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My husband is English, so I have a fondness for royal news, particularly when it is jewelry related.

Any royal watcher will be well aquainted with the famous love story of Wallis Simpson and Edward VII, heir to the British throne.

The jewels of Wallis Simpson, The Duchess of Windsor, were first offered for sale in 1987. They originally sold for $50 million, with the proceeds going to the Pasteur Institute. The proceeds from the spectacular sale are reported to be a world record for an auction of a single owner's jewelry collection in the 20th century.

It is no wonder that the jewelry fetched such a high price, since the collection celebrates the famous story of the king who gave up his throne for the woman that he loved. The king abdicated in 1936 to become the Duke of Windsor and marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

The Windsors were enthusiastic jewelry collectors. They commissioned pieces from Cartier and other makers during their courtship in Britain and married life in the Bahamas and France.

Fast forward twenty-three years. Sotheby's will again be offering twenty pieces formerly in the Collection of the Duchess at their November 30th auction in London.Sotheby's has a fabulous video on their website showing the original sale.

They also have a catalog showing highlights of the collection. Here are a few of my favorites: 

I have always felt that Anne Hathaway is a starlet with quite a nostalgic look about her.  This has never seemed the case more than in her photo shoot from the cover of the November issue of Vogue Magazine.

Hathaway, star of  movies such as The Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain and the Devil wears Prada, is a vision in diamonds for her photo shoot on location at Maxim's in Paris.

Anne is shown wearing Van Cleef & Arpels diamond drop earrings. Cartier diamond-and-platinum necklace. a Chopard diamond ring and Roger Vivier clutch with crystal buckle. A Boucheron diamond, pink sapphire, and ruby brooch worn as a hair ornament completes the stunning look.

I couldn't help but thinking back to 1961 when Audrey Hepburn starred in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The resemblance and total look is uncanny!

For more photos from this cover shoot, you can have a look at the slideshow on Vogue's website.

Christie's made auction history this past Wednesday evening in New York when The Bvlgari Blue Diamond, the largest triangular-shaped Fancy Vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction, sold for $15.7 million. The auction results made this diamond the top jewel sold at auction thus far in 2010.

The stunning stone, which is mounted as a two-stone diamond ring, was designed in the 1970s by the legendary house of Bvlgari in Rome, and it was the star lot of Christie’s major Jewels: The New York Sale on October 20.

The diamond has an sentimental history. It was offered for sale by a private European collector who has kept the ring in his family for almost 40 years. The gentleman had originally purchased the ring at Bvlgari's flagship boutique on Via dei Condotti in Rome in 1972, as a gift for his wife in celebration of the birth of their first child, a baby boy - thus the blue color.

The final sale price in 1972 was about $1 million US. Quite an appreciation in price over the 40 years!

If you love to follow fashion trends, you will know how popular statement necklaces have been all year. They are seen on all the red carpet runways by major Hollywood starlets. The first lady, Michelle Obama also seems to favor them, which seems to give their popularity a boost, it seems.

She is seen here wearing her latest aquisition, a chunky oendant design by Erickson Beamon, which accents her knee-length, draped halter dress from the Donna Karan Collection. 

Joining her in the photo is Sarah Jessica Parker, also a lover of vintage jewelry, and Dr. Jill Biden.  The first lady was speaking at a democratic fundraiser in New York earlier this week.



 I prefer festoon statement necklaces to the pendant styles, but this piece still is also lovely. What do you think of the look?

One of the foremost books on the subject of Juliana jewelry is a reference book by Katerina Musetti called "The Art of Juliana Jewelry." It is a fabulous book, just chock full of photos and information about design elements of the jewelry.   I own a copy of the book and use it all the time, when trying to identify whether a rhinestone piece that I have come across might be a true Juliana.

If you collect vintage jewelry, you will be familiar with Juliana jewelry. These pieces make use of fabulous rhinestones and glass cabochons, in exciting designs, and were made by William DeLizza and Harold Elster during the period from 1947 to the 1990s.

Collectors of Juliana designs know how important design information is, since none of the Juliana pieces were marked on the jewelry - only on hang tags which were often discarded. An aficianado of Juliana will need to be well informed to make sure that they are purchasing genuine D & E Juliana pieces.

I've become friends with the author of the book and have been delighted to learn that she is also a designer of jewelry. Katerina works with rhinestones, beads and polymer clay, and her creations are fabulous. Her bead and rhinestone works are jewelry pieces, but the polymer clay designs are lovely vessels and purses which are a feast for the eyes!

Since I love Juliana jewelry, of particular interest to me are her rhinestone designs. One can easily see the Juliana influence. But all of her creations are just fabulous. Here are a few pieces to give you an idea of her talent.

 For more information on Katerina's designs, please visit her lovely website - Katerina Musetti Designs.

Do you love pearl necklaces?  These are one of this years hottest trends for necklaces in the last few years, thanks partly to the first lady - Michelle Obama's love of them.

