Anna Hu jewelry at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for auction

Sotheby’s Hong Kong will host its autumn Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction next week, and the offering includes a contemporary fine jewelry collection from Chinese jeweler Anna Hu. Anna Hu always loved jewelry and gemstones but wanted to become a cellist. But because of a severe shoulder injury, she turned to her second love, jewelry. Five pieces have been commissioned…

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24 kt gold created in a lab

To put it lightly, something sensational happens upon feeding large concentrations of toxic gold chloride (also known as liquid gold) to the bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans. After about a week’s time, the bacterium creates a 24-karat gold nugget from the digested toxins. “Microbial alchemy is what we’re doing, transforming gold from something that has no value into a…

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The weak get weaker and the stronger get stronger

This is a saying as old as the hills, but it is true, and it is becoming evident that this certainly pertains to the retail world. So many of the retailers we took for granted are going under. CreditRiskMonitor has yielded 28 retailers with significant bankruptcy risk. JCrew, Neiman Marcus, JCPenney, Chewy, Rite Aid, Pier…

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Retail nosedives

Forever 21 is filing for bankruptcy, sort of a bursting of the fashion bubble. It is closing over 350 stores worldwide. This is a store with trendy cheap merchandise made to look like coveted designer apparel. One feel of the clothing and that tells the whole story. Even the younger generation has well tossed a…

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Tourmaline October birthstone

Tourmaline comes in a wide variety of colors, more so than almost any other gemstone species. In fact many of the Tourmaline colors have inspired their own trade names. Rubellite is a name for pink, red, purplish red, orangy red, or brownish red tourmaline, although some in the trade argue that the term shouldn’t apply…

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October birthstone, Opal

The history of the birthstone varies, generally thought to have started with the 12 gemstones of Aaron’s breastplate. It appears that it has been decided that the Carbunkle stone may refer to Ruby or Garnet, and Sardius may refer to Carnelian, and Ligure refers to Zircon or Quartz crystal. Someone decided to modernize these gemstones,…

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Birthstones and the tales they tell

Some months have gotten away from what was considered the “traditional” gemstone, and have additional stones for a certain month, and the reason is the popularity or particular color of the stone or its unusual qualities. Although I have a bit of difficulty with bloodstone being added to March, then again I found some beautiful…

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Healing gemstones

Throughout history, there have been many myths and legends associated with birthstones. Many cultures have believed that birthstones have magical healing powers or bring good luck. Not all cultures have agreed on which stones correspond to which months, though, so you can find different lists of birthstones over the course of time. Today, most jewelers…

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Brief history of Birthstones

The first century Jewish historian Josephus believed there was a connection between the twelve stones in Aaron’s breastplate, the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the twelve months of the years. Translations and interpretations of the passage in Exodus regarding the breastplate have varied widely, with Josephus himself giving two different lists for the twelve stones. George…

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New mineral discovery

A recently discovered species of mineral will be named after John Koivula, veteran gemologist and researcher with GIA. A 1.16 ct. crystal of the new mineral—now christened johnkoivulaite—was found in the Mogok Valley of Myanmar by local gemologist Nay Myo. It was confirmed as a new mineral species by the GIA and California Institute of Technology,…

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