SoL guide to the upcoming major jewellery events

May 1-5

ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL JEWELLERY SHOW

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The International Jewellery & Watch Show Abu Dhabi (JWS) is an exclusive and high-end jewellery and watch event.

Through its showcase of the world's leading brands in the world's richest city, Abu Dhabi, JWS is truly a unique exhibition with an extensive showcase of exquisite jewellery and timepieces from all over the world. This event is aimed at the region's most affluent consumers.

May 19-23

VICENZAORO CHARM

Fiera di Vicenza, Vicenza, Italy - International exhibition of gold jewelry, silverware and watches.

This is a great show for those wanting to know the trends in the Italian fashion jewellery.  There is also a mix of silverware and watches. You can also join their seminar programme that includes talks on everything from why India is a growth prospect for the luxury market to what’s new in the world of pearls.

June 1-4

JCK LAS VEGAS

Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, US

This event is seen as the most comprehensive jewellery show in North America, with 2,500 exhibitors from 22 countries and 20,000 visitors.  Representatives from more than 50 major jewellery chains and department stores take part each year. This event offers a unique experience for business and networking.

June 11-17

LONDON JEWELLERY WEEK

Somerset House, London

The week comprises events across the capital to celebrate British jewellery talent. This is a two day trade event and will host an exciting showcase of jewellery in the UK.

July 12

UK JEWELLERY AWARDS

Grosvenor House, London

One of the industry’s most prestigious awards event.  New categories for this year include Marketing Campaign of the Year and Outstanding Contribution to the industry.  It will be a night of glitz and glamour, great gowns and seriously amazing jewellery. One that you won’t want to miss! The annual UK Jewellery Awards is an industry-only awards ceremony for brands and retailers of watches and jewellery.

August 23-27

INDIA INTERNATIONAL JEWELLERY SHOW

Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Mumbai

This is the ideal show for those wanting to find our more about the flourishing growth in the Indian jewellery market. There is a comprehensive seminar programme, catwalk shows and exhibitors from all over the world, as well as from the indian subcontinent.  This year IIJS marks the 29th edition and will be spread over an approximate area of 46,000 sq. mtrs and will have more than 1,800 booths, which would be occupied by an estimated 800+ exhibitors from India as well as overseas.

September 2-5

INTERNATIONAL JEWELLERY LONDON

Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London

From up-and-coming designers to established brands, there is something for every buyer. New features for 2012 include revamped catwalk shows and free coaches from Hatton Garden and Birmingham’s jewellery district. As the UK's most established, premier jewellery trade event it's the perfect place to find out the latest trends, source new and exciting products, network and attend the industry's leading seminar programme.

September 5-9

HONG KONG WATCH AND CLOCK FAIR

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

A must for buyers and enthusiasts alike, mixing well-known brands with lesser-known names from Japan, Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. At the last edition, 700 exhibitors from 14 countries & regions showed collections of the very latest designs in a wide spectrum of market sectors and prices. A total of 16,521 buyers from 97 countries & regions sourced timepieces, ranging from trendy to classical styles, to create their new-season inventories with broad consumer appeal.

September 13-17

BANGKOK GEMS AND JEWELRY FAIR

Impact Exhibition & Convention Center, Bangkok

This international biannual showcase of high-value gemstones and jewellery plays host to 1,200 exhibitors.

Coloured diamonds - an insider's guide

In November 2010 a 24.78-carat pink diamond sold at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva to diamond dealer Laurence Graff for a record $46.1 million, the highest price paid for any gem or jewel—ever. That was nearly double the previous record of $24.3 million set in 2008 at a Christie’s sale in London, when Graff purchased another legendary stone: a 35.56-carat blue diamond called the Wittelsbach. Prices for coloured diamonds have gone through the roof over the last few years!

In 2009, a five-carat pink diamond sold at Christie’s in Hong Kong for $10.8 million, achieving a world record price per carat of $2.1 million. In October 2010, the Bulgari Blue, a ring with a triangular-cut, 10.95-carat blue diamond, sold at Christie’s New York for $15.7 million, setting a new record price per carat for a blue diamond. And in November 2010, a 14.23-carat pink diamond fetched $23.1 million at Christie’s Hong Kong, the highest price ever paid for a jewel at auction in Asia.  Last year, Christie’s worldwide jewelry sales totaled $426.4 million, an all-time high that led the house to declare 2010 the year of colored diamonds.  Of the millions of diamonds mined each year, the gem industry estimates that one in every 10,000 carats will possess color. Only a handful of those achieve the deeper, more valuable hues described in the industry as “fancy intense” and “fancy vivid.” Of those, an even smaller percentage surpass one carat, let alone five or ten! So you can see how rare these stones!