One of my best selling necklaces is a lovely single strand which is 120 inches long and is made of glass. The pearls have a fabulous luster, are hand knotted, and can be worn long and loose in a flapper style, knotted at the front, worn down the back of a strapless dress or wrapped several times for a multi strand look the way it is shown here.

The necklace is an endless style with no clasp. Imagine the possibilities for wearing it!

I have the this pearl necklace and many other pretty styles available in white, creamy ivory, or black. This necklace is priced at only $17.99 . Here are some photos of the pretty design.


 

As promised, this is another article in my ongoing series about the trends in jewelry for fall 2010.

I have been looking at the runway photos of some of the hottest clothinhg designers and this proved one thing to me. The minimalist jewelry look that has been so favored in the last few years has been abadoned for big and bold necklaces  from designers such as Donna Karan, Lanvin, Vera Wang and Proenza Schouler.

You should expect to see huge festoon necklaces with unusual combinations of beads, large metal flowers, and many multi strand designs. Anything goes as long as the necklaces will  make a statement.  Animal prints are once again going to be popular in the fall. But the look will be more diverse shapes and patterns combined with each other. While last year showed us a preponderance of leopard prints, this year the animal prints will be combined with lots of metal chains.

The earth tone colors will be the most popular shades, as well as grays, blacks and browns. They remind us of nature and go well with the muted colors that fall jewelry will have.

I've been a busy gerl for the last few weeks looking at the upcoming trends from the runways and from wholesale jewelry supplier offerings, and it appears that jewelry is going to the birds for fall 2010 when it comes to jewelry trends.

For the next few blog postings, I'll feature some of the up and coming forecasts for fashion trends. Today peek ahead is a look at  feathers in jewelry designs. Last fall, animal prints like leopards were all the rage, and this year it appears that the birds will take center stage.

Whether it is just a simple set of ostrich feather earrings, an ornate brooch with feather fringes, an elaborate fur bracelet design, or a huge statement necklace with fringes of feathers, you can expect to see the birds out in force!

Here is a preview of some of the looks that you can expect to see in trendy boutiques and on the red carpet for some of the upcoming events which will make the news.  What do you think of the trend?  Yay or nay?  Stay tuned for other fashion peeks in later blog postings.

Ivory and Bone are two materials, the names of which are often used interchangeably, but which in fact are two different natural materials.  

Ivory a smooth grained material which is made from the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals with tusks. It is creamy white in color, usually with a cross hatching type of grain.  Sometimes the finish is very smooth and other times, it has more of a natural texture. . Not ivory will show this cross hatch grain.  It depends on the way that it has been cut, but it will always have a prominent grain mark of some sort.  This photo clearly shows the cross hatching grain under magnification.

Although bone has a similar look, it does not have the telltale ivory cross hatch grain.  The grain line in bone is more often a series of fairly parallel lines. Bone also often has pits and other imperfections which are not usually apparent in ivory pieces.   The finish is normally natural looking, not smooth and finish.  The following photo is a good example which shows the grain of bone as well as the pits and imperfections often found in it.

Ivory is highly collectible and the import of it into the USA has been banned since mid June 1989. Items labeled pre-ban ivory are those which were made and imported into the USA earlier than this period.  Ivory has a much higher price tag than bone does.

One way to determine if the item is real ivory is the hot pin test. BEWARE: I don't normally recommend pin tests.  Use this only if you don't mind damage if your item is not ivory, since you will damage a synthetic piece for sure.  True ivory is virtually impenetrable with heat. To use the pin test, take a large pin or needed and heat the pin until it is red hot. Poke your item somewhere that will not show. If it is real ivory it will not penetrate, but will only leave a tiny mark. Bone is also resistant to heat but not as much as ivory, so if your mark is much larger it is more likely bone. (also ivory smells like burning teeth and bone has much less of a smell.

Here are a few examples of some pre-ban ivory jewelry items.

Tne Patina Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico is the place to be over the next few weeks if you love German silver jewelry.  The gallery is an international destination for collectors and connoisseurs of contemporary hand fabricated jewelry, textiles, and sculptural objects in metal, clay and wood by leading American and European artists.

Their website routinely has jewelry exhibits, with many online details and photos, and is a fascinating place to spend a few hours, with a cup of coffee, exploring the various artists which they feature.

The gallery has been running a fabulous exhibit which will end on September 5, 2010, and which features the remarkable works of a German master, Michael Zobel. This will be the ninth return engagement by the Atelier and as always, it is eagerly anticipated.

The website says of Michael that The jewelry of Atelier Zobel redefines metalsmithing. Through a painterly use of metals and selection of gems, the Atelier emphatically elevates jewelry into the realm of fine art. 

The bracelet shown here is made from Oxidized Sterling Silver, 22k and 24k Gold, Turquoise, and Coral, with Champagne Colored Diamonds. It has a value of $16,085. You can view more items from their exhibit on this page of the Patina Gallery website.