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.

Introducing our top of the line jewelry collection, The Paramount Collection by Images Jewelers.

The Paramount Collection is truly our top of the line jewelry collection. Featuring unique gemstones and diamonds, each piece is hand fabricated, usually in our Chicago offices, and can never be reproduced in exactly the same way again.

While we don’t expect this line to be a big seller on our website, we just can’t resist the urge to share such beautiful works of art with everyone.

A massive 478 carat diamond has been found at the Letseng Mine, owned by Gem Diamonds, in Leotho, Africa.  The diamond, said to have a flawless center, could produce a 150-carat round cut white diamond.   If true, this would be the largest polished diamond ever found.  The current largest cut diamond is the Kohinoor, weighing in at an astonishing 105 carats.  The largest rough diamond found was the Cullinan, which weighed 3,106 carats uncut.

The remodeling project has come a long way since we first broke ground.   The new jewelry shop is complete and the jewelers have moved into their new home.   The showroom has been expanded into our old shop to house our showroom staff.  The walls are currently being finished and  the floor is ready to be set.  The new showroom will allow us to serve our customers more efficiently and effectively.  We are all getting excited about finishing this project.  Tune in to keep updated on the progress.

It has been a big week here at Images Jewelers. We’ve started the first of several moves as we move the old shop in to the new addition to make room for expanding our showroom. Kevin’s bench looks lonely.

The new shop is taking shape quickly. New work benches, new work spaces, and it’s clean and brightly lit. No more working under fluorescent lights all day, we have sunshine! And from the other end of the space. It’s amazing how fast a space can fill up when you start adding equipment.

And just to make things interesting, the city has decided that now would be a great time to tear the road up in front of the store. But it’s ok, they left us this tiny little opening to get in to the parking lot.

This 14k white gold ring features a .50 carat round brilliant center surrounded by trillion cut peridots.  This ring is truly a one-of-a-kind!

I finally got to see the ring up close last night and it is perfect!

Everything is wonderful and I know she will love it!

I want to thank everyone at Images for helping me create this ring and especially you, Kelly, for guiding me thought the process step by step.  I plan on telling everyone I know where I got this done, and how kind and considerate you were throughout the process.