According to Naval Bhandari of Sotheby’s Diamonds, since record keeping began in the 1970s, colored diamonds have appreciated at about 10 to 15 percent per year. “Yellow diamonds have doubled in value every seven years,” he says. “Reds, blues and greens have seen the greatest appreciation, having quadrupled within the last decade.” 

Robert May, executive director of the Natural Color Diamond Association, cites the growing affluence in emerging markets, like Russia, India, South America and China, as a major factor. “There’s a whole new body of consumers,” he says. “Asia really likes colored diamonds, and they have significantly driven up the price.”

Experts say a watershed moment in the public’s awareness of colored diamonds occurred in 1987, when a .95-carat red diamond fetched $880,000 at Christie’s New York, making headlines around the world. Reportedly purchased for $13,500 in 1956 by Montana gem collector Warren Hancock, the Hancock Red set a new record of nearly $1 million per carat, a benchmark that held until 2007.

With the increased visibility of colored diamonds comes a whole new vocabulary. In the ’40s and ’50s, the Gemological Institute of America developed the universal grading system known as the 4Cs, examining carat, color, clarity and cut to evaluate white diamonds. When shopping for colored diamonds, however, the 4Cs become more complex. In 1995, the GIA expanded its system to measure hue, tone, saturation and distribution of color in colored diamonds. “Hue” describes, well, the color and can include a modifier such as purplish-pink. “Tone” refers to the stone’s lightness or darkness, and “saturation” implies strength or purity of color.  The scale begins with “faint” and moves up to “light,” “fancy light,” “fancy,” “fancy intense” and “fancy vivid,” the last the most valuable. (While fancy colored diamonds do occur naturally, there is also a sizable market for treated and synthetic stones that mimic them—especially in pink, yellow and green diamonds of late. Fortunately, labs can easily identify most treatments and almost all synthetic manufacturers mark their stones for full disclosure.)

So exactly how and why do some diamonds come out looking like a ruby or a sapphire? Colored diamonds result when natural radiation or trace elements such as nitrogen interact with carbon atoms during formation, yielding literally every color of the rainbow. Hues like yellow and brown are more abundant. Purple, orange, green and red are the rarest. “Many jewelers will never see a red diamond in their career,” says Bhandari. John King, GIA Laboratory’s chief quality officer, agrees: “To say a red diamond is one in a million is certainly no stretch.” In fact, the largest natural fancy red diamond known to exist is a relatively diminutive 5.11 carats and is owned by Moussaieff Jewelers in London. It is not for sale.

Silks of London

SoL has worked with coloured diamonds for years.  We have recently designed a stunning yellow diamond engagement ring which will soon be on our website! www.silksoflondon.com

Source: www.departures.com

Leap Year Proposal – how did it come about and what are your thoughts?

Legend has it that St. Brigid of Kildare, a fifth-century Irish nun, asked St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, to grant permission for women to propose marriage after hearing complaints from single women whose suitors were too shy to propose. Initially, he granted women permission to propose only once every seven years, but at Brigid's insistence, he agreed and allowed proposals every leap year day.  Brigid then dropped to a knee and proposed to Patrick that instant, but he refused, kissing her on the cheek and offering a silk gown to soften the blow. The Irish tradition therefore dictates that any man refusing a woman's leap-day proposal must give her a silk gown. Perhaps the most well-known of the leap-year marriage superstitions belongs to Ireland, where, again, women are advised to propose only on Feb. 29 for good luck.

In many European countries, especially in the upper classes of society, tradition dictates that any man who refuses a woman's proposal on February 29 has to buy her 12 pairs of gloves. The intention is that the woman can wear the gloves to hide the embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. Believe it or not during the middle ages there were laws governing this tradition!!

In Greece, getting married in a leap year is considered inauspicious, and the relationship is thought likely to end in divorce. Women in Finland are advised to propose only on leap-year day for good luck. If her boyfriend should refuse, he is required to pay her a "fine": enough fabric to make a skirt. In Scotland, an unmarried Queen Margaret allegedly enacted a law in 1288 allowing women to propose on leap-year day. But there was a catch: The proposer had to wear a red petticoat to warn her intended that she planned to pop the question.

According to recent figures many more women are proposing to their man on a Leap year. You can now read so many articles on how to propose to your man. However, personally, I would forever worry why my man didn’t get there first. Why he couldn’t commit first.  It would ruin it for me…what are your thoughts?