Diamonds & Engagement Rings News

Linda Bode thought she’d never see her wedding band or engagement rings again. She had the rings in cleaning solution in a jar, but inadvertently discarded the jar in a recycling container. by the time she realized this on the morning of Feb. 15 the recycling trucks has beendown her street and collected the items.

This was especially troubling, considering that the diamond engagement ring was 110 years old and a family heirloom that originally belonged to her husbands great aunt.

Bode called the recycling hot line for the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, which oversees curbside recycling. She spoke to a customer services representative who turn contacted the route supervisor. He traced the trucks route and discovered that the driver had completed the route and was headed to colgate New Brunswick to unload.

Slavicek who was in Old Bridge met with Bode, and had her follow him to the Colgate facility. Colgate’s vice president, Steve Dinardi meanwhile, arranged for a special unloading the driver than waited for Slavicek and Bode to arrive.

The truck was taken to a designated area, and it load was tipped over a long distance to make sorting easier.

Salvicek along with recycling manager Ed Windas and Colgate employee began to sift with rake though the material, most of its smashed and squished.

Because recycling routes are scheduled consistently, the group was able to determine that bode’s items would be towards the center.

As the men reembarked on this rather messy task they asked Bode to watch with the hope she might recognize her containers. After 15 to 20 min. Bode saw the Nestle bottles-whose labels-were remover by her daughter for a school project along with 3 empty can from there dinner the night before.

Then sure enough Slavieck located the jar of jewelry cleaner with the rings inside.

“I couldn’t thank them enough.” Bode said, “You can’t replace a ring like this I couldn’t believe that these men were willing to go through the trouble to find the rings.”

A Stockton man was arrested during an attempt to swipe more than $50,000 worth of diamond rings thanks in part to some citizen assistance.

Wednesday police were dispatched to New York Diamonds on the 110 block of South Main Street after a man identified as Lamont Howard of Stockton allegedly took a tray containing 33 rings.

Most of the double style diamond engagement rings were valued at $500 to $600 apiece, Osborn said adding that some were worth more than $1,000. The man went into the store reached over the counter, broke a lock and took the rings. He drove away in a late model , black Volkswagen Jetta.

One woman, who was asked to not be named followed the man north on Highway 99, While alerting police of his whereabouts.

The woman also told police he had dropped some engagement rings in the New York Diamonds parking lot. Another person picked up those rings and returned them to a store.

Sgt. Mike Sexton said the woman gave excellent information to the police dispatcher.

Scientist Charles Bauschilicher and his research team have found a new way to look for “diamonds in the sky.”

It may not be romantic, but diamonds shine especially brightly in the 3.4 to 3.5 micron and 6 to 10 micron infrared ranges, which should make NASA’s spitzer telescope the perfect to see them with.

Though less common and more monopolized on earth, diamonds are surprisingly common in outer space and in the nanometer- size bits consist of 3% of all the carbon found in meteorites.

That means that if meteorite composition is representative of interstellar dust that dust would contain about 10 quadrillion nanodiamonds per gram.

Once upon a time, when a man proposed, he gave a woman a shiny solitaire diamond engagement rings. It was the standard. It’s probably what her friends had and she was egar to join the club.            

Now fast forward to 2007; It;s the norm now for a women to influence what her engagement ring will look like if not to pick it out herself, says Mary Moses Kinney.

The result is bigger stones, nontraditional settings and some engagement rings that forgo the diamond altogether.

The diamond Trading Company, the sales and marketing arm of De Beers, recently interviewed 10,000 U.S couples on their purchasing behavior for diamond gifts. Only 19 percent fir the conventional image of a man presenting a women with a surprise diamond. 30% if diamond engagement ring purchases were by women called “assertiveness” those unafraid of making their views known early, some went so far as to buy the item, wrap it and hand their partner the receipt.

Over the years, brides have moved away from yellow gold, both for engagement rings and wedding bands, in favor of platinum. Which they consider more wardrobe friendly.

The price of platinum has shot up because of the increased demand and couples are again interested in gold, yellow gold, white and rose tinted.

