Category Archives: Aurélia Turrall News

Oscars 2023, Dazzled by Snakes, Green Gems and Timeless Chic

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Bvlgari strikes again with their Serpenti collection wrapped around Angela Bassett, Cara Delevingne and the outstanding screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Angela Bassett wore matching diamond-set necklace and bangle by Bvlgari, mounted in 18ct white gold. A similar necklace was sold at Sotheby’s in November 2021 with an estimate of CHF 220,000 – 325,000. The necklace set with approximately 70 carats of diamonds sold for CHF 252,000 (approximately £230,000).

Bvlgari retails a diamond-set bangle in white gold for £81,000 and is set with just under nine carats of diamonds.

Angela Bassett

Simpler versions of the bracelet can be found in yellow or rose gold for £5,300.

Matching her Dolce & Gabbana gown, Phoebe Waller-Bridge wore a diamond and emerald-set Serpenti necklace mounted in rose gold.

Bvlgari currently retails a rose gold diamondset Serpenti Viper necklace in rose gold for £45,900, with 4.41 carats of diamonds.

One of the show stoppers of the evening was stunning Cara Delevingne. In the style of Old Hollywood, she embodied chic and glamour in an off the shoulder Elie Saab gown with bow and high leg slit.

The outfit was completed with diamond and emeralds in the form of Serpenti threestrand necklace matching bracelet, Serpenti Seduttori earrings and ring.

From the same Seduttori emerald and diamond collection, a ring currently retails for £12,700. The coiled body is set with 0.57 carat of diamonds and the eyes are highlighted by 0.20 carat pear-shaped emeralds.

Moving away from the Serpenti collection was the appearance of the Diva’s Dream jewellery collection worn by Rainsford Qualley, Andie MacDowell’s daughter.

Chic and understated, the earrings are set with mother-of-pearl and mounted in white gold. The Diva’s Dream mother-of-pearl earring range is priced from £2,130 to £2,760 with a diamond surround.

For those not adorned in Bvlgari, exquisite green-gemmed jewellery certainly made a statement on the red carpet.

Sofia Carson wore a superb Chopard emerald and diamond necklace featuring seven octagonal-shaped emeralds totalling 122.49 carats along with 92.57 carats of pear-shaped, marquise, baguette and brilliant-cut diamonds set in white gold jewellery from the brand’s “Haute Joaillerie Collection.”

Fellow actress Jessica Chastain also opted for Haute Joaillerie collection from Franco- Italian designer Gucci, complementing the strapless sequined gown also by the designer. However, unlike Sofia Carson, the green gems were not emeralds but tsavorites, a form of garnet, 80 carats worth.

Other famous jewellery designer to include the green gem in its design is Cartier, with the famous Panthère collection.

This diamond, onyx, and tsavorite garnet necklace was sold for GBP 37,500 at Sotheby’s in June 2016.

Cartier was certainly a contender for the most jaw-dropping piece of jewellery of this 95th Award ceremony with a large pear-shaped yellow sapphire worn by Deepika Padukone.

Though yellow sapphires are less expensive than yellow diamonds, they are nonetheless breathtakingly beautiful and perfectly accentuate any black outfit!

Understated? Perhaps not quite, but maybe more subtle than the Serpenti collection, the yellow sapphire necklace by Cartier was my winner for this year’s Oscars. Not to say I would turn down being draped in Bvlgari Serpenti jewels to accept my award for best screenplay!

This might just be one Diva’s Dream but then anything’s possible in Hollywood, so carry on dreaming…

A few of my favorite glitz from the SAG Awards 2023

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This year’s big winner of the evening was the family adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once whose leading actress Michelle Yeoh won the award for Female Actor in a Leading Role.

Just as she did for the Bafta, she dazzles us once again with spectacular pieces by Moussaieff including a yellow diamond and diamond ring, set with a 21.02 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond between pear-shaped diamond shoulders.

To put this into perspective, a 3.03 carats Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond ring mounted in platinum is currently up for sale at Sotheby’s online for USD 195,000. I leave it to your imagination to work out the cost of the above 21 carats diamond!

She paired the ring with a pair of chandelier yellow diamond and diamond earrings.

