Recently in Jewelry Category

Wallace Chan will be the first Asian jeweler to display his work at the Paris Biennale des Antiquares this coming September 2012. He's not new to the industry, though, having won the Hong-Kong Jewelry Design Grand Award for his 1987 invention, the Wallace Cut. This is basically an intaglio cut on the reverse side of a faceted stone which is carefully calculated to appear "complete" only when seen through the facets.

In the early part of this century he caught the Titanium trend(see previous), and presented a collection in 2007 as Baselworld

He's recently pre-presented several of pieces to the press:

A pair of elegant, if somewhat severe, earrings in diamond and rock-crystal (a traditional European material that he seems to use somewhat often)	"Innocent Heart" ring. The center stone is a 25ct star-ruby, and it is surrounded by smaller star-rubies and yellow-green diamonds

A Butterfly broach in titanium set with precious and semiprecious stones. The wings are verigated rock-crystal

Necklace of aquamarine, sapphires, amethyst and diamonds set in titanium. The settings of the aquamarine deserve special note, they are titanium shells, anodized to match the color of the stones nearly exactly and set with tiny diamonds, giving them the appearance of just sticking to the outside of the large stone unsupported.

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In 1932 Gabrielle Chanel, known to all as Coco, announced her first collection of diamond jewelry. To commemorate that, the current incarnation of Chanel Joaillerie, which was formed in 1993, will be releasing a large collection (80 pieces in total) in July entitled, simply, 1932. The designs take their inspiration, so the press-release says, from the motifs and symbols held dear by the eponymous designer. The first 4 pieces released all have celestial themes.

The first three pieces are all from the same family, the Etoile Filante, or shooting star. All are 18kt white gold set with white diamonds.

	A photo by André Kertész for Vogue Paris from the original 1932 expo "Années Folles Rappelons" (roughly "remember the Roaring 20's") where the initial pieces were displayed. This motif was the inspiration for the star-themed pieces above

My favorite piece of the initial release was this broach, the Céleste, centering on a massive 79ct blueish baroque Austrailian pearl.

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Ornella Iannuzzi is a French-born and educated, but London-based jeweler. Though her website is painful to use, her actual work is quite lovely, working from naturalistic forms, but more geological then floral, and the occasional Art Nouveau curl.

Her newest collection is called Lucy in Wonderland and is based around the recently-discovered Wello Opal from Ethiopia.

First three pairs of earrings, the first two with a honey-theme to the design.

A Drop of Tej 6ct of opal set into 18kt gold with diamond accents	Sweet Honey 11ct of opal set in 18kt gold.
Holy Water 5.5ct of opal set in 18kt gold with diamonds for accents

Also in the collection are some rings, including these three "Coral" pieces

Wello Coral rings. Top ring is in black rhodium plated silver with a diamond on top and a Wello opal sphere, price from £1,100. Left ring is in vermeil with blue silver with a diamond on top and a Wello opal sphere, Price from £1,550. Right ring is in yellow gold with a diamond on top and a Wello opal sphere, price from £2,500.

And my far-and-away favorite piece, this Axum ring. The massive 18kt gold body, styled into possibly the rays of the sun, but strongly reminiscent of some ancient Egyptian designs, encloses a 7ct hand-carved opal

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Ever wanted Damien Hirst's For the Love of God, but cheap and tacky and devoid of even the passing interest of controversy? Franck Montialoux has got you covered with these vaguely-skull-like pieces cast in silver, some even set with real semi-precious stones!

Napoleon ring, with "real" sapphires for the eyes, 625€	Edmond Dantés ring in silver and blackened silver, 440€
Marie Antoinette necklace set with semi-precious stones and fresh-water pearls, 625€	Sitting Bull necklace, set with garnets and semi-precious stones, 685€

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Well I'm sure I've seen worse...
In celebration of the 80th birthday of Mickey Mouse Disney has teamed-up with Chopard to release a series of jewelry and watches.  The Watches are of the usual "happy sport" style, but with a little black-and-white diamond mickey head instead of the fish. It is interesting to see them working with Chopard and not Bulgari since Disney and Gerald Genta had a long relationship for Mickey (and occasionally Goofy) themed watches.

Specs:
The Happy Mickey pendant, in white, rose and yellow
gold set with black, white, yellow and pink diamonds, rubies, onyx
cabochons eyes, with one mobile diamond; on a white gold chain set with
blue and pink sapphires, emeralds, rubies and amethysts. Retail will be £132,00

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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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Starting on December 13th, Christies will be auctioning off Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewelry with proceeds to benefit her AIDS charity ETAF. The preview show has started and is making its way around the world before coming to rest for the sale in New York which means that photos of the pieces have started trickling out. I'll start with just the previewed necklaces.

First a pair of shots of an emerald and diamond necklace by Bulgari originally given to Taylor by Richard Burton

REUTERS/Fred Prouser	AP Photo/Richard Drew

More Necklaces

Sapphire and diamond necklace by Mouaward with matching earrings AP Photo/Misha Japaridze	A gold and ivory necklace which was a gift from the estate of Edith Head. The Ivory disks are 19th and 18th century opera passes. AP Photo/Richard Drew
One of a suite of Kunzite, amethyst and diamond "Triphanes" jewelry by Van Cleef & Arpels. It is estimated at $70,000 - $100,000. AP Photo/Richard Drew	"The Taj Mahal Diamond," (c. 1627), on a gold and ruby chain by Cartier, was a gift from Richard Burton for her 40th birthday in 1972. The central diamond is engraved with the words "Love is Everlasting" in Parsee. It is estimated at $300,000 - $500,000. AP Photo/Richard Drew
A ruby, diamond and pearl necklace by Cartier with the La Peregrina 60-carat natural pearl pendant The necklace is expected to bring $3 million at auction. REUTERS/Fred Prouser	The so-called "Grandmother's Necklace", with matching earrings, by Van Cleef and Arpels in front of a Warhol "Liz Taylor" screen-print (not owned by Ms Taylor). The necklace and earring set were a present from Richard Burton to commemorate the birth of Taylor's first grandchild. AP Photo/Misha Japaridze

(source note that that page is a nightmare of ads and javascript pain, and the second image in the slideshow is Hank Williams Jr.)
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