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The Chicago Field Museum has been running a fabulous diamond exhibit for the last 6 months and it is set to end at the end of March, 2010.  The exhibit is called "The Nature of Diamonds."

The exhibit features nearly 800 exquisite objects, including some of the world's most stunning gemstones.  It also tells the story of our fascination with the beauty and power of the King of Gemstones - the Diamond.  The exhibit explores all aspects of this extraordinary mineral, from its geological origins, to its place in history, art, and adornment, and finally to its uses in modern technology and research.

The center of the exhibit is called The Vault.  In this area of the presentation, some of the world's top designers are shown such as the Tiffary diamond bird pin shown here.  It also showcases items previously owned by Mae West, Catherine the Great of Russia, Joan Crawford, Elton John, and many more well known celebrities and monarchs.

Photo credit Tiffany and Co Archives

The Chicago Field Museum has a wonderful walk through for those who must setting for a virtual tour of the exhibit. The walk through has a wealth of information about both diamonds in general and the exhibit items in particular.

Here are a few items to whet your appetite:

Photo credit: C. Philip Hersey Photographer, Ltd

Photo credit Roderick Mickens © American Museum of Natural History

Photo credit Katharina Faerber

The International Expositions of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art, better known as SOFA, will be held in New York from April 16-19, 2010 at the Park Avenue Armory. 

The organization has released their Lecture series schedule and one that really appealed to me will be held on the first day of the show.  It is called Hidden Objects: What it Means to Wear Jewelry - The Psychoanalytic Mechanisms.  As a fan of all things concerning psychoanalysis, I'm eager to hear more details of this.  We all know why we like to wear jewelry, so it'll be interesting to hear what the experts think are the "real" reasons behind our choices.

This stunning piece would be a good choice to discuss with the mirror and chandelier.  No prizes for thinking that the person wearing this pretty piece by Anya Kivarkis is fond of all things beautiful!

The full schedule of the lecture series for the NY SOFA exposition can be found here.  If you plan to be in New York next month, this might be a great addition to your travel iternary.  More details of SOFA to come as the exposition gets closer.

The Lapidary Journal has a semi annual design contest for contemporary jewelry designers.  This years contest is open to any jewelry designer/maker. The contest has five different jewelry categories:

1. Bracelets
2. Earrings
3. Pendants/Necklaces
4. Pins/Brooches
5. Rings
6. Miscellaneous Jewelry

The deadline for this year's contest is April 1, 2010.  If you are a jewelry designer and wish to enter, you can find the entry form and all contest rules on this page of the Lapidary journal's website.

The piece shown here is one of the winners from the 2007 contest in the area of miscellaneous jewelry.  It is a fabulous 18K gold and platinum, hand fabricated pin/pendant.  This stunning piece placed second.  It was designed by Marie Scarpa and is called Blue Moon.

Sarah Coventry jewelry is very collectible and well made.  It was originally sold door to door in the 1950s and 1960s and is one of the more popular designers for mid range vintage jewelry.  It is also one of our site specialties.

There are many resource books on the market to help you study Sarah Coventry Jewelry.  Most of them give the names of the sets, and approximate current retail "book values."  These values should not be considered the price you would have to pay, since most online retailers prices Sarah Coventry jewelry below book value, but the values are still a good guide as to which pieces are more valuable.

One of my favorite Sarah Coventry books is a Schiffer book called "Emmons & Sarah Coventry Jewelry Fashion Show."  It is by far the most comprehensive of the guides and includes a huge number of Sarah Pieces, each named and valued with good clear photographs.  Although the photos are smaller than the ones in the Kay Oshel series, there are more of them, so this is the book that I use most of the time.

The book also has a nice, although smaller, section for Emmons jewelry - the sister company to Sarah Coventry jewelry, who made slightly more high end pieces. 

Emmons & Sarah Coventry Jewelry Fashion Show is available at Amazon.com and from leading book retailers Nationwide.  It is a must have if you are going to start a Sarah Coventry jewelry collection.

If you will be in Texas between March 27 and July 25, 2010, then the El Paso Art Museum is the place to be.  The Museum will be one of the few museums worldwide and the only one west of the Mississippi which will feature this fabulous exhibition.  The exhibit will have examples of jewelry dating back to 5000 BC and continuing through the early 20th century, so it will be of particular interest to vintage jewelry lovers.

The original exhibit was assembled by Henry Walters, on of the Baltimore, Maryland Walter's Art Museum founders.  There will be many spectacular pieces by Halifax, Wedgewood and Tiffary, and the exhibit will also include the renowned collection of Benjamin Zucker of New York. 

Bedazzled will showcase jewelry from the ancient world, including two pendants in the form of ram's heads which date from the fifth century BC and are made from multicolored glass.  Ornate jewelry from the Renaissance will showcase the period when sumptuous jewelry demonstrated the wealth of princes of the time period.

