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?

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!!