Recently in Diamonds Category

As promised in the previous entries on Adler, I have some pictures of their recent experiments in Titanium. Although relatively common on Earth, Titanium was only purified and used in bulk in the second half of the 20th century. It is commonly used in watches, but rarely in jewelry. One of the aspects of it that Adler leverages is the ability to anodize the normally gray metal to a rainbow of colors. All pictures from Adler, unless noted

Fiocco broach, set 826 diamonds, totaling 38ct. Here the Titanium was probably chosen to produce the bright fuchsia color. Notice how the strips of the ribbon are constructed of separate strips of metal, similar to the sapphire ring.

Autumn Leaf broach, set with 20ct of white and 40ct of brown diamonds. Here the lightness of the Titanium allow for a shape that would have been otherwise too weak to support itself

Ventaglio (Fan) broach, set with white and cognac diamonds, and a 5ct pear-shaped white diamond drop. The Titanium's strength permitted less structural metal than would have been needed with Gold or Platinum, allowing the diamonds to entirely obscure the structure.

Sail earrings, set with 73ct of pink sapphires and 7ct of white diamonds. Here all of the properties of the metal are on display: it has been anodized to highlight the pink of the sapphires, no other metal could permit such a fine structure support the stones and no ear could support even that much Platinum or Gold without drooping to the floor.

Here you can see their size and a more accurate view of their color, worn by Georgina Robertson

(picture source)

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Focusing on a selection of rings for this post.  Necklaces were previously featured, and there's an unusual collection of jewelry in Titanium, where the metal has been anodized to color as part of the design, still to come.

Unusual, but not actually attractive. The setting of a stone that large with only four prongs worries me, and I find the underside of the pedals, where the cutout structure from the casting is apparent, unimpressive
Purple Rose ring, set with a 10ct Burmese ruby

These next two are clearly to show off the primary stones which are, admittedly, impressive

Pink Volute ring in 18kt pink gold supporting a 10ct yellow-brown diamond. The smaller stones are Top Wesselton diamonds, an archaic European term for F/G white stones, referring to a long-closed diamond mine.

Catch Me ring in 18kt pink gold. The primary stone is a 20ct pink-brown monster

Finally an unusual piece, showcasing Adler's motif of multiple courses of stones, in this case a diamond border with tendrils of sapphire leading to the central stone.

Harmony ring with a 25ct cushion-cut sapphire as the main stone

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The house of Adler is one of the less well-known jewelry houses today.  It was founded in the late 19th century in Istanbul, and moved its base of operations to Geneva in the 1970s.  Their current collection is modern, but strongly classical in many ways.  They tend to build, using multiple layers of repeated design or multiple strands in a necklaces, or multiple courses of stones. 

Here are some samples of their current top-of-the-line collection, there will be another post later with more

Clef de Sol necklace, 18kt white gold set with 35ct of Emeralds and 99ct of Diamonds surrounding a 30ct Colombian Emerald

Precious Ebony ring, a 10ct oval diamond set in 18kt white gold flanked with two pieces of carved Ebony and about 1ct of other diamonds

Jodhpur earrings, pink gold set with 55ct white and brown diamonds in the dangles and two 5ct brown stones at the top

Amazonie necklace, 21ct of brown diamonds, 66ct of white and 11ct of black diamonds surround the 5ct pear-shaped brown diamond set in the snakes head. For an example of how large that piece really is, and what it looks like on a person, rather than a while background, this is that same necklace on Francesca Eastwood, Clint's daughter at a 2009 debutante ball

(picture from)

Blue Dreams necklace, set with diamonds and sapphires, the three primary stones are a 30ct cushion-cut Madagascar sapphire (upper) and a 25ct pear-shaped Sri Lanka sapphire (lower), with a pear-shaped diamond between

Except where noted, all pictures from Adler
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In the next month both Christie's and Sotheby's have some exceptional gems on sale.

First up is Christie's, leading their April 22nd sale with 2 historical stones.  The "Catherine the Great Emerald" is a 60ct (or so) irregularly shaped faceted Colombian emerald surrounded by old-mine cut diamonds and set in a gold/silver broach.  It was in her collection when she took the throne in 1762, and she then gave it to Sophie Dorothea,
princess of Württemberg, in 1776 when she married the future Tsar Paul I, Catherine's son.

Part of the same sale is the Maximilian Diamond, a 40ct white diamond with quite a checkered past. Archduke Maximilian bought the stone in 1860 in Brazil, shortly before he was installed as Emperor of Mexico under the patronage of Emperor Napoleon III of France. Under diplomatic pressure from the US, France abandoned him, leaving him to be arrested by Republican forces led by Benito Juárez. According to legend, he was wearing the diamond in a small pouch around his neck when he was executed, by firing squad, in 1867.

After being returned to his widow, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, it was sold several times until ending up at Christie's in July of 1982. It was bought by Laurence Graff (previously mentioned) for $726,000, who resold it with two other important stones to Imelda Marcos, notorious first-lady of the Philippines.

(both pictures from Paris Joaillerie)

Sotheby's has a impressive necklace set with 100ct of color-matched flawless yellow diamonds

• Somewhat dull reporting and images from London's recent Jewelry Week
• Much more exciting, finally a name to go with some pictures of uncut diamond jewelry I photographed in Paris, it is the work of Patrice Fabre. 
  

• A fantastic watch blog, entirely in Hungarian.  Even not able to read a single word, the movement section provided a fantastic collection of photos.
• From the New York Times, a review of a contemporary furniture exhibit at the V&A, including the fantastic "Robber Baron" wardrobe. More information and some close-up shots of the detailed, if a bit disturbed, bronze castings available from Moss (below, closed from Moss, open from the V&A website)

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