The exhibit moves through the 18th century when men and women wore chatelaines, into the 19th century, when historical revival dominated.  Rings are a prominent feature of all stages of the exhibit and show the prominence of rings as symbols of  love, marriage and death.   Renaissance and Baroque marriage rings, both Christian and Jewish, and skeletal memento mori rings will also be on display. Special emphasis will be placed on precious diamond-set rings and the technological development of early diamond cutting.

The last part of the exhibit will explore forgeries and replicas so prominent in the latter part of the 19th century when forgers produced piece of high quality which are sometimes difficult to distinquish from the originals.

According to the El Paso Art Museum, The Walters jewelry collection is the most wide-raging collection of jewelry assembled by a private collector in the United States. Henry Walters (1848-1931) purchased a vast array of jewelry objects from numerous cultures and over five millennia, thereby significantly expanding the efforts of his father, William T. Walters (1819-94), a railroad magnate in Baltimore who started the collection.

Here are a few examples of the delights in store for you if you are fortunate enough to be able to attend the exhibition.  All photos courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.

Jade has a long and sometimes confusing history.    Is is the mystical birthstone for March and also for the Zodiac sign Virgo.  It is often given as a gift for 12th 30th, and 35th wedding anniversaries.

When one thinks of jade, the color that comes to mind is green, but is this the only color that is available for the gemstone?  The answer is a resounding no!

Jade comes in a wider varitation of colors than most of the known gemstones.  It has been found in the deepest black, to the purest white, with a wide variety of colors in between - yellow, brown, gray, and so many different colors of green.  Yellow jade is very rare and a real find.

The photo shown here gives a good idea of the color variations.  Photo Courtesy of Mason Kay - Fine Jade Jewelry.

True jade comes in two varieties - jadeite and nephrite, with jadeite being the more rare and more expensive variety.  Most of the world's supply of jadeite comes from Burma but deposits are also found in a few other areas as well.

Nephrite is more plentiful and less expensive.  Nephrite deposits are found the whole world over, including the USA.

When buying jade jewelry, look for uniform, intense colors.  Semi transparent colors seem to be more valuable than opaque colors.  Be aware when you purhcase jade that fake jade is plentiful.  Sometimes, color intensified nephrite is sold as jadeite.  As always, buyer beware.

We all know that vodka can make a pretty mean cocktail, but does it have other uses?  Yes, indeed.  My knowledeable college daughter has informed me that you can use vodka to disinfect and clean all sorts of items, including your jewelry.

The process is simple.  Just pour enough vodka into a small bowl so that the piece will be completely covered when you place it into the solution.   Let the jewelry sit for 30-45 seconds.  Use a small, soft bristled brush to remove any dirt or build up of oils, and then rinse under warm water to remove the vodka.  Finally, polish the piece of jewelry with a soft cloth such as a piece of a cotton T shirt.  That's all there is to it.

If the jewelry has rhinestones in it, don't immerse it in the solution.  Instead, dip a Q tip into the vodka and use it to gently clean the rhinestones and back of the piece of jewelry.

The left over vodka doesn't need to go to waste.  You can clean many other things in the same solution - disinfect your razor, clean your eye glasses, even remove lipstick from clothing.  When that is done, throw the left over vodka into the laundry to freshen up the load. 

But the number one use?  To make a screwdriver, of course.  (I don't think I'd use the left over for this...make one first!)

The Oscars are over for another year.  Readers of my blog know that I like to see a red carpet event where the jewelry has at least some prominence.  Most of them seem to focus on the gowns, with very little jewelry, other than diamond earrings and big bracelets, used for accessories.

Last night's ceremony was no exception. If anything, the dresses seemed even less adorned than usual.  Some notable exceptions were Jessica Simpson, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Hudson, who all had dazzling brooches which accented their gowns in interesting ways - perhaps some of Michelle Obama's influence?

Juliette Binoche also showed up in strands of pearls, in a sort of flapper look and Helen Mirren had a lovely diamond necklace and earring set.  The earrings of the night award, in my opinion, went to Carey Mulligan for her almost shoulder touching design. 

Here are my favorite highlights:

Photo credit:  Getty Images

Haute Couture jewelers in Paris recently unveiled a collection of 20 fabulous necklaces, inspired by the performances of the Dance Troupe - The Cirque du Soleil.  All 20 pieces were purchased by Guy Laliberté, founder of the troupe, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the group.

Anyone who has seen a performance by the Cirque du Soleil, knows how flamboyant it can be.  It is easy to see why the necklaces would have been inspired by the group.

The collection will also be on display at the Montreal Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in an exhibit called Inspiria. It will be on Display from April 1, to August 29, 2010.  Here are a few photos to show how fabulous the collection is.

Photo credit:  The Luxe Chronicles