“Rose gold is pretty, new and trendy,” according to Brides Ratten. “It looks good on many skin tones.”

Many engagement rings have micro-pave diamonds outline the setting. That makes the center stone appear bigger and sparkler. “You get the look of the big ring without piling on to much additional cost,” she says.

Another trend is three stone engagement rings, with pink or blue sapphires or less often emeralds or rubies flanking the center diamond. Colored diamonds are considered chic, but are also expensive more for the rich and famous Bratten says.

In the quest to personalize engagement rings, even semiprecious stones are being used.

There is no right or wrong ring. It’s like a favorite color, if one women likes a princess the next will want an emerald cut.

Thieves dug an underground tunnel into a top Milan showroom and stole l15m of diamond-studded jewellery while the owners were in Los Angeles hosting an Oscar party.

Seven men dressed as police broke into the Damiani showroom on Sunday morning without letting off alarms or being captured on CCTV, and took little more than 40 minutes to execute their plan after tying up staff. they had spent a month digging from a disused cellar in a building next door.

Millions of euros worth of jewels were stolen, but some of the most valuable pieces were being used by Hollywood stars during the Academy Awards ceremony. The British Oscar winner Tilda Swinton had been provided a diamond studded bracelet by jeweller.

Milan police said: ” The gang wore dark sunglasses and spoke with southern Italian accents.”

Oscars for outstanding film achievements were presented tonight at the 80th Annual Academy Awards. It’s Hollywood royalty radiated in glamorous gowns and amazing Diamonds.

Illuminating from the red carpet, the big Diamond trends of the evening included the return of stunning Diamond statement necklaces, perfectly paired with sophisticated diamond drop earrings of all styles, and beautiful bold diamond bracelets.

The most mesmerizing diamond look of the evening was by Oscar Presenter, Nicole Kidman, who lit up the stage. Rough and Polished diamond sautoir Necklace designed by L’Wren Scott, containing 7645 diamonds totaling nearly 1400 carats. 

Oscar Nominees Keri Russell and Jennifer Garner were just a few of the other leading ladies to debut the return of major diamond statement necklesses. Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren all shined brilliantly in attention grabbing diamond earrings in an assortment of styles. While Amy Ryan, Jennifer Hudson , Oliva Thirlby and other starlets all modeled the perfect pairing of diamond drop earrings and bracelets.

The price of platinum, the metal choice by consumers for their engagement rings, wedding rings, and wedding bands has risen meteorically over the past year and on a daily basis especially in the last few weeks.

From mid-December 2007 until present the price of Platinum has risen by $800.00 an ounce!

The weak dollar, rising oil prices, and power and electricity shortages in South Africa which mines the bulk of the world Platinum have all contributed to the price increase.

Manufactures of Platinum Jewelry have no option but to raise prices and pass on theses price increase to their retail jeweler. As a consequence your Gold and Platinum Jewelry is becoming dramatically more expensive and costly.

Precious Metals Analysts expect these price increases to continue in the foreseeable future.

Little girls grow up dreaming of the day when their knight and shinning armor will get down on one knee and present them with a big, shinny diamonds. Eighty percent of American brides receive diamond engagement rings, which average $3,000.

Though the widespread popularity of diamond engagement rings may imply some sort of long established cultural tradition, it is a relatively new system based on expert marketing.

For consumers culture to function , it is necessary that people be willing to spend money on things they do not need and perhaps do not even want. Their willingness to do so depends on how successful manufactures are in creating meaning for their products by equating some abstract human experience or reality with the consumption of certain product. There is not better example of this than the diamond engagement ring.

A diamond is forever; or, at least, it has been for the previous 70  years. The exchange of diamond rings does not come from some ancient tradition but rather become widely popular because of brilliant advertising.

The marketing possibilities of diamonds need not stop with the engagement. The 25th anniversary ring say,”I forever do.” A pendent with diamonds arranged from smallest to largest symbolizes the growth of lover over time. The circular diamond pendant represents the endlessness of love. Really, these pieces of jewelry have no meaning save what ed executives convince us of, as task at which they have been remarkably successful.

