Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Queen of Kilimanjaro

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Queen of Kilimanjaro

The Queen of Kilimanjaro is one of the most famous faceted tanzanites in the world; a 242 carat beauty set in a stunning tiara where it is surrounded by 803 rare green tsavorite garnets and 913 diamonds. The Queen, along with its brilliant-cut royal retinue, is set in 18 karat white gold in the exotic-looking tiara.
Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Wallis Simpson's Cartier Panther

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Wallis Simpson's Cartier Panther

Wallis Simpson's famous panther bracelet is a gem among beaded jewelry! It was commissioned from the famous Parisian jeweler Cartier by the Duchess in 1952; she also helped co-design it. She wanted a life-like great cat that would stalk its way around her wrist. Cartier's head jeweler Jeanne Toussaint created an exquisite cat of pave diamonds and black onyx set in fully articulated platinum with blazing emerald eyes.
Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: The Black Prince's Ruby

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: The Black Prince's Ruby

Of all the famous gems and beaded jewelry in history, the Black Prince's Ruby is one of the most exciting and intriguing. In fact, this "ruby" isn't even a ruby - it's actually a red spinel! The red and blue forms of spinel have been misidentified as rubies and sapphires for at least a millennia. It's very similar in color, found in similar places, and is even rarer than its counterpoints. Like the Black Prince's ruby, many of the rubies and sapphires in the crown jewels of Europe are actually spinel!
pink diamond

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry - The Pink Star

he Pink Star (formerly known as the Steinmetz Pink Diamond) is the largest, and arguably the most beautiful, pink diamond in the world. Found in one of the famed De Beers mines in Africa in 1999, the rough stone weighed an extraordinary 132.5 carats.

Pink diamonds are rare and pink diamonds of this size, quality and breathtaking color are extremely rare; cutting this stone took over twenty cautious and painstaking months. It was "cast in epoxy more than 50 times in order to create models upon which the design team could experiment with different cuts" according to the Sotheby's catalogue. 

September 19, 2015 — SWCreations Jewelry
sapphire, queen of gemstones

Sapphire, Queen of Gemstones

Sapphire gemstones are treasured for their beauty and their hardness. They are the third hardest gemstone known to man, with a 9 on the Mohs scale. Only diamonds and moissanite are harder. Because of their hardness, they are used not only in jewelry, where their durability lets them absorb rough handling but in scientific instruments such as solid-state electronics. The best sapphires come from Asia, although they are also found in Africa, Australia, and North America.
sapphires

The History of the Kashmir Sapphire

The Kashmir sapphire is renowned for its opulent history and powerful symbolism throughout the world. India's notoriety as the hotspot for the most decadent gemstones prevails throughout the world of jewelry. Beryls, pearls, rubies, and rose-cut diamonds lapped in 18-karat gold swirls, embellish their jewelry markets.

Brazil, Thailand, Burma, Australia, Vietnam, Montana, Africa, and Ceylon are ripe with prized sapphire mines too.

diamonds

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: The Chloe Diamond

When the Chloe Diamond sold at auction it sold for 16.1 million dollars, an impressive amount that made this intriguing little gem the 9th most expensive jewel to ever sell at an auction. The next time it is sold it may fetch even more because of its fascinating history.
August 01, 2015 — SWCreations Jewelry
Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond

The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is one of the famous gems and beaded jewelry of history. As Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem Collection at the Smithsonian once said: "This is the most famous diamond people have never seen." It has a long and somewhat mysterious history believed to have started, like so many of the great diamonds from the 17th century, in the famous Golconda mines of India.
Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: The Sancy Diamond

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: The Sancy Diamond

Here it is!  There it is!  Who has it now? 

Keeping up with the 52-carat Sancy Diamond was like playing a game of hide and seek.  Probably of all the Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: The Sancy Diamond has passed through more hands and disappeared more often than any other gem.

gemstones

Five of the Most Famous Gemstones of All Time

Nature makes them.  Men sweat for them, cut them, polish them, steal them and also kill for them.  Gemstones impress everyone, but some stones seem to take on a life of their own.  These famous gemstones still fascinate us today.

Probably the most famous gemstone in the world, the Hope Diamond hides quite a tale in her lovely steel-blue facets.  Mined originally in India, the owner sold it to the French King Louis XIV in the mid-1600s.  About 100 years later when Louis XVI lost his throne and his head, the diamond disappeared along with the other French crown jewels.  

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Koh-i-Noor Diamond

Famous Gems and Beaded Jewelry: Koh-i-Noor Diamond

In the history of famous gems and beaded jewelry, the Koh-i-Noor Diamond stands out for its dark tales of tragedy, torture, and murder, of thrones, lost and gained. The legend is that whoever holds the diamond will be invincible, and men who believed the legend was willing to slaughter thousands for it. Even now, the gem is at the center of a dispute.
April 30, 2015 — Stephanie White
History of Murano Venetian Glass Beads

History of Murano Venetian Glass Beads

Anyone who has ever worn a necklace created with Murano glass beads knows that they are some of the loveliest and highest quality beads in the world. In addition to their esthetic qualities, perhaps something else that makes these beads so unique and interesting is the history that they represent.
August 25, 2013 — Lisa Vella