Montblanc's 2014 Jewelry Collection

The Montblanc Emblem Ladies Fine Jewellery Collection

I’ve been interested in how a masculine brand like Montblanc positioned its fine jewelry collection for women since its introduction in 2011. Is it an attempt to attract self-purchasing women shoppers or as a way for men to buy something for their loved ones without leaving the store? The brand has said over the years it’s an attempt to do both. It’s difficult to tell how well it is performing since its parent company, Richemont, doesn’t release financial details that specific.

It must be doing well enough as the company released a new additions to the collection within the same design motif. However, its marketing of the collection has changed substantially.

The collection, which began life as the Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco, is now called the “Montblanc Emblem Ladies Fine Jewellery Collection.” Its original designer, Susie Otero, is no longer the lead in the project, choosing not to commute to Montblanc’s headquarters in Hamburg. Instead, she has taken a position as public relations director of Montblanc France, based in Paris where she lives.

But for those who know the collection little has changed. This first look of three new styles shows that the focal point remains interlaced rose petals (pétales entrelacés) in 18k pink or white gold. The designs remain delicate with graceful curves throughout. In some cases they are enhanced by pavé diamonds, which appear like dew on the “petals.”

The Coeur de Pétales Entrelacés bangle in 18k pink gold

However, while the changes are subtle they are noticeable. For example, the Coeur de Pétales Entrelacés the largest collection of the three, uses two interlaced petals that reflect light and symbolize an “unbreakable bond between lovers,” the company says. The collection is comprised of rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and bangles, available in pink or white gold with discreet pavé diamonds settings.

Trèfle de Pétales Entrelacés earrings in 18k pink gold

The Trèfle de Pétales Entrelacés uses eight interlacing petals that form a four-leaf clover design that is presented in a pink gold ring, necklace and earrings. Each of the four leaves has meaning: the first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck, the company says.

Pluie d’ Étoiles necklace in 18k white gold and diamond pavé

The Pluie d’ Étoiles features the Montblanc star, the signature motif of the luxury brand’s heritage, in white gold that sparkles with a burst of pavé diamonds. It’s available in earrings and a bracelet.

The standout piece in the collection combines all three symbols—the heart, the clover and the Montblanc star—for a ring centered by a white gold full pavé diamond heart. All three elements appear to be floating on the ring (pictured above).

The last two designs are the boldest in the collection’s young life.

The collection will be available in selected Montblanc boutiques worldwide.

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Buccellati Unveils $485,000 iPad Case at Baselworld 2014

As I noted in February, Buccellati is undergoing an image update. The Italian luxury jeweler revealed this new look at Baselworld 2014 by unveiling products for a 21st Century consumer while maintaining the traditional craftsmanship that is the hallmark of the company’s identity. It was one of the few companies that used the recently concluded watch and jewelry show to make bold product statements. 

The Italian haute jeweler unveiled its first ever engagement ring collection, a bespoke timepiece program and introduced its new logo at Baselworld 2014. The company also plans to relocate its Madison Avenue store.

The new releases were led by what the company calls the “world’s most expensive” iPad and iPhone cases. The one-of-a-kind pieces are being sold for $485,000 and $208,000, respectively. These are the first products designed exclusively by Lucrezia Buccellati, the fourth generation designer of the family operated company. 

Gold iPhone case

While expensive and made with precious materials, these are not blinged-out tech adornments that are more commonplace in the high-end marketplace. Instead, these are new products for a new generation that reflect the techniques, traditions and refinement of the Buccellati brand. 

The gold cases feature Rigato etching, one of the company’s best known metal techniques in which parallel lines are cut onto the surface of the metal to obtain a sheen effect. Atop the gold are sunburst designs made of white gold and diamonds. Lucrezia said she was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings of the sun. 

The new, sleeker Buccellati name logo is placed discretely on the covers as it also appears on the company’s redesigned website, which it quietly launched recently. 

These are the first cases that the company will produce for phones and tablets and perhaps other tech products under the Unica collection name. 

Buccellati one-diamond engagement ring using the company's Rigato metal technique.

The engagement ring collection, known as Romanza, is a first for the company. Again, it is an attempt to bring the traditional design and craftsmanship of the jeweler to a newer, younger audience. 

