Jewelry Articles

How Tanzanite Was Discovered

One day in 1967, a Masai tribesman named Ali Juuyawatu was walking along the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania when he found a stone. Perhaps he stubbed his toe on the rock or maybe its unusual color caught his eye, history doesn’t tell us that. We do know that this Masai warrior made history that day; he had discovered Tanzanite! To this day, this rare member of the zoisite group of minerals has been found in only one place on earth: a five-square mile hilltop near Arusha, Tanzania. In fact, Kilimanjaro International Airport is just ten miles north of where this rare gem is mined.

But you just can't bear to get rid of it. The piece evokes wonderful memories of someone you loved who wore it, or your own memories of a treasured time when you wore it yourself, or of someone who gave it to you.

When you think of precious metals, silver should be at the top of the list as a precious metal that has stood the test of time, captivating us with its beauty and never going out of style.

While silver is used in electronics and film because it is a great conductor and easy to shape, the unique history of silver in jewelry is worth telling. The first significant silver mines were discovered in 4000 BC in ancient Turkey. Excitement over silver spread throughout the world.

The ruby gemstone is the epitome of fiery luxury in the jewelry world. On the Mohs scale, rubies rate a hardness of 9, leveling up with diamonds and moissanite. A familiar structural relative to the sapphire, rubies are from the prized corundum category. 

Rubies generally range in pinks and intense reds. Interestingly, the ruby is so close to the makeup of the sapphire, that pink rubies are considered pink sapphires in some regards. The line often gets blurred during the classification. 

Summer is time for fun.  So for summer jewelry trends, forget your favorite pearls or your grandmother's cameo brooch.  It's time to sparkle.  It's time to shine.  It's time to be a little frivolous, even whimsical.  

Summer is big, bright, and colorful.  Flowers are blooming; butterflies are flying.  Your jewelry should be bigger, brighter, and more colorful than you might normally wear.

The movie "Titanic" may have revolved around several fanciful stories, but Rose's fabulous gift, the Heart of the Ocean, wasn't one of them. Not completely.

The real diamond, on which the Heart of the Ocean seems to be based, is the Blue Heart. A rare deep blue, it weighs over 30 carats and was cut in France sometime between 1909 and 1910.

Looking at Roman glass is like looking at time. Centuries in the soil gave it a ghostlike patina, colored shadows glowing on the surface. It's amazing that so fragile a material survived, which is why museums treasure their ancient Roman glass objects.

Upscale glass in Rome

Glass-working was slow to come to Rome, but travelers to the east, especially Syria, were fascinated by it and soon imported glass was all the rage. It wasn't cheap. One rich man was entertaining Emperor Augustus at dinner when a slave dropped a glass goblet and broke it. The rich man immediately had the slave killed. Augustus may have been a battle-hardened general, but this was too much. He said nothing, but proceeded to pick up and drop every remaining goblet, smashing the entire set.

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.

What did we do before we had the internet and the ability to locate amazing, unique gifts for special occasions? We gave run-of-the-mill, been there done that, standard and forgettable gifts.

Summer is around the corner and that means the month of June is almost here. June is known as the summer wedding month. Brides, a new mother-in-law, and maids of honor need to take a look at handmade jewelry for the most memorable gifts to mark the special day.