deco period of the 1920’s but their popularity has been waning in recent years and there has been a surge in purchasing the alternative birthstone for October, the beautiful Pink Tourmaline.

In Recent years, we at Windy City Diamonds have seen Pink Tourmaline gaining tremendously in popularity. Tourmaline has been prized for its association with balance, endurance and safety, and some people call it the “peace stone,” believing it to dispel fear and to make its wearer calm.

This beautiful example of Rubilite, a fine pink Tourmaline was custom designed by us at Windy City Diamonds, made in 18k White and 18k Rose gold to accent and enhance this gorgeous ring.

Tourmaline is found in a broad spectrum of colors and in the past has even been misidentified as Rubies, Emeralds and even Sapphires. In fact, there is a famous tourmaline, the size of a pigeon’s egg that belonged to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, which was long thought to be a Ruby!

Windy City Diamonds has been making pink tourmaline jewelry for many years now and with the surge in pastel colors being worn today, this color blends beautifully to complete any outfit. As Tourmalines are a relatively hard gemstone, they will endure many years of enjoyment in your jewelry.

Sapphires - Septembers Birthstone

Sapphire is the birthstone for the month of September, and they are associated with the 5th, 23rd, and the 45th wedding anniversaries. I know this won't mean much to you, but they are 9.0 on the Mohs scale of hardness, 1 step below diamonds, making them the second hardest natural mineral.

Once upon a time, sapphires were believed to have great healing powers that would help the wearer with rheumatism, colic and even mental illness. Sapphires have also been associated with great wealth and many Hollywood royalty have been seen sporting Sapphire jewelry.

Joan Crawford received a 70 carat star sapphire ring from her second husband. When Richard Burton proposed to Elizabeth Taylor for the second time, he too presented her with a cabochon sapphire ring.

Lady Diana Spenser's engagement ring from Prince Charles was an 18 carat, deep blue, oval sapphire surrounded by 14 round brilliant cut diamonds. This same ring, as many of already know, was presented to Kate Middleton, now known as Princess Katherine, from Prince William.

Medium to Dark Blue is the most associated color for this birthstone, but if you were lucky enough to be born in the month of September, you may pick from any color in the sapphire family for your jewelry. Your choices may include blue, yellow, pink, green, brown, purple, white, orange or colorless, and there is even a rare variety known as color-change sapphire that shows different colors under different lighting conditionsSapphires in any color are a versatile stone that may be set into most any type of jewelry for your enjoyment.

At Windy City Diamonds, we have custom manufactured many styles of jewelry that have incorporated Sapphires. Sapphires are beautiful on their own, but when accented with diamonds, the excitement intesifies with these precious stones.

Here is an example of a spectacular 5.00 carat, cushion cut sapphire diamond ring that we made for one of our clients.

Again surrounded by beautiful round brilliant cut diamonds, this made a breath taking diamond and sapphire engagement ring. This is one lucky lady!
Best of all, sapphires are easy to care for, requiring no special treatment for cleaning.

Sustainable Weddings

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending my Niece's wedding. My niece and her husband are extremely environmentally conscience, and they wanted to see how "green" friendly they could manage with their wedding, leaving as small a foot print as possible.

The first thing that they did was to use Vimeo to create an e-video for their save the date. Of course this was then disseminated to their friends and family via email, leaving no environmental footprint in their path, and they saved money as well. No paper, no printing, no postage.

Now comes the invitations. Again, turning to the internet, they produced a beautiful e-vite, along with a "response card" to maintain their goal of being completely sustainable in their approach. The invitations were beautiful, and I've found that there are a multitude of sites on the web that may be used for sending out these invitations via email, some free, some for a small fee, but this too saves on paper and postage, leaving no footprint.

I wondered how they were going to maintain this lofty goal of zero impact on the environment with their actual wedding, which did turn out to be a bit harder, but still, I was amazed at the extent to which they worked this out.

The arrived and left their wedding on bicycle, no pollution, no impact.
The wedding dress was made in a fashion that it could later be dyed and hemmed to wear in the future. This has a small impact on the environment, but no more than any other clothing that you would purchase normally.

The food that was served was all vegetarian, and delicious, but this didn't impress me as being sustainable, until I found out that all of the produce was grown locally, only organic produce, much of it by the chef him self, and used in preparation of all of the meals. No shipping, cartage, etc, no fuel used to transport, just good quality, organic (no pesticide) vegetables. They even served fruit smoothies made with locally grown organic apples. What a wonderful idea!!

The Flowers were all locally grown, in season flowers, which were beautiful, and again kept the environment footprint very small. In addition to this, the vases that were used were ball jars that will be re-used again and again as my niece loves to make canned fruits and vegetables.

Ok, so I guess you’re wondering how we can bring the jewelry into the idea of sustainability. Easy, the rings that were used were family heirlooms, re-worked to fit their taste!!

All in all, this was quite an impressive wedding and quite an impressive feat to accomplish such a small environmental footprint with 150 people at the wedding!