The earrings are set with 24.70 carats of pear shaped Fancy Intense Yellow diamonds, and 11.08 carats of pear-shaped and brilliant-cut white diamonds.

The outfit was finished with a Richard Mille wristwatch for which she is also a brand ambassador.

Fellow actor Ke Huy Quan, who won the Outstanding Performance by Male Actor in a Supporting role category and made history by being the first Asian actor to win this SAG award, looked dashing with a De Beers brooch from The Alchemist of Light high jewellery collection, set with a 2.70 carat oval Fancy Grey diamond within a blue aluminium surround.

The beautiful collection by De Beers include the Ascending Shadows Small Earrings.

Set with two central diamonds each weighing 1.01 carats and 1.02 carats, E, VS2, within a surround of diamond, the total weight adding to 6.30 carats and mounted in 18 carat white gold, 18 carat rose gold, titanium & aluminium. These currently retail for £94,500. Similar designs of the collection include a headband, necklace and cocktail ring.

Other red carpet nominees and actors wearing De Beers exceptional pieces included Angela Bassett, Li Jun Li, Hannah Einbinder, and Katherine Waterston. Cara Delevingne dazzled in a “few” De Beers pieces.

These included: The Alchemist of Light ‘Midnight Aura’ Necklace set in 18 carat white gold with 74.73 carats of diamonds, The Alchemist of Light ‘Midnight Aura’ Earrings set in 18 carat black rhodium plated white gold with 9.58 carats of diamonds, a diamond line bracelet set in platinum with 17.03 carats of diamonds, Volute Ring set in platinum with 6.80 carats of diamonds, Adonis Rose Pear
Diamond Ring set in platinum with 5.40 carats of diamonds, a diamond eternity band set in platinum with 6.14 carats of diamonds, and a round brilliant diamond eternity band set in platinum with 7.15 carats of diamonds.

The Volute diamond ring can be yours for USD 218,000.

One of my favourite red carpet actresses is Zendaya. She is faultless! And this year’s 29th ceremony of the SAG awards was no exception. Nominated for Best Female Actor in a Drama Series for her starring role as Rue in HBO’s Euphoria, she paired her pastel pink Valentino Haute Couture gown with a Bvlgari bib necklace set with aquamarine, tanzanite and morganite.

Later that night, to present an award, she changed outfits and wore a Bvlgari chocker centrally-set with an oval -shaped aquamarine.

I always say that a red carpet is not quite complete without a Bvlgari Serpenti necklace. Emily Blunt’s Oscar de la Renta gown was styled with a pink gold choker with diamonds and rubies from Bvlgari’s
new collection celebrating Serpenti’s 75th anniversary, along with pavé diamond earrings and a platinum ring.

A similar Bvlgari Serpenti diamond and ruby necklace sold at Sotheby’s in July 2022 for HKD 1,625,000 (approximately £171,375).

 

One can have its own Bvlgari Serpenti collection with this Serpenti Seduttori ring for £9,000 or Serpenti necklace for £20,900.

And who knows, perhaps draped in Bvlgari, the SAG awards might have the pleasure of having you walk down its red carpet next year…

Who wore what, your guide to the BAFTA 2023 glitz

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Since 2010, the Prince of Wales has been the President of the Baftas and on Sunday, the Princess of Wales, was, as always, an example of chic, elegance and forward thinking while restyling an Alexander McQueen dress she previously wore in 2019.

She paired the white one-shouldered gown with Cascading floral earrings by Zara, selling for £17.99.

The Prince of Wales was seen wearing a Rolex while the host of the BAFTAs, Richard E. Grant was spotted wearing two watches: a Tank by Cartier, set to UK time, gifted by his wife and a chronograph set to Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in memory of his late father.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other dapper attendees included Regé-Jean Page, who combined his fitted suit with diamond double-clips. These clips are a classic of the 1920s and are typically set with brilliant, baguette and calibré-cut diamonds. Calibré-cut stones are gems that have been cut to fit a precise setting.

Sotheby’s had a sale estimate of CHF 4,800-7,500 for this diamond double-clip brooch in July 2022 and in fact advertised it worn in a similar manner as Regé-Jean Page.

He also sported a Cartier watch, Santos de Cartier, which ranges from £3,550 for a small model steel design to £61,000, mounted in rose gold.