Three-diamond engagement ring using the Buccellati Oranto technique.

The pieces were co-designed by Lucrezia and her father, Andrea, who is the company’s head designer. The lead designer has always been a member of the Buccellati family. There are one-diamond and three-diamond rings that employ many of Buccellati’s best known techniques, including Rigato; and the signature Ornato patterns, which are decorations based on nature forms, such as animals, leaves and flowers. 

The most interesting rings to me are based on Buccellati’s famously delicate honeycomb patterns (pictured above), which resemble the netting of a bride’s tulle veil. It is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process in which an artisan uses a fine blade to saw pentagon-shaped holes in the gold. These rings already existed. Buccellati added diamonds in traditional bridal one-stone and three-stone settings to create the engagement rings. 

The Romanza engagement ring collection starts at $10,000. 

The company is using technology with its old-world jewelry techniques to allow men and women to create their own timepieces. Alberto Milani, CEO of Buccellati Americas, explained at Baselworld that this isn’t watchmaking in a traditional sense, but as interpreted by Buccellati. 

The day and night watch features two dials and two movements that can be worn for casual and formal events. 

For example, in traditional watchmaking the movement often dictates much of the design of the watch, so the outer design in a large sense is dictated by what’s inside. The Buccellati formula is to have their clients work with company artisans to design the watch from the outside, including case shape and size, dial designs and types of precious materials used. Then decide on the movement. To provide a great deal of flexibility, Buccellati is working with five Swiss movement manufacturers in order to create watches with any number of complications. 

The combination of the designs and movements for the service, known as Autore, provides its clients with a menu of options to build a bespoke watch. The process takes approximately six months. Not only the does the client receive the watch but it also receives the tools, which were specially made by Buccellati to build the watch. The cost starts at $160,000.

Finally, it’s pretty much decided that the luxury jeweler will relocate its New York boutique, according to several sources. It will move from 810 Madison Avenue a few blocks south to a four-story building on 714 Madison Avenue. That space is currently the home of French arts jeweler, Mauboussin. 

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Pope Paul VI Diamond Jewelry Once Owned By Evel Knievel Available for $1.9 Million

Pope Paul VI's Diamond Cross and Ring in Case

It was first owned by Pope Paul VI (1963 – 1978) and after changing hands numerous times it last appeared three years ago on eBay. Now the diamond pectoral cross and ring has reappeared. This time at M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans where the items are now on sale for $1.9 million.

Did I mention that daredevil Evel Knievel once owned the jewels?

“Not only are these two pieces historically significant, they are remarkable due to the fact that Papal jewelry rarely comes on the market,” said Bill Rau, owner of the fine art and antiques business.

Pope Paul VI’s Diamond Cross

The intricately carved 18k yellow gold cross is 7 inches in length and decorated with diamonds and Colombian emeralds. Twelve mine-cut diamonds, ranging in size from 3 to 8 carats with VVS and VC clarity, run the length and width of the cross totaling more than 60 carats. The emeralds and smaller diamonds fill in the 18k carvings of scrolls and leaves along the edges of the cross.

The cross bears a stamp of “Cassio,” which refers to Cassio Studios, one of the artisan ateliers at the service of the Vatican, Bill Rau said. It is valued by the antique dealer at $1.25 million.

Pectoral crosses are given to clergy who attain the rank of bishop or higher.

Pope Paul VI’s Diamond Ring

The ring is centered with a 13-carat white diamond surrounded by 14 smaller round diamonds totaling 3.5 carats. It is set in platinum and flanked by two diamond pavé squares on either side inset with a cross made of rubies. It is valued at $650,000.

Both the ring and cross are engraved with the Christian Chi Rho symbol, which indicates that both were most probably made by Vatican jewelers in the early 1900's with existing jewels from the Vatican's own collection, Bill Rau said.

According to documents provided by the Vatican, Pope Paul VI made an historic visit to the UN to address the General Assembly in 1965 and at that time requested that these two pieces of jewelry be auctioned with the proceeds going to human relief funds.

