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A new exhibit dedicated to the diamond jewelry designs of the revered Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry house has opened at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

“Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels” features millions of dollars’ value of jewels, some of which were shaped from the jewelers’ vaults and some of which were lent to the appearance by private collectors.

The exhibit is organized in six sections, and the one that is creating the main buzz is the “personalities” collection, which features iconic pieces such as Princess Grace’s diamond tiara and a ruby bracelet that belonged to Marlene Dietrich.

Quantities of unique jewelry creations, such as a functioning zipper necklace crafted in precious metals and encrusted with gemstones, are also being shown.

Cooper-Hewitt Director Sarah Coffin said, that all piece on display in the exhibition “starts with a story.”

“Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels” runs during June 5, 2011.

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During U.S. President Barack Obama’s first year in office, the First Family received nearly $200,000 value of gifts from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Among the gifts was a ruby and diamond jewelry set consisting of a pair of earrings and ring, bracelet and a necklace presented to Michelle Obama.
The overall set is valued at $132,000.

Among the new unusual gifts, the Deputy Commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force presented the United States’ Deputy under Secretary of the Air Force with an strange gift: “Large 8” x 15” x 4’ piece of ore, with what looks to be gold embedded throughout”.

It was the only gift listed with a mysterious value.

In total, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave U.S. Government workers over $323,000 worth of gifts in 2009, far surpassing the accumulated gifts of any other country.

The next uppermost amount of accumulated gifts was $73,000 from Qatar, Of sixteen gifts valued at more than $10,000, eight came from Saudi Arabia, three from Qatar, and all from the United Kingdom (a pen, wooden pen holder made from a slave ship, and 3 books worth $16,000), Italy, China, Germany, and Ghana.

Michelle Obama received the most luxurious gifts, besides the jewelry set from Saudi Arabia, she received an 18 karat gold watch with diamonds and skin worth $48,000 from Ghana.

The least luxurious gift listed was a $75 bottle of olive oil offered to President Obama by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas also offered a painting and books prized at $446.

Among other gifts were a $20,000 textile depicting the First Family from China, four boxes of dates and twelve bottles of wine from Algeria, and a cd holder, a book, and 15 cds from Russia’s President.

The King of Jordan presented Obama with six decorative traditional weapons prized at $1,265.

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Namakwa Diamonds, a diamond resource group whose operations focus on southern Africa, is tendering an very rare large orange diamond at its mine in South Africa’s North West Province, the diamond company has announced. The orange diamond weights 7.53 carats, is assessed to be of perfect potential, and its color has been assessed as Vivid Orange – an extremely rare hue, since most orange colored diamonds bear tinges of yellow or pink.

In 2002, actress Halle Barry wore a Harry Winston necklace set with the 5.54-carat Pumpkin Diamond – possibly the most famous orange diamond in the world. In calculation to the large orange stone, Namakwa also improved a 26.74-carat white diamond with a color grade of D, which is also part of this month’s tender. Heno Kruger, Head of Sales and Trading at Namakwa, said of the two finds that the company was “experiencing great interest” from all centers of the diamond trade. These two diamonds, Kruger sustained, highlighted the quality of the resource that Namakwa was mining on its North West Province property. “Given the infrequency and desirability of Vivid Orange stones of this size, we imagine it to be the talk of the town for some time to come”. For more details about Diamonds visit: www.glitteringstones.com

Do you own some pieces of jewellery that you never put on? Possibly you have a necklace that was fashionable when you bought it but now looks dated. Or you might have inborn a brooch or bracelet that has great sentimental value but simply isn’t your style. And what about all those bits and pieces: single earrings and cufflinks that have lost their followers, a ring with a missing stone, or a damaged pendant?
Instead of continuing to hide them absent, or selling them for their scrap value, why not examine the possibility of having unworn pieces of jewellery expertly remodelled into attractive new pieces?
A professional jeweller who offers a jewellery remodelling service will usually be able to suggest a number of ways in which the precious metals or gemstones in a piece of jewellery could be altered or rearranged. Most will also do their best to integrate your own ideas into the new design.
Some ways in which old jewellery can be given a new lease of life contain:

• taking precious stones from an old-fashioned setting and putting them into a more recent setting
• breaking up a huge piece such as an ornate necklace or tiara to create several smaller pieces
• simplifying over choosy designs
• incorporating small ‘odd’ pieces into a new bigger piece
• building a new piece from melted down damaged gold, silver or platinum

When someone admires your ‘new’ jewellery it will be up to you to choose whether or not to tell them you’ve had it for years!

For the best results look for a jeweller whose work you like and who is skilled in remodelling all types of jewellery. If your jewellery includes diamonds or other precious gems it’s significant that you only entrust them to someone qualified to work with them.

A beautiful €1.5 million (£1.24 million) gold and diamond pendant was the star of the demonstrate in Paris this week, showing there is no exclusion to the fact that diamond prices are rising for 2010.

Artcurial of Paris put on an auction sale of luxury jewels and watches during the last week of July, but the results have only just been unrestricted to the public. The sale was hosted at the Hotel Marcel Dassault in Paris, France.

There was one item which totally stole the limelight; the dramatic gold pendant (pictured) embedded with a large pear cut diamond weighing a huge 55.34 carats.

The pendant itself is shaped from rose gold, and the diamond feature of the pendant rests in a perforated ‘basket‘ set of extra brilliant cut diamonds. The 43g weighted pendant hangs from a identical rose gold chain.

The luxurious and required after piece was accompanied by a certificate from the European Gemological Laboratory (EGL) which accounted for the authenticity and quality of the stone.

The special necklace starred at Artcurial with an probable sale value of €1,000,000-1,500,000 (£822,309 – £1,233,478).

With constant reminders that the 2010 jewellery markets is effectively fighting back against the economic downturn, this exceptional jewellery sale item proved no exemption, reaching a high total value of €1,147,336 (£943,722).