Regé-Jean Page was not the only one seen wearing the diamond clips on a suit. Fellow actor Paul Mescal wore a similar clip by Cartier.

Regé-Jean Page was not the only one seen wearing the diamond clips on a suit. Fellow actor Paul Mescal wore a similar clip by Cartier.

Designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof, it is connected to uniform rows of silver Tahitian pearls together with matching earrings. “Your effort to focuson rewearing and repurposing led us to this necklace. Using Tahitian pearls, gold, diamonds and a 23.78 carats Nigerian Tourmaline, all from existing pieces. I loved making this necklace for you!” said Amfitheatrof.

The actress also wore a gold and diamond ring from Louis Vuitton Stellar Times High jewellery collection, for which she has been a brand ambassador since June 2022. Other jewellery designers have reinvented their collection using their legacy designs. “Frédéric Boucheron innovated, over 130 years ago, with feather creations strong in symbolism and style” and at this year’s BAFTAs Angela Bassett looks sublime wearing the brands Plume de Paon earrings.

Measuring 6cm and set with under 6 carats of diamonds, the earrings retail for £94,100 in white gold and £85,500 in rose gold. You can read more about the stunning creations from the designer in my article B for Boucheron.

Other show stoppers included the jewellery by Moussaieff worn by Michelle Yeoh.

Moussaieff is renowned for its exceptional gems, including diamonds weighing up to 100 carats for sale in their Bond Street store. The items worn by the actress did not disappoint when it comes to the wow factor. She was seen wearing a Burmese ruby and diamond bangle, diamond earrings, and Burmese pink sapphire ring to complement her pink Dior outfit. To finalise the look, she opted for a Richard Mille wristwatch. One of the most unique watches by the brand, RM27-04 Rafael Nadal, can be bought for just under £2 million on the secondary market.

If over a £1 million is simply too much to spend on a watch, why not “settle” for a beautiful Omega wristwatch, seen worn by Eddie Redmayne.

The actor is brand ambassador and does his job to perfection! The pink dial steel Omega Constellation currently retails for £2,900.

But a red carpet event would not be complete without some Bvlgari Serpenti necklaces. This was the jewellery of choice for a few actresses, such as Lashana Lynch, who very cleverly wore the seprent’s head in her back with matching earrings (currently out of stock but retailing for £29,500 and set with a little over 2 carats of diamonds). A similar necklace was sold at Sotheby’s for USD920,000 in April 2019.

Julianne Moore effortlessly wore the Bvlgari necklace, or perhaps were there two or three?

Red carpets are always a delight to discover new jewels, and ways of wearing them and pairing them  with outfits. Let there be sparkles and glitz!

Princess Catherine’s jewellery

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From Everyday Mum To Future Queen, A Jewel For Every Occasion

It all started with a proposal…

One of the most famous items of jewellery the Princess of Wales has come to possess, is the “Royal Blue” sapphire engagement ring, which belonged to her mother-in-law, the late Princess Diana. It is probably the most famous sapphire, weighing 12 carats and set within a surround of brilliant-cut diamonds.

In 1981, chosen by the then Prince Charles, for Diana, from the official royal jewellers Garrard, the sapphire ring cost £50,000. Because of the provenance and history of the ring, it has become a priceless piece of jewellery, but one could estimate its current price to be around £500,000.

The world’s most expensive sapphire to sell at auction was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on the 7th October 2015. It weighed 27.68 carats of natural Kashmir origin and made $6,702,564, $242,415 per carat.

For her wedding, Queen Elizabeth II lent the Cartier Halo Tiara to the Duchess. It was made in 1936 and comprises of 739 brilliant-cut diamonds and 149 baguette-cut diamonds, and it was purchased by King George VI (then still Duke of York) for his wife, Elizabeth (who we all know better as the Queen Mother), which she wore to a charity ball at Claridge’s in London, their first gala outing since the official ending of the lengthy court mourning period for the late King George V.

To match Catherine’s engagement ring, the Duke of Cambridge gifted a pair of sapphire and diamond cluster earrings from his mother’s personal collection. The Princess simply had them altered to be drops rather than clips.

