John Hardy, founder of the John Hardy jewelry brand, based in Bali, has sold his stake in the business to company president Damien Dernoncourt and creative director Guy Bedarida.

While the world press has extensively reported about the sale, John Hardy and his wife Cynthia offering now in a private press release some insights into the deal and reveal their plans for the future. Lots of good things for them and Bali are in the pipeline. And knowing Cynthia and John it is not surprising that things becoming visible already before they have been officially announced yet.

A small hotel with housing structures made from black bamboo (bambu betung hitam) and a school with a holistic approach combined with elements from mainstream schooling have already opened. The John Hardy brand is sure to be around for years to come.

Many customers are asking us ‘How do I sell my gold?’, ‘What’s the Best Way to Sell Gold?’, ‘How can I get the most for my gold?’ or ‘Who pays most for gold?’.

Our answer is sell it to us here at the store because not only will you be paid the most for it, but after we get it refined we make new jewelry with it so you are helping the planet as well. The next question we are faced with is: ‘How do I know your store pays the most’? I can tell you we pay the most, but that means nothing to most people, so we did a little investigating and came up with this report.

We contacted five Gold Buyers:

GoldPaq.com

BrokenGold.com

Cash4Gold.com

GoldKit.com

Our own store: Images Jewelers

We compared them for ease of contact, response, gold price offered, return time for payment and return time for item when payment was declined.
In all cases we followed the recommended online instructions (and TV advertising if we saw it) and we also sent in an identical item that was 14K gold to each.

And the Results of our Gold Buyer Comparison test are in:

5. Cash4Gold.com
Time to receive ‘mail in kit’: 5 days
Time to receive check in mail:22 days
Amount of check:$8.85
Time to receive item back after returning check:7 days
Ease of contact:Good
Response:Good
Total time spent to get item back 34 days

4. GoldPaq.com
Time to receive ‘mail in kit’ :5 days
Time to receive check in mail: 11 days
Amount of check: $7.46
Time to receive item back after returning check: 19 days
Ease of contact: Good
Response Good
Total time spent to get item back 35 days

3. GoldKit.com
Time to receive ‘mail in kit’:5 days
Time to receive check in mail: 11 days
Amount of check:$7.50
Time to receive item back after returning check: 14 days
Ease of contact:Good
Response:Good
Total time spent to get item back:30 days

2. BrokenGold.com
Time to receive ‘mail in kit’:5 days
Time to receive check in mail:11 days
Amount of check:$10.50
Time to receive item back after returning check:11 days
Ease of contact:Good
Response:Good
Total time spent to get item back:27 days

So far pretty much the same, BrokenGold is leading the pack with payment and slightly better return service but this is where it gets starts getting interesting….

1. Images Jewelers (Our store)
Time to evaluate piece: 20 seconds
Time to receive check: instant
Amount of check $38.05
If you are thinking of selling your gold ,shop around and sell wisely.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the news, 2008 was another great year in the online custom jewelry business. And once again, Images stole the spotlight with high end custom made jewelry that was second to none. We added on our brick and mortar store and re-vamped our websites, we also hit new highs in production and more requests for jewelry than ever before. With an ever growing thirst for high quality custom jewelry, you are bound to hear more about us in the coming years. Top notch craftsmanship, flawless finishing, hand picked diamonds and gemstones are some of the reasons why over 25,000 customers, spread across 32 nations, rely on Images.

Since all our jewelry work is done on site , anything you can dream we can make. Write to us at Shawn@ImagesJewelers.com for all your jewelry and gemstone requests. Your queries are answered by experienced craftsmen and jewelry designers. You will not be pressured into rushing to finalize your order by smart talking sales people, we always take the time to ensure everything is perfect. We realize that your queries need professional jewelry expertise and not sales gimmicks. We have specialized in high end custom jewelry for years and will for years to come.

John Hardy has always taken special care of the environment around him.  Soon after he sold the company, he started a visionary school along with his wife Cynthia.  The school follows John’s vision of sustainable environment and is aptly named “Green School.”  This captivating arena for learning utilizes traditional teaching techniques to inspire its students.  The school services kids from all different areas of the world from preschool through year 8.

Why is the Green School so green?  They employ the use of alternative energy sources such as solar power, bio-gas and a hydro-power vortex generator which supplies the surrounding community with electricity.  The buildings are made with a combination of bamboo and mud and are topped with local alang grass.  The school also grows over 30 different species of rice, fruits and vegetables.  The unused areas of land were converted to ponds that support a wide variety of species.  The organic waste is used as compost while metal and plastic are recycled so they can be converted into new materials.   Even the methane from the animals is converted into energy to heat the stoves.

The use of bamboo is important to the Green School community.  50,000 bamboo seedlings were distributed among balanese locals.  These seedlings will grown and later purchased to help the local economy.  The bamboo is used to make chairs, desks, and blackboards as well as the buildings themselves.

The top diamond lab in the world, The Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) staff and students collected more than $8,000 in food, gifts, toys, cash and other supplies to benefit the organization Voices for Children.