We want diamonds because we are taught to, despite numerous reasons to consider better alternatives- like price.

Diamonds are expensive because of there scarcity, right? In reality, diamonds are plentiful. However, the manipulation of markets by major players masks this. If all of the diamonds in existence made it to market, the market would be flooded and prices would plummet. Diamonds cartels prevent this through the control of production and distribution, which allows them to control the supply. At present, De Beers along controls nearly two- thirds of the diamond trade, and owns one-half of the mines in the world.

Despite recent efforts to reduce dealing in diamond that fund conflict or terrorism- termed “Blood diamond.” These attempts are not perfect because of the adept business dealings of organizations that mine and sell diamond to fund crime. There is simply no way to be certain that a given diamond ddin’t literally cost someone their hand. Research on the part of the consumer helps reduce this possibility, but choosing an alternative eliminates it altogether.

Finally, given the complex and individual nature of love, why should physical expression of it be so uniform? There are plenty of gemstones other than diamonds, and these are artisans who specialize in making custom jewelry.

A unique, specialized alternative to diamond engagement or wedding rings makes much more sense for the most widely recognizable symbol of a couple’s commitment to each other than a mass- produced piece of jewelry similar to that of countless others.

Diamonds and engagement rings go hand in hand only because a lot of people have spent a lot of money to convince us that they do. This engagement season. those of you preparing to make it official should question the high price of conformity and consider the alternatives.

Patients at MT.Clemens Regional Medical Center say hospital staff is stealing thousands of dollars from them .

Diamond rings, Diamond earrings, and Ipods…..These patients say hospital staff even stole about $10,000 worth of jewelry from one women who died in the emergency room and her husband still feels the pain.

Vince Capizzo said ” it’s been devastating to the whole family.” Not only did Vince lose his wife but her most treasured jewelry disappeared in that hospital as well.

In fact, the hospital never even returned the pajamas that Mary Joyce was wearing that day she entered the ER.

“She was wearing her engagement ring, wedding band and a garnet ring.” Vince unfortunately has still yet to receive them back.

Vince says the rings were worth about 10- thousand dollars, and not to mention the emotional value all those pieces held for the family.

I am so disappointed he says I can’t pass them down to my children, my children can’t pass them down to there children, and well its just hard.

Vince is not alone, Kristy Layne says her engagement ring was stolen when she was admitted to the same ER last year.

“My heart dropped out out of me. That was my engagement ring.” She says her and her fiance designed that $15,000 diamond ring together.

“There’s no other ring like that out there and it means a whole lot to me.”

Kristy’s Fiance Reggie Zalewski was at the hospital when the ring was stolen. A security guard told him it disappeared.

Zalewski said.”I want the police here right now, that larceny.”

The macomb county sheriff’s department has been investigating. In fact during last year, they have reports of 21 thefts of different items at the hospital.

Reggie say you’ve got people working in your hospital taking jewelry, scavenging corpses, that’s just unbelievable.

The sherrif’s department says they have solved one of the many cases. They arrested a 24 year old nursing assistant Nerissa Anderson for stealing a ring.

Mt. Clemens Regional Medical Center says a new process is in place for securing patients belongings however patients should be advised to send all valuable home; and proper action will be taken.

Vince Capazio says ” I have not hear a word from the hospital, no letters no phone calls, nothing. I’d like to have someone come forward , cause somebody knows whats going on in there.”

Planning to propose? Good Idea. Planning to spend more on the engagement ring than you would on a house? Even better. Come with us as we explore some of the world or pricey tags. 

If your lking for a head- turning ring with major star power, this maybe the bauble for you. This platinum set diamond ring is from the Elizabeth Collection of house of Taylor Jewelry.

The 5.98 carat oval cut diamond in its center is “internally flawless” and surrounded by 3.96 carats of round brilliant diamonds in a floral design. Of course, star power doesn’t come cheap; this ring will cost you almost $1.3million easy.