Recently in Diamonds Category

Laurence Graff, eponomous founder of Graff Diamonds(previously mentioned) is not a man known for understatement.  At the recent TEFAF (The European Fine Arts Fair, I know you're not supposed to include articles in acronyms, but...), in Maastricht Graff unveiled this peacock-form broach, said to be the most expensive broach made in recent memory.

It consists of 1,305 diamonds, totalling 120.81 ct.   Moving out from the central 20ct blue stone (about 1/2 the size of the Hope diamond) is a fan of white and colored diamonds, including pink, yellow, orange and the rarely-seen green.  Since even prices need to make a statement, the asking price is $100,000,000 (but I'm sure there's room to haggle)

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Continuing from last time we now have various rings from the auction preview. The first three pictures are from the Moscow preview.

Van Cleef and Arpels ring from 1974 set with a 32.14 ct. cognac-colored diamond Marina Zakharova	Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring. The main stone is 27.42 ct. Marina Zakharova
Van Cleef & Arpels ring, a 1968 Christmas gift from husband Richard Burton. The center stone is a 8.24ct ruby. ($1,000,000-1,500,000) Marina Zakharova

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From Christies press photos, these Bulgari emerald pieces match the emerald necklace in the previous posting, along with a set of earrings (photoless).

Bulgari emerald ring, estimate $600,000-$800,000	Bulgari emerald pendent, estimate $500,000-$700,000

(from Christie's, Copyright 2011, Christie's Images, LTD)

And from one of the other press(In LA at the MOCA) events a shot of the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, a 33ct VS1 D-color stone. Formerly known as the Krupp diamond, after the German industrialists(once armorers, now they make elevators) who owned it, it was sold to Ms Taylor in 1968 for about $305,000. It was so much a part of her usual attire that it made an animated appearance when she did a guest spot on The Simpsons.

AP Photo/Richard Drew
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I don't like the briolette cut in general, and I REALLY don't like large stones when they're cut that way.  Even considering that, these new pieces, the baisers précieux (precious kiss) collection, by the Parisian jeweler Amal are pretty unattractive. This is a sample, set with a cut phrenite, in yellow gold.

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Keeping with the theme, however, leads to a stone that must be acknowledged as impressive, if nothing else. It's an 85ct pure white diamond, from the same mine as the Koh-I-Noor(106 Ct) in the British Crown Jewels. Chopard hasn't told us what they'll use it for, simply provided this...suggestive press photo

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Another of the strange jewelers of Paris, this time working in a very Post-Modernist style, is Baptiste Monvoisin (who's name translates roughly to "My Neighbor").  He is primarily a metalworker, with stones being a rare addition, usually highlighting the gold or silver design.  Some of his works clearly take aim at the common tropes of jewelry, like the brilliant-cut diamond, such as the Pop-Art or Diamond rings below

Pop-Art ring in yellow and white gold and black diamonds	Diamond ring in silver

Others show a strange dental interest, such as the Molar ring, or the broach in the form of chewed chewing-gum.

Molar ring in yellow gold	Chewing-Gum broach in pink gold

Using Hipster "Irony" as source he has taken the inexplicably popular trend of intentionally-pixelated art to its logical conclusion is the "Pixel" ring in sand-blasted gold, quite an interesting surface treatment. Along with that is the Mustache cufflink in white gold.

Pixel	Mustache

He has some other interesting pieces, including a hand-grenade based on a large Tahitian pearl and a hospital-bracelet rendered in pale yellow gold, but one of the more amusing pieces, conceptually, is this ring, the Bijoux de Famille in yellow gold

All pictures are from his website.

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The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (that's the full name, don't wear it out) is hosting an exhibition of Van Cleef and Arpels jewelry, watches and other objects d'art from February 18 through June 5, 2011. 

Amoung the pieces on display are displays of dazzling technique, such as this gold box in semi-precious and precious stones from 1926(Left) and a Camargo broach, in platinum set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds from 1942 (Right).  For the simply dazzling, it's hard to beat a platinum and gold diadem, set with diamonds for Princess Grace, from 1976 (Below)

My favorite piece from the promotional pictures is this bell-push, set with an enameled gold and silver boat(1908). The body is ebony while the massive wave is carved from a single piece of jasper.

An interesting pair of broaches are also on display. One is recent, from 2004, a Japanese-inspired butterfly (Right). The wings are wood with Maki-e laquer, a Japanese technique for layering lacquer with gold dust, and the body is gold set with diamonds. The other is from 1971, a bird-shaped broach in gold carrying a 95ct briolette-cut fancy yellow diamond and set with sapphires and more diamonds. It was once owned by Ganna Walska

There are plenty more pieces in the exhibit that I may post later on
(Pictures from Paris Joaillerie, except the bird broach from the CH website)
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Tiffany and Co has signed a deal with the Ellendale diamond mine in Australia to get first choice of their yellow stones. As a result, they've been creating a collection of jewelry based on the stones, and showing off the Tiffany Yellow, the largest cut yellow diamond in the world at 128ct set in the Bird in the Rock broach, by Jean Schlumberger.

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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

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