The California based nonprofit group is devoted to helping abused, neglected and abandoned children who have been removed from their homes and placed under the protection of a juvenile court.

“This contribution will provide these children with special gifts that will help them share in the holiday spirit. We are very appreciative of the GIA’s support of the foster children we serve.” Voices for Children Vice President of Marketing and Development Kim Penny said in a media release.

For the past 12 years, the GIA has run the Holiday Gift and Food Drive to benefit a local charity. Since its inception in 1996, it has given more than $61,000 in funds and supplies to a variety of community recipients and organizations.

Wednesday Christie’s Auction House sold an extremely rare, 17th-century fancy deep grayish-blue diamond for 16.39 million pounds ($24.3 million), a world record price for any diamond or piece of jewelry sold at auction.

The pre-sale estimate was about half the sale price, 9 million pounds.

Famed jeweler Laurence Graff bought the 35.56-carat, historic Wittelsbach diamond, which came to the international market for the first time in almost 80 years, in a highly competitive auction, a Christie’s spokesperson told Reuters.

Large blue diamonds of high clarity, such as this, are very rare. The history of the stone also enhanced its value.

“The importance of the piece, the rarity of it, was recognized,” said Keith Penton, head of Christie’s jewelry department in London.

He said there was strong interest in the diamond from jewelers and private collectors.

The diamond, which was found in an Indian diamond mine, was part of the dowry of the Infanta Margarita Teresa (1651-1673) upon her engagement to Leopold I of Austria.

Four armed robbers pulled off one of the world’s biggest jewelery heists at famed Paris Jeweler Harry Winston, making off with diamonds and valuables worth $108 million dollars, investigators said Friday.The robbery took place Thursday and the men stole nearly all the jewelery on display.

The heist was well-planned, a source from the investigating team told the press. The men knew the names of some of the shop’s employees and the location of some hidden storage cases for jewels.

Two of the men were disguised as women when they managed to elude the high-security surveillance system and burst into the boutique at 5:30 pm on Thursday during the busy holiday shopping season.

Brandishing weapons, they threatened some of the dozen employees and customers and herded them into a corner, while some of the personnel suffered blows, according to investigators.

Police said they were dealing with “major pros” who had meticulously planned their crime and knew the boutique’s lay-out well, suggesting it may have been an inside job.

The thieves, who apparently were French, stuffed rings, necklaces and other finery in bags and quickly left, without firing a single shot.

No leads were ruled out including the possibility that the robbers may have connections in eastern Europe, where the loot could be sold, contrary to western Europe where such high-value stolen goods would be quickly detected.

Police described the eastern European market as a “new El Ddorado for traffickers” trying to get rid of high-end stolen goods.

Police on Friday were questioning customers, employees and pedestrians to try to come up with leads.

Harry Winston, which specializes in ultra-luxury jewelery, was hit by another heist in October last year when armed robbers stole an estimated 20 million worth of valuables.

An insurance company offered a 500,000-dollar reward for information leading to the thieves’ arrest but they were never found.

The US jewelry chain has stores across the world and has sold precious stones to royal families and lent them to film stars for events such as the Cannes film festival or the Oscars in Hollywood.

We are now wrapping up the final days of the remodeling project. We have certainly come a long way since the beginning and we are very anxious to complete the remodeling project. Our attention is now focused on our annual holiday sale which will be held during the week of Thanksgiving. We will also be offering special discounts for those customers that are signed up for our monthly newsletter. The photos show the new office and our showroom.

Lovers of all things jewelry, we have good news. A brand new, jewelry resource center at New York’s Museum of Arts And Design (MAD) opened last week with its inaugural show, Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry. The exhibition explores the inspirations for contemporary jewelry, including the fine arts, the human form and the natural world. Featuring over 130 works from 1948 to the present, pieces are drawn from the museum’s collection of approximately 450 modern and contemporary selections and will be on display until March 2009.

The Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery, which will house the entire collection in accessible study drawers, is a unique study center dedicated exclusively to contemporary jewelry. Located on the second floor of the new MAD building, the center also presents a rotating series of jewelry exhibitions and provides additional resources on the history of jewelry design through MAD’s online database.

Construction of MAD’s Columbus Circle location was a controversial topic for New Yorkers over the past few years, but it’s clear the City is now excited to add yet another artistic destination for both New York natives and out of town visitors. Mayor Bloomberg was at the ribbon cutting ceremony and voiced his full support.

For more information about the Jewelry Gallery and the other exhibits at the Museum, visit their official website at www.madmuseum.org.

It has been almost three weeks since the last update.  We have all been very busy trying to get organized and situated in our new showroom.   The showroom staff has been moved out into the showroom and we are now able to serve our customers more efficiently.  Work has started on the old kitchen, which will turn into an office area for the two owners.  Once the office is complete, their old office will be our new break / meeting room.  These two pictures feature the newly remodeled showroom.  We are almost done with the entire showroom area and most of the construction has moved to the back part of the bulding.  We look forward to getting this project done and getting back to business as usual.  Tune in to keep updated on our progress.