Box of love
The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has announced plans to launch its Love View Box - a customised ring-display box that can hold pictures, play video and audio - at JCK Las Vegas on May 30.
Perfect for sentimental fiancés to be, the Love View Box is fitted with an LCD screen, and displays messages and images of love via multimedia data, downloaded directly through a USB port, according to the internet diamond industry news agency Rapaport.
The box also includes a miniature IGI Diamond/Gemstone Certification Report that is around the same size as a credit card.
The wood-like finished Love View Box can also be used as an in-store marketing tool, displaying retailers' logos or advertisements along with the jewellery purchase.
The idea for the Love View Box came from marrying technology with emotion.
"While technological advancements are key to our industry, so is emotionally connecting with our customers," said Jerry Ehrenwald, president and CEO of IGI. "As such, we are excited to introduce the IGI Love View Box, a successful combination of the two."
Diamond fetches over $10m
A 72.22-carat diamond has sold for almost $80 million Hong Kong dollars, making it one of the most expensive jewels ever sold at an Asian auction.
Auction house Sotheby's Hong Kong described the stone as a D-colour, internally-flawless, pear-shaped diamond with "excellent polish and symmetry".
Naming rights on the rare stone have been included with the sale.
Jewellery box 3,000 years old
Archaeologists in Fiji have unearthed a 3,000-year-old pot containing jewellery thought to have belonged to the South Pacific nation's indigenous Lapita people.
Sepeti Matararaba of the Fiji Museum found the shell jewellery inside the upturned pot while excavating.
According to Professor Patrick Nunn from the University of the South Pacific School of Geography, the pot contained "nine shell rings of different sizes, four shell bracelets and six straight units with drill-holes".
Rising gold doesn't stop Indian sales
The rising gold price has not had the detrimental effect expected in Bangalore, India, with buyers and sellers capitalising on the hike.
An April report in The Economic Times said high prices are attracting even more buyers as they see gold as the safest investment options with attractive returns.
"In fact, whenever there is volatility, sales go up," said Bangalore Jewellers' Association president Mahesh Pati. "The sales being inversely proportional to the price is a very old phenomenon, which does not hold good today."
Madonna wants Chopard's M-dolla
Madonna has commissioned Chopard to create a diamond knuckle ring that reads "M-dolla", as well as the Happy Diamonds cross she wears on the cover of new album Hardy Candy.
The ring - designed by Chopard co-president Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele -features 258 brilliant-cut white diamonds with the signature Chopard floating diamonds in the flourish of the letter "M".
This is the second partnership between Chopard and Madonna, who previously worked together to create a pavé diamonds necklace that spelled "Hung Up" for Maddy's Confessions tour.
Teeth or treasure?
We've heard of pearly whites, but can anyone actually make money from their teeth? People in the US are saying yes, selling their old gold dental caps, fillings and bridgework to pawnbrokers, coin shops and specialised firms that buy "dental gold", for generous returns.
According to an Associated Press report, many are selling their smiles to get a bite of the metal's historic run to $US1,000 an ounce.
"People are really cashing in. If a dentist passes away, their kids come in with a big pile of teeth," said Scott Taber, a coin dealer who buys dental gold and then resells it to a gold smelter.
Diamonds down there
A diamond-studded g-string has made a revealing entrance a during a a fashion festival in Singapore.
According to a report on the Diamond Vues website, Romanian model Danielle Luminita was carried on the shoulders of two other male models as she displayed the fancy lingerie during Viva La Eve by Triumph at the Singapore Fashion Festival on April 3.
The g-sting is decorated with 518 diamonds totalling 30 carats and valued at over $US121,000.
Diamonds aid cancer treatment
Taiwanese chemists have devised a possible use for nano-diamonds in treating cancer.
By bombarding nano-diamonds with high-energy helium ions, they become light beacons that can be attached to cancer cells and tumours in the body, allowing medicine to be more accurately delivered to the cancer zone, according to a report on the Diamond Vues website.
Approximately 4mm in size, nano-diamonds are made by detonating two explosive compounds - TNT and RDX - and then collecting the resulting soot that contains the tiny diamonds.
New York diamond dealer accused of stealing gems
A Manhattan diamond district dealer has been accused by his business associates of stealing $US3.4 million worth of stones.
Now facing criminal charges, Alfred Avi Taub claimed in a police report that he was mugged with pepper spray while carrying more than $US1 million worth of diamonds in a leather bag; however, the 45 dealers who consigned jewels to Avi Taub claim otherwise, stating in a lawsuit that Taub stole from them and that the actual loss far exceeds the reported amount.
When searching Taub's house, detectives found eight diamonds - two of them stones Taub had reported stolen - and more than $US12,000 cash.