The oldest piece of gold jewelry ever found in the Americas has been discovered near Lake Tikicaca in Peru. The necklace was made about 4,000 years ago. It is 600 years older than any other gold jewelry found in the Western Hemisphere to date. Mark Aldenderfer discovered the necklace while excavating a site for human remains.

The necklace was actually found about seven years ago but the find was kept quiet for fear of looters raiding the site. It is believed to have belonged to the Andean people who lived around that time period. The Andeans were hunters and gatherers before settling down in the Lake Tikicaca area. This important find shows the emergence of status symbols long before the rule of kings and queens. The necklace is being held at the National Institute of Peru and might soon be displayed in a museum.

Luxury Electronic addicts need look no further than Bling My Thing’s new “Golden Age” laptop. Unveiled at CeBIT 2008, “Golden Age” is a Macbook Air clad in 12,000 Swarovski crystals. The crystals are even more reflective than usual thanks to a coating of 24k gold applied under each crystal. The translucence of the crystals allows for true uber luxury. Each “Golden Age” takes about a week to fabricate since each and every crystal is hand-applied, so only 20 of these elegant computers exist, one of which will be for sale at Selfridges, Oxford Street, on March 18th. That is if you wont break the bank on the $39,750 price tag for the mega-laptop.

The Junior League of South Bend and the American Culinary Federation invite the community to support the 2008 Chefs in the Heart of our Home Auction and Tour. This annual event will be Sunday, April 20 and tour 5 fabulous kitchens in the afternoon followed by a gathering in the main ballroom of the South Bend Marriott.

This event will offer hors d’oeuvres with a silent and oral auction which benefits childhood obesity and type 2 Diabetes. ACF will work in our community to provide nutrition-based education programs to children and parents. As a past benefactor, Images Jewelers will be making another donation this year, specifically a Laura Gibson necklace with apatite, rose quartz, purple jade and pink tourmaline. Please join our community leaders and show your support for this event.

John Hardy is a Canadian-born jewelry designer based on the island of Bali. Worldwide the John Hardy Brand is well known for its handmade lines of intricate jewelry and housewares that are inspired by “sustainable luxury”, a belief that a business can be successful while still respecting the natural and human environments and protecting them for future generations.

“Our jewelry is about more than looking good. It’s about feeling good and doing good while doing well in business. This is sustainable luxury.” – John Hardy

Well known jeweler Tiffany and Co. is suing eBay over a counterfeit merchandise claim and the case has just gone to trial. What this means if eBay loses is that the door could be swung open to similar cases and potentialy hurt eBay from a business standpoint. Tiffany is suing the auction site for hosting counterfeit merchandise, which makes up for about 73% of products listed as “Tiffany”. This is the first major trial on this particular question in the US and is being watched closely by lawyers who represent other luxury brands like Rolex. Rolex has successfully sued eBay over this issue in Germany. The best result of the trial for copyright holders would be for eBay to discontinue listings for certain brands. When buying over the eBay and unknown websites it is buyer beware indeed.

John Hardy is a company that prides itself on protecting the environment. They recently became the first company to offset the carbon emissions resulting from their advertising campaign. John Hardy also implemented a project to plant bamboo on Nusa Penida, a small island off the coast of Bali where the company is located. Not only will this project reduce the amount of CO2, it will also serve as a reforestation project for the island. Additionally, John Hardy will offer bamboo seedlings to local families and educate them on the fundamentals of sustainable cultivation of bamboo and other hardwoods. The reforested area will provide a habitat for the endangered Bali Starling Songbird.

John Hardy’s Bamboo jewelry line offers customers the chance to get involved and plant bamboo. For each piece of jewelry bought from this unique hand crafted line, John Hardy will plant bamboo seedlings on Nusa Penida. The actual number of seedlings planted are engraved onto each piece. The number of seedlings planted depends on the style of the piece and ranges from four to twenty-six. The two largest cuffs in the bamboo line feature a special John Hardy grill. This unique grill depicts the bamboo theme as well as the Bali Starling.

Euri Inc. has developed a new ring box, the Euricase, that puts a technical twist to an old classic. The Euricase comes with a built-in 2 inch LCD display screen. This high-tech ring box can be loaded with 500 pictures or up to 60 minutes of your favorite videos and can be pre-set to play music when the box is opened. The Euricase can be personalized with a variety of messages or even your favorite memories. When the ring box is opened, an elegant mood light enhances the look of the ring.

The Euricase comes in a multitude of colors and metallic finishes. The system operates on a lithium rechargeable battery. Files can be transfered to the Euricase from a PC via a USB cable. For more information about the Euricase, visit Euricase.com.

More than 500,000 Chinese-made children’s jewelry has been recalled due to the large amounts of lead found to be contaminating the jewelry.  A number of retailers have pulled their supply of the contaminated jewelry after agreements were reached to stop the sale of these lead-tainted products.  The recall involved more than 507,900 pieces of children’s jewelry in a variety of different stores. 

The investigation is part of an enforcement action carried out by federal regulation authorities in cooperation with New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.  Cuomo’s office notified the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission about the possible lead-tainted jewelry.   Products that contain more than .06 percent lead are usually subject to recall.   Some pieces involved in the recall had over 1,000 times this amount.  Much of the jewelry was made in China, while some came from India and Thailand.  However, it is still unclear where the jewelry was manufactured.  Several companies involved in the recall are being forced to pay monetary fines.

Parents are being warned to shop cautiously this holiday season, especially when shopping for children’s jewelry.  In 2006, a young boy died of lead poisoning after swallowing a metal pendant from a charm bracelet.  This also resulted in a wide recall of metal jewelry products. 

Dia Vente Jewellry took its recent new product launch to new levels, the street level. Sending  out six specially designed mobile jewelry stores to the streets of Mumbai, India, Dia Vente hopes to reach a younger urban customer base for it’s silver, steel, brass, copper and rubber jewelry designs.

The brainchild of Hemant Shah, the vans have been specially designed by India’s leading car designer Dilip Chhabria. Shah said at the launch that Chhabria’s reaction to the concept of mobile jewelry outlets was “Out of the world”.

The jewelry itself features cubic zircons, colored crystals, enamel and epoxy accents and retails for Rs 100 to  Rs 4,000 ($2.50 to $100). No more need to find a parking space to go shopping, just a parking space for the store itself.

Think your pooch has everything? Don’t be so sure.

Innobitz (www.innobitz.com) launched its pet portable mp3 player ‘JooZoo’ in the Korean market, which is designed for pet’s relaxation and safe play stimulation. Adorned with 18k gold and diamond, it features a heart-shaped necklace.

According to the Innobitz, the play system enhances your pet’s physical health and relieves stress through automatic content responding to various pet behaviors. For example, when you leave your pet at home alone or while your pet travels in a vehicle, the JooZoo encourages physical movement or increases blood flow rate by sound wave stimulation.

The luxurious accessory type of remote control and the charger with sound speaker function are also included. Suggested price is between $1,500 and $2,000.