California Rêverie

Van Cleef & Arpels is introducing a new collection, California Rêverie. The approximately 100 one-of-a-kind pieces will make their debut in Los Angeles in mid-October to commemorate the opening of the store. Check it out. www.vancleef-arpels.com

Diamond Price Bubble

A recent report issued by RBC Capital Markets titled 'Diamonds - Where Will All the Rough Come From?' was intriguing. Expect price corrections short/long term. Another interesting fact was that about 90% of all rough diamond production comes from De Beers, Rio Tinto, Alrosa and BHP Billiton.

Finding new deposits takes years and is costly as diamonds are so scarce; for example, the Ekati mine took 10 years to find and seven years to prove and build. Even once found, it takes a long time to bring a diamond mine into production; the Star Project in Canada for instance, owned by Shore Gold, has had around $300m spent on it so far but is unlikely to start producing until 2012-2013.
- RBC Capital Markets

Useful link:
www.rbccm.com

Pioneers Of Abstraction

In New York, two major exhibitions trace the development of abstraction in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Georgia O'Keeffe. Brilliant. I liked it.

Useful link:
www.guggenheim.org

Random Thoughts

The fundamental reasons why the electric car has not attained the popularity it deserves are (1) The failure of the manufacturers to properly educate the general public regarding the wonderful utility of the electric; (2) The failure of [power companies] to make it easy to own and operate the electric by an adequate distribution of charging and boosting stations. The early electrics of limited speed, range and utility produced popular impressions which still exist.

- Electrical World (1916)
via Sergey Brin, co-founder/technology president www.google.com

Interesting. Really.

Barack Obama Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Congratulations!

Useful link:
http://nobelprize.org

Soul Of A Journey

Suzy Menkes's viewpoints on the new Louis Vuitton high jewelry collection was interesting. Lorenz Bäumer's designs were stunningly beautiful. The entire collection of the new jewelry will go on display October 15, 2009 at the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Élysées. Don't miss.

Useful links:
www.lorenzbaumer.com
www.louisvuitton.com

Jewelry Markup On Trial

A retail jeweler's biggest sale almost cost him his business. Here's what went wrong plus a few lessons to help prevent this from happening to you. Great lessons indeed. Thank you Cheryl Kremkow.

Gem dealer Jeffrey Bilgore, who specializes in high-end one-of-a-kind pieces and also has experience as a retail gem buyer, says a 50 percent to 60 percent markup is the norm at this price point.

I feel like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life. The outpouring of support from my customers has been overwhelming. My customers know I wouldn't cheat anybody. But now I am afraid to sell anything to anyone of any consequence.
- Jim Jackson

Useful link:
http://equatorianimports.com

Herta Mueller

German author Herta Mueller has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. Congratulations!

Useful link:
http://nobelprize.org