The auction took two years to prepare and was handled by Parke-Bernet, the nation's largest fine art auction house until it was acquired by Sotheby's in the late 1960's. An eight-page brochure about these two pieces was printed for this unusual sale which took place in November, 1967. Chicago jeweler Harry Levinson bought both pieces of jewelry for $64,000 and the entire amount was divided between four UN agencies.

After that, the two pieces of jewelry were bought and sold several times. At one point they were even owned by Evel Knievel. According to published reports, the items were last placed on public sale by Perry’s Emporium, a Wilmington, N.C., jewelry store, whose owner, Alan Perry, placed the pieces on eBay with a starting bid of $850,000. Perry reportedly was selling the jewelry on behalf of a widow whose husband had purchased the ring and cross in the 1970s.

There is no word on whether they ever sold. A call made to Alan Perry was not returned.

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Flexibility and Harmony Combine with Mattioli ‘Yin Yang’ Rings

The two opposing principles of Chinese philosophy is the inspiration behind the new, colorful “Yin Yang” collection of rings from Mattioli. 

The Italian luxury jewelry brand always emphasizes versatility in its designs and this new collection adds to this philosophy. All of the rings consist of two interchangeable curved gold bands of various colors with the use of colored diamonds and other gems create a range of design possibilities. In addition to colorful combinations, the collection uses several surface textures, from polished smooth to the textured brilliance of pavé. 

“The intersecting components can easily be joined to form a beautiful ring with a special look that the wearer creates for herself. There are many combinations to be made by interchanging elements of different colors of gold or with different gemstones or diamond colors,” the company said. “The opulent, rounded effect of a ring is continuously reborn, offering a new, fascinating harmony every single time.”

Elements include polished white, pink or black gold paired with themselves, or alternated with precious elements enhanced by white brown or black diamonds, or with iolite and tsavorite.

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World Gold Council Drafts Conflict-Free Gold Standards

Gold doré

The World Gold Council said Friday that it is developing a system similar to the Kimberley Process for diamonds to ensure that gold is coming from conflict-free sources.

The WGC, which serves as the marketing development organization for the gold industry, said it has drafted a framework of two standards designed to track gold from the mine to the end of the refining process. They are a “chain of custody” standard and a “conflict-free gold” standard. Under the proposal, both standards will be subject to independent audit. Additional standards on audit, certification and the handling of recycled gold are in development, WGC said.

The WGC said the proposed standards are being “stress tested” in practice by gold mining companies and refiners.

The Conflict-Free draft standard has a “conflict,” a “company,” and a “commodity” assessment proponent, WGC said. It contains a framework of benchmarks and prompts through which companies must assess the adequacy of their systems and analyze their impacts upon those around them. Their conclusions must be auditable. The standard contains principles that assesses a companies’ commitment to respect human rights; ensure that payments are not made, directly or indirectly, to armed groups; be transparent about their payments to governments; only accept gold from conforming sources; and to establish a credible and accessible grievance mechanism.

The chain of custody standard provides the infrastructure for identifying that a consignment of gold doré has been mined according to the conflict-free standard, has not been tampered with during its transport between the mine and the refinery—which may involve it passing through the hands of shipping agents, security, customs and airlines—or during the refining process. The process is based upon a chain of warranties which will be auditable, for example, by insurers or customers. Gold doré is bars of melted gold containing up to 90 percent gold that needs additional refining to become 999.9 parts per thousand pure gold. It's about the size of a loaf of bread and weighs about 60 pounds.

You can download the full text pdfs of the proposals on the WGC website.

Jewelry Industry to Feel the Pinch as Gold is Forecasted to Rise Again

London-based GFMS, said Wednesday in its semi-annual Gold Survey report that it expects the precious metal to hit $1,600 a troy ounce due to investors’ concerns over inflation and monetary policy. This cannot be good news for the jewelry industry.

“The prospects for gold prices this year remain bright,” said Philip Klapwijk, GFMS chairman. “Investors continue to be concerned about the outlook for inflation, with governments in general showing little appetite to tighten monetary policy significantly. And, with the spotlight also shining on the state of government finances, there is every reason to believe that investors will remain focused on the gold market.”

Klapwijk went on to say that gold jewelry demand will not be negatively affected by the higher prices. “Growing price acceptance by consumers will help lift jewelry demand, while generating only a muted response from scrap.”

