Champagne Diamond Engagement Ring

Some of these diamonds are up to 1.5 carats in weight.  Any of these diamonds would look great as a center stone with a halo of smaller white diamonds surrounding  it.

Champagne Diamonds

 

I am working with a Diamond Dealer that specializes in Champagne Diamonds of all sizes.  Here are just a few samples. Each one of these stones are about one carat and would make a beautiful center stone in an engagement ring.

Pink Sapphire and Pearl Pendant

I made this pendant with a pair of wonderful mabe, saltwater pearls together with pink sapphires and set in 18K yellow gold. The pendant is symbolic of a mother and daughter relationship, the mother being the bottom pearl and the daughter the top pearl.  The mother and daughter are bound together by a field of love symbolized by the pink sapphires.  The pink luminescence in the pearls complements and reflects the sapphires, showing the strength of union between the mother and her daughter.
The hues and lustre in these very large pearls are breathtaking. The piece was a joy to make, and hopefully a joy to wear.

Morganite Pendant with Pave Champagne Diamonds

 

A few years back, I went to a gem show in New York and found this beautiful pink Morganite stone with near perfect clarity, cut and color and knew I had to have it.  Morganite is in the Beryl family, the same family as aquamarine and emerald.

I knew I wanted the Morganite surrounded by diamonds. I held on to the stone for a few years thinking about a few designs. I decided that the stone had to be surrounded by champagne diamonds to compliment it’s pastel color. It is in an 18k gold setting with the sides carved out as waves in the ocean.

Morganite (8.08 cts) Champagne color Diamonds (.51 cts) set in 18k Gold.

Borgezie Gold and Diamond Shoes

Aficionado's of fine shoes might have felt betrayed the day Jimmy Choo started marketing his wares through H&M.  How were they going to distinguish themselves from the masses if everyone could afford Jimmy’s high-end sandals?  The day has finally come when the super-wealthy can differentiate themselves from the merely wealthy with the launch of  Borgezie’s line.  For a cool $155,000 you can deck your feet with a pair of gold and diamond stilettos.  The shoes come with 2,200 diamonds weighing in at 30 carats set in a solid gold frame.  A spare sets of soles and heels are thrown in for free as an incentive to close the deal.

 

Sapphire Flower Earrings

This is a set of blue and white 18 kt gold and sapphire flower earrings that I recently made for a client. These earrings can be made with diamonds or white sapphire surrounding stones. Not many people realize that you can get white sapphires that rival the elegance of diamonds.

Gold, Onyx and Ruby Cufflinks

These are custom-designed 18k gold cufflinks. The solid, chunky feel of the cufflinks creates a very masculine structure. I nevertheless wanted to create a special appeal to them and so I set 12 small rubies in the back of them. I believe the back of the jewelry must look as good as the front. Since only you and your loved-one will see the back of the jewelry, to some extent, it has to look even better.

Investment Jewelry

In this current economic downturn, many investors are turning to hard assets as a store of value.  The key is to find assets that provide a hedge against inflation and potential currency weakening.  Gold is proving to be a resilient asset in this environment. In fact, since October of 2008, the gold price has increased by over 25%.

What are the benefits of purchasing jewelry as an investment?

• Jewelry is easily transportable.  You can carry your wealth between countries.
• You control the investment. 
• Unlike holding bullion, you get the benefit of using your jewelry by wearing it.
• Jewelry can benefit from price appreciation if the piece is deemed to be a collectible item.

So how do you make your jewelry purchases also good investments?  Here are a few tips:

• Focus on “Fine” jewelry.  This means that the workmanship must be top notch, and the design must be exquisite, and preferably unique.  Commercial jewelry such as that found at a typical retail jewelry chain store, will have little value to a jewelry collector, and the potential resale value will be lower. 
• When selecting the gold karat level, 18 K to 22 K is preferred for investment purposes. 24 K is is good for pieces that are protected against wear and tear such as a brooch or pendant.
• Choose jewelry or have jewelry designed that looks good to you.  Firstly, you or your spouse will want to wear it.  Secondly, if it looks good to you, it will look good to others, and this again will increase its collectability value.
• “Limited edition,” “Custom-made,” “Unique,” “Designer” are all qualities that enhance the value of the value of your jewelry to a collector.

Gold Coin Jewelry

Mints around the world are reporting souring sales of gold coins.  Demand is being driven by the financial crisis as people look for safe havens for their investments.  American Eagle gold coins sales shot up from 140,000 ounces of sales in 2007 to 710,000 ounces.  The Royal Canadian Mint has quadrupled its production of Maple Leaf bullion coins. 

On the jewelry side, we are seeing that yellow gold jewelry is becoming more fashionable compared to white gold.  People understand the increasing value of yellow gold and want to show it off in their jewelry. Investors are beginning to see really fine jewelry not just as a fashion item but as a store of wealth.  I am also getting demand for the incorporation of gold coins in custom-designed jewelry.  I will keep you posted on my upcoming gold jewelry designs…..

Related

- Get a personalized jewelry design

Handmade Gold Jewelry

Creating a magnificent piece of jewelry requires attention to detail at every stage of the process. Handmade jewelry needs patience and meticulous care. Here are a few steps that you need to go through:

Sample 1:  Circle Pendant

With this piece, I am creating a circle pendant.  The picture below shows the back of the pendant.  Each square is cut out by hand using a very fine saw.  Look carefully, you can see the saw blade cutting one of the squares.  The saw is the thickness of a few human hairs.

Below is the  front of the Circle Pendant. I am testing out a few gemstone color options.  The top pendant shows various hued spessartite gemstones, the bottom has a mixture of aquamarine and citrine.

Sample 2: Gold Pave Earrings

I created a set of pave earrings in gold.  This is what they look like before the earring post and stones have been set.

Below, the gemstones are being individually set.  I am using a combination of pink tourmaline and aquamarine pave which is a color combination that I love.  To set the stones, the earring is first placed in a special heated plastic compound.  When the plastic cools, it forms a rock-hard vice around the earring.  This allows me to set the stones using a lot of force to bend the prongs and cut out any excess metal without damaging the exterior of the earring.

Related Links
 - Sozai Custom-Designed Jewelry

A Sozai Design - Ladybug Pearl Pendant

I really enjoyed designing this ladybug. The wings are made of gold and diamond pave. The body is a black Tahitian pearl. The bug's antennae form the clasp. I have a passion for little jeweled bugs! I will post a few more of my little critters over the coming days.