Ivana Trump (R), Czech-born businesswoman and former Olympic athelete, fashion model and wife of mogul Donald Trump, and her new husband Rossano Rubicondi (L) EPA/FELIX HEYDER

Ivana Trump has snagged a man twenty years her junior, and has married him this past weekend.

For the wedding dinner reception Saturday evening, which was attended by more than 300 friends, Ivana wore a Leviev diamond bracelet, earrings and necklace totaling more than 150 carats.

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Diamond Imports

Diamonds of Excellence

The American Gem Society Laboratories (AGS Labs) announced Wednesday that it will begin issuing cut grades for oval cut diamonds, effective immediately. This is the industry’s first cut grade for the oval cut, the lab said.

In 2005, AGS Labs released its Performance-Based Cut Grading System for both the round brilliant and the princess – the first cut grading system for a fancy shaped diamond. Soon after, the lab also released a cut grade for the emerald shaped diamonds.

AGS noted that it is continuing its research into cut grade for fancy shapes, and more shapes are expected to come on-line soon.

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Diamond Imports

Oval Shape Diamonds

Mattel’s popular childhood icon, Barbie, is the inspiration of a new jewelry collection scheduled to be launched this month. The first collection, which features pink diamonds, precious and semi-precious colored stones and rare metals, entitled Silhouette, portrays the classic Barbie profile of a ponytail, long eyelashes and a ski-jump nose.

The collection includes two necklaces: the “Luxe” Barbie pendant and Barbie dogtag in 18k white, yellow or rose gold with black diamonds or yellow or pink sapphires; and, the “Classic” necklace in sterling silver.

The collection also contains Barbie bracelets in sterling silver with 18k rose gold charms.

The first collection is the Silhouette collection that shows the classic ponytail, long eyelashes and ski-jump nose profile. It features two necklace styles: the “Luxe” Barbie™ Pendant and Barbie™ DogTag, in 18K white, yellow or rose gold, with white or black diamonds or yellow or pink sapphires; and the “Classic,” which is done in sterling silver.

The Barbie bracelets are available in sterling silver with 18K rose gold charms

The jewelry, which was created by Layna and Alan Friedman, can be purchased at the Alan Friedman boutique or online for amounts which range between US$185 to US$15,000.

A portion of the proceeds from sales will be donated to the Children Affected by Aids Foundation.

Source: Luxist

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Diamond Imports

Highest Quality Certified Diamonds

Inspired by a sensual and exquisitely feminine couture style, Piaget dares to go for a “sexy “look with creations echoing the lacing on corsets that are tied and untied with voluptuous delight. In an ultra-chic interpretation of wild Parisian nights, a ruby and pink sapphire necklace imitates untied ribbons hanging nonchalantly along a plunging neckline.

In the same glamorous spirit, Piaget introduces a fabulous cuff watch, a recurrent and emblematic object in the brand’s history.

Entirely paved with diamonds, this watch literally wraps the wrist in light, evoking a luxurious corset delicately laced by a ribbon of square-cut diamonds, and also comes in a version with a colourful satin ribbon.

SPECIFICATIONS: 18-carat white gold cuff-watch with case, dial and bracelet paved with 1576 brilliant-cut diamonds (85.8 cts) and 83 baguette-cut diamonds (7.4 cts) Piaget 56P quartz movement

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Diamond Imports

Finest Quality Diamonds

Loose Diamonds

Historical Feature: Sierra Leone Diamond Sector Financial Policy Constraints

June 2003 Above Link

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The Lure of Sierra Leone Diamonds

By Elizabeth Blunt BBC News, Sierra Leone

Diamonds continue to be big business for Sierra Leone and through the years many have been tempted to join the hunt in the hope of a lucky find.

Diamond diggers may well be like fishermen - the biggest one is always the one that got away.

But in Kenema, Sierra Leone’s main diamond town, whole streets are lined with diamond buyers’ shops, and there are enough stones flowing in to make them all a living.

If you own or can rent land along the streams where the stones are washed down out of the diamond-bearing rock, then you have a very decent chance of striking it lucky.

Hangha village, just north of Kenema, was one of the first places diamonds were found.

It was to Hangha that Queen Elizabeth was taken in 1961 to see the diggers at work.

It was the people of Hangha who appeared on the old one Leone note, sifting gravel in a rectangular pit.

And it was in Hangha that I met a man who told me the quintessential diamond story.

Addictive
In the days when the industry was just starting up, Patrick Sandy was a young teacher, earning the modest salary of £10 ($19.50) a month.

He and his brothers thought they would try looking for diamonds on the family farm.And they rapidly made some very good finds.

Patrick told me that his best stone was the size of a large pea, and it sold for £11,000.

There was no contest, he gave up teaching and went into the diamond business.

Arguing that if they could find diamonds with so little effort, then digging on a larger scale would bring enormous wealth. He bought tools, hired labourers and set them to work clearing the land, digging, washing and sifting the gravel.

But there was nothing.

He never made another significant find, despite searching until all his money was gone.
Diamond digging is like gambling - it’s very addictive.

The winner goes back to the tables, convinced that he is on a roll and that even greater success will follow.

The loser carries on grimly, determined to keep going until he has recouped his losses.

The few who do make money are the ones who have the strength of mind to quit while they are ahead.

Small Scale
Hangha, which is built on top of a diamond field, is a dusty, forlorn place. There are men hanging around in the shade, a video parlour showing Nigerian-made movies, and a pavement vendor selling a small selection of shovels, pickaxe heads and sieves.

On the outskirts of the town are burnt and broken houses.

