Apart from jewellery, domestic silverware is a handsome addition to any home and necessarily hideously expensive. A pair of candelabra, however simple or inexpensive, will enhance any table setting. A set of flatware, a centrepiece, wine coolers, all add cachet to your reputation as a host. There is nothing like the gleam of silver juxtaposed… Read More »
The beauty of gemstones hold certain fascinations for man, whether in raw form or faceted. In order to improve and reveal the best of a gemstone, man has gone a step further by cutting or faceting it. Although there is no actual record on who first started gem-cutting, it certainly took many years to perfect… Read More »
Nature has her way of leaving her fingerprints on everything she creates, thereby making everything unique in their own way and value. So when one evaluates a natural gemstone, it is ideal to know the characteristics of each. Amethyst, part of the quartz family, is highly sensitive to heat and exposing the gem to high… Read More »
Primitive man who wore the tooth of a slain beast around his neck and his woman who adorned her being with shells and coloured stones were simply adding to the protective mantle necessary for survival in their raw lifestyles. From the early beginnings of civilisation, jewellery in its most basic form had a direct relationship… Read More »
A plain iron hoop was the fore runner of today’s engagement ring. The Romans gave a ring as a symbol of the cycle of life and eternity as a public pledge that the marriage contract would be honoured. Gold was introduced in the second century A.D. and when the Christians adopted the custom, the ring… Read More »
Rare, treasured, inaccessible and the result of the most protracted efforts, the diamond is at the heart of a most precarious industry which has been stabilised worldwide by the Central Selling Organisation (CSO). It was created in 1930 by the late Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, chairman of the DeBeers Consolidated Mines which today remains the leader… Read More »