The Princess is often seen combining her engagement ring with a classic 33mm Cartier Ballon Bleu wristwatch. Mounted in stainless steel, it is decorated with Roman numerals, fluted crown with a synthetic spinel cabochon, silvered guilloché opaline dial, blued-steel sword-shaped hands, sapphire crystal and steel bracelet. It currently retails for £5,400.

When Catherine gave birth to Prince George, Prince William gifted her the Eclipse diamond ring by Annoushka. It is set with 0.23ct total of diamonds and retails at £1,500.

She wears it in combination with her engagement ring.

For the arrival of Princess Charlotte, the then Duke of Cambridge this time choose another designer, Kiki McDonough, and gifted the Duchess a pair of green tourmaline and green amethyst drop earrings.

She was first spotted wearing these during the couple’s tour of India in 2016. Though these were made-to-order for the Princess, you can currently get a pair of similar earrings (below) from the designer for £3,700. These are green amethyst and diamond earrings, mounted in yellow gold.

The Princess owns several pieces by the designer: 18 pairs of earrings and three necklace to date.

Here are some examples:

The Princess has jewellery for every occasion, as can be expected. Her everyday jewels include the above by designer jewellers, but Catherine also favours high street jewellery, such as the below by Accesorize.

These are no longer available but can be found on eBay ranging from £48 to a whopping £96.96 (plus £10.77 for postage!).

It was rumoured that when Prince Louis was born, the Prince gave Catherine a citrine ring, but it was discovered by fans that the Princess had previously worn it in 2008 while celebrating her birthday.

The ring is beautiful and has meaning for the Princess. She was also seen wearing it for the premiere of the last James Bond film, No Time to Die, to match the golden sequinned gown by Jenny Packham.

Perhaps my favourite dress worn by the Princess.

When the Princess is not at a red carpet event or formal gala, the mother of three has been seen to wear a necklace by Spells of Love retailing for £85, suspending three medallions with the initial of each child.

Catherine also wears a Merci Maman necklace gifted to her by her sister, Pippa, after the birth of Prince George in 2014.

For more formal wear, the Princess has been seen wearing brooches, tiaras and exceptional necklaces, such as the four-row pearl chocker, created using a collection of cultured pearls gifted to the Queen by the Japanese government which Catherine wore to Prince Philip’s funeral in April, 2021. In mourning, the Royals don’t wear colour, so pearls are pure, white, and unflashy. This tradition comes from Queen Victoria, who did not want to wear any colour following the death of her husband Prince Albert.

The late Princess Diana also wore it to a state banquet in the Netherlands.

A very sombre then Duchess of Cambridge wore the historical chocker for the Queen’s funeral earlier this year.

The Princess combined the tiara worn by the late Princess Diana (above) with her engagement ring of course but also the Royal Family Order brooch, representing the late Monarch within a diamond surround.

The tiara, called the Lover’s Knot tiara, was lent to Diana as seen below, then went back to the Queen, and upon her passing, is now worn exclusively by Princess Catherine.

Several of Queen Elizabeth’s II jewels will have been passed down to the Queen Consort and several to Catherine.

Recently, the Princess wowed us with this stunning emerald and diamond choker. She stepped out at the Earthshot Prize Awards in Boston in a bright green gown by Solace London, paired with an emerald-and-diamond choker, once owned by Princess Diana. The choker itself was first owned by Queen Mary in 1911, and later presented to Diana as a wedding gift to Prince Charles in 1981.

In this year’s Christmas pictures, the Princess wears a pair of ruby and diamond cluster earrings, made by Soru in Turkey, and retail for £145.

Whatever the occasion, Princess Catherine never disappoints with her exquisite outfits and matching jewellery. And on this special occasion, I wish her a very Happy Birthday.

Meet the jewellery team – Aurélia & Jenny

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Profile – Aurélia Turrall

Jewellery Specialist

Aurélia has over 20 years’ experience in the auction industry. After graduating from King’s College London with BA Hons, she started her career in Business Development and Client Services at Christie’s and Sotheby’s Paris. She went on to obtain her Graduate Gemmologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Relocating from Paris to London, Aurélia joined the Jewellery department at Bonhams, dealing with client valuations and auction preparations.

Experience

Aurélia has a Bachelor of Arts degree from King’s College London and a Baccalaureate in Economics and Literature. She speaks English, French being her native language, and some Spanish. Aurelia has also had