These diamond areas were endlessly fought over and suffered badly during Sierra Leone’s civil war.

And yet diamonds should not have to be a curse.

Alongside some big companies, mining diamonds directly from the rock, Sierra Leone has a quite liberal and well-structured system, which allows ordinary people in the diamond areas to try their hand at alluvial mining on a small scale.

If they buy a licence they can keep what they find, and sell it through licensed buyers.

If they do not have suitable land or the means to support themselves while they dig, they can find themselves a so-called “supporter” who will sponsor them while they do it.And for a young, single man at least, it is not too bad a deal.

Windfalls
We talked to a group who were digging out a river bed near the village.

It was hard, hot work, but they were happy with their supporter, who gave them two cups of rice a day, and a thousand Leones - “sauce money” for stew to go with the rice.

He also gave them cigarettes and bought them medicine when they were sick.

If they find a diamond, they get a share of the cash, which was split between the miner, the landowner and the supporter.

You can see what these windfalls might translate into as you pass the diamond buyers’ shops.
As soon as the miner has got his cash in hand, the dealer has goods ready for him to buy.

A small diamond might mean a bicycle or a boom box radio.

A bigger stone could mean a generator, a television and video, or a motorbike.

It could also set the young man up in a more reliable trade.

But mostly, the lure of the stones is too strong.

Why would someone bother with the safe and steady when there is a chance, however small, of making more money in a day than a carpenter or a motorbike boy could earn in his whole life?

I did meet one man, a prosperous, young dealer who had kept a level head and made the diamonds work for him.

Francis Konuwa’s family land lay in a prime location, along the Sewa river.

He was soon supporting other diggers, but they were usually his own brothers, so he was fairly sure that they would not cheat him by hiding their finds.

And now he is diversifying into retailing, foreign exchange dealing, and the import and export of diamonds.

The gambler who knows when to walk away from the table is the one who keeps his winnings.

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Kono, Sierra Leone. Diamonds are who’s best friend exactly? September 1st, 2007

I’m told the Kono diamond mining district of Sierra Leone was once a party town. The diamond wealth once brought with it streets lined with Mercedes and hookers.

A decade of civil war however put paid to all that. Being the most valuable part of the country, this is the area that saw the most fighting. I’d like to say the burned out homes like the one pictured is the exception but unfortunately in the old town they are more the rule. None the less the town has been rebuild enough at least for the diamond mining to continue.

Most of these photo’s are taken in an area still known as “little Lebanon”. Before the war, Kono was home to a lot of immigrant Lebanese miners. Most of them have gone now and taken their falafel with them. When war broke out, they mostly retreated to their safer and less war-torn homeland of Lebanon.I’m not going to comment on the sad irony of this.

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Diamond Imports

Fair Trade Diamonds Video

After mapping, the software calculates the optimum cut.

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The small town of Idar-Oberstein (population: 35,000), tucked away in the Hunsrück Mountains of the Rhineland-Palatine region, in the district of Birkenfeld, southwestern Germany, has a several hundred year history of mining and gem-cutting that has made it one of the leading cut-gem trading centers in the world.

Although primitive hand-dug mining in the Rhineland-Palatine region dates back several thousand years, mechanized mining operations for the extraction of agate, jasper and quartz within the vicinity of the towns Idar, and Oberstein, began in the late 1400s, creating a demand for gem-cutters, stone-carvers, and lapidary artisans to migrate to the area.

By the 1800s, precious and semi-precious colored gemstones were being shipped from around the world to be cut in Idar-Oberstein, and 100s of cutting houses and Ateliers had sprung up in the surrounding countryside, swelling the population to 50,000. By the late 1800s, wages in the area grew to be too expensive for the cutting of lesser materials and the cutting industry began to decline, forcing many of Idar’s gem-cutters to immigrate to Brazil.

Today, Idar-Oberstein is primarily known for the cutting larger, more valuable gemstones, fantasy cuts (Fantasieschliffe), and the wholesale trade in polished gemstones (geschliffenen Edelsteinen). Every year around September or October, Idar-Oberstein is host to the Intergem trade show (International Trade Fair for Precious Stones and Jewellery).

The “Fantasy Cut” or Fantasieschliffe. There is probably no person who is more famous at this relatively new art form than the German stone cutter Bernd Munsteiner. The Munsteiner family (Bernd, Tom and Jutta) at Atelier Munsteiner have been pushing the boundaries of stone cutting to their limits with their endlessly imaginative shapes and forms.

There are several gemological research institutes in Idar-Oberstein that include the ‘German Foundation for Gemstone Research’ (Deutsche Stiftung Edelsteinforschung - DSEF), Diamond Grading Laboratory (Diamant-Prüflabor GmbH - DPL), German Association for Gemstone and Jewellery Evaluation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Edelsteinbewertung mbH - DEGEB), Research Institute for Gemstones and Precious Metals (Forschungsinstitut für mineralische und metallische Werkstoffe, Edelsteine/Edelmetalle GmbH - FEE), and the German Gemmological Association (Deutsche Gemmologische Gesellschaft e.V. (DGemG).

[ International Diamond Council (IDC)
There are Five Laboratories working to the IDC rules they are,
1. The Certificates Department of the Antwerp Diamond High Council HRD, Belgium;
2. The Swedish Testing Institute, Stockholm, Sweden;
3. The Jewellery Council of South Africa Laboratory SAJC, Johannesburg, South Africa;
4.The, Idar Oberstein, Germany.
5. The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia DCLA, Sydney, Australia .

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Diamond Imports

Excellent Cut Diamonds