Needless to say, much of the jewelry industry in North America does not share this rosy outlook. The report details that worldwide global jewelry did increase year-over-year in 2010, but its strength was driven by demand in China and India.

“Even so, the report highlights that many key jewelry consuming countries remained net suppliers of gold to the international gold market,” Klapwijk said. “Notable casualties include the United States, the European Union and the Middle East with each seeing scrap supply exceed jewelry consumption in 2010.”

The statement from GFMS did not say whether the projected in gold jewelry demand will remain regionalized or whether the tough conditions in the US, EU and the Middle East will continue for 2011.

Toronto-based jewelry designer Reena Ahluwalia says the industry needs to educate consumers on the value of the rising price of the precious metal.

“Rising gold price remains a concern for jewelry,” she said. “It is important for consumers to know what they are buying is worth more than what it was a year ago. It's about buying value and has to be communicated with the consumers. Consumers are conscious of how much they are willing to spend. We are looking at other metal and material alternatives to offer a more comfortable price point to our end consumers. Bridal market is still strong and couples are buying without compromise.”

Jewelry designers and manufacturers have already been substituting other metals for gold and in some cases mixing metals. In addition, some designers are creating lighter-weight gold jewelry by incorporating space into their designs.

According to the report, gold prices rose by 26 percent in 2010, which is down from the 2009 mark, but is still the second highest on record.

The Big Bold Bling of Jacob & Co.

Jacob & Co. Ladybug Cocktail Ring

BASEL, Switzerland – It took an hour for my eyes to adjust to normal light after visiting the Jacob & Co. showroom at Baselworld. The multi-carat, multi-colored diamond and gemstone jewelry was a blinding spectacle of glitter and sparkle. The following is a short and modest list of jewelry selected from the high-bling bauble parade I witnessed.

The Novelty Safari Collection
Multicolored sapphires, black Tahitian pearls, a colorful collection of South Seas pearls are among the highlights of this collection of animal-inspired gold jewelry. The colorful ladybug rings (pictured above), the rose gold snake earrings (left) and the rose gold frog cocktail ring all have these multiple flourishes and run from $11,400 to $32,250.

The Diamond Lace Collection
The Lace Pattern Full-Finger Ring with double spring shank is made with 18k rose gold melded into an intricate lace pattern paved with 4.24 carats of round-cut diamonds. Match that with a rose gold lace chandelier earrings formed into multiple round lace patterns and again topped with tiny round diamonds totaling 6.5 carats. The ring retails for $19,000 and the earrings for $21,400. 

The Leaf Collection
Black rhodium plated gold and diamond pave pendant and chandelier earrings set in a leaf-shape. The pendant comes with a two-row diamond bail and a five-strand 18-inch chain. The pendant retails for $12,900 and the earrings for $21,450.



 

The Titanium Collection
The lightness of the metal and delicacy of the design and unusual color are among the attributes that these earrings have. The purple titanium diamond-pave double circle pendant earrings with 12.45 carats of diamonds retail for $32,000. If you prefer earrings with length there are the blue titanium chandelier earrings with hanging diamond strands. More than 650 briolette white diamond pave adorn the hanging earrings totaling nearly 14 cts., yet it weighs only 6.45 grams ($34,000).

Barbara Heinrich and her 18k Gold Jewelry

18k yellow gold leaf cuff with scattered diamonds and polished rims.

With the price of gold breaking records daily, many jewelry artists and designers and switching to less expensive materials like silver. Not Barbara Heinrich. The Pittsford, N.Y.-based goldsmith and jewelry artist is continuing to make her 18k jewelry and says that business remains strong. That’s because she is using creative ways to make her work more affordable without compromising the beauty of her nature-inspired designs.

“I find that the way to continue designing in gold is to just keep things very open and airy and light and lacy,” the German native said during the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, held November 11-14. “I find that people continue to want to wear gold but we just need to adjust the designs to the new circumstances. … I have found this year we have done very well due to all the new designs we have developed.”

Her new 18k cuff bracelets (pictured at top) are lighter than they have been in the past but because of the superior fabrication process, they remain sturdy. Her rings, necklaces and bracelets (above) are open and airy, mostly made of circular patterns, so they are both light and attractive.