An artist in London has created a platinum and diamond encrusted skull and sold it to an investment group for $100 million. The skull will be on exhibit in an upcoming international art show and the investment group anticipates selling it within a few years for a nice profit.

It was modeled after a real skull and contains 32 platinum plates with 8,601 diamonds, using a rare and magnificent 52 carat pink diamond in the center, studded with 14 pear-shaped diamonds. The artist entitled the piece “For the Love of God”, because it was meant to highlight the transience of human existence. For the love of God is that a lot of money!

A stone recently found in South Africa could be the largest diamond ever found. In the afternoon hours of August 27, 2007, a small mining company working in the northwest province of the country unearthed this massive stone. Under preliminary estimates, the stone weighs near 7,000 carats. If these estimates are correct, this stone would almost double the largest rough diamond on record, the famous Cullinan. However, the Cullinan was later cut into smaller stones, which are now featured in the British Crown jewels.

Brett Jolly, a shareholder in the mine, was quoted as saying the stone is light green in color and that it is between 6,500 and 8,000 carats. The stone has since been transported to a vault in Johannesburg, where it will be photographed and further assessed by experts. Jolly wouldn’t release the name of the mining company or the mine sighting security reasons.

Further tests are scheduled to be done on August 28 to determine the actual size and worth of the stone.

In a photograph next to a cell phone, the stone appears to have a greenish tinge and looks to be about the size of a coconut. A spokesman for the De Beers Mining Company, the world’s largest diamond mining company, said the area where the stone was found was not known for producing gems and stones of this color were even rarer. Experts claim if the stone is a genuine diamond, it would be the “stone of the century.”

This ring started with a very cool idea from one of our customers. The combination of the tulip style head and the cathedral ring turned this in to a stunning ring.

… “our fedex gal just left and i just opened the box! WOW! it’s pure perfection and a great pleasure, from working with you to getting the ring. thank you so much! =)

i’m more than pleased. you guys rock! THIS is how i’m supposed to feel when i get a ring. my coworkers think i’ve gone off the deep end, i’ve been grinning so broadly. haha”… T.D.

Interested in reading more of this story and the results? Head over to one of our favorite online forums and give the play by play a read. BetterThanDiamonds

A new study indicates that diamonds are nearly as old as the Earth itself. Scientists from the Institute of Mineralogy unearthed diamonds more than 4 billion years old that were trapped inside crystals of zircon in the Jack hills region in Western Australia. Considered the oldest terrestrial diamonds ever discovered, they could give insights into early evolutional stages of Earth’s crust.

What is interesting about Zircon crystals is that they are relatively resistant to melting, which means they retain their chemical composition and hold vital clues as to the past events of the Earth’s formation. Recent studies of zircon indicate the Earth may have cooled more rapidly than previously thought, which means ocean and continent formation as far back as 4.4 billion years. The full study will be in tomorrows issue of the journal Nature.

Lately there have been more and more product recalls focusing primarily on items made in China. In the jewelry industry this is especially prevalent in low cost children’s jewelry.

As we have been seeing over the last few years the quality control and safety of many of these items is far below US standards. This seems to be a result of a fast growing nation with severe limits on production costs in an effort to compete on a global market. In the past these issues have not been as obvious, but with tainted dog food, lead jewelry and lead paints on toys,  it makes sense to start looking at alternatives.

Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety and senior counsel at the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, suggests that we avoid inexpensive metal jewelry for kids. If you are looking for inexpensive jewelry for children look at plastic and sterling silver jewelry.

After several distributors have suspended the sale of Blue Topaz due to the implied threat of radioactive Blue Topaz, the The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says nine batches of irradiated blue topaz it surveyed last week do not pose any health threat.

“From the test we did last week in New York City, there was nothing alarming from a public health and safety issue,” NRC Public Affairs Officer David McIntyre told National Jeweler.

He said NRC staff met with representatives of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) and three vendors to conduct the testing. Eight of the nine batches of gems, which he said averaged around 500 carats each, showed only background levels of radiation, while one registered at “twice background.”

Background levels refer to radiation that is picked up merely because a survey meter is turned on because there are already low levels of radiation present in the atmosphere. By measuring “twice background,” it implies that there are low levels, but nothing that would be considered alarming, he said.

You can read the full story at National Jeweler

Chi Huynh, of Galatea: Jewelry By Artist, has developed an incredibly unique new cultured pearl. While carving a pearl Chi accidentally carved too deep and exposed the white nuclei of a black Tahitian pearl. This lead to an idea, why no use other colored gems as nuclei?

Chi looked for a place to grow his new idea and found himself off the coast of Vietnam starting a test bed. Three years later AAA-quality Black Vietnamese Pearls with colored gemstone nuclei were ready for carving. Leading to what may be the most unique product in a long time, multi colored carved pearls.

This pearl features a turquoise center, but others have been created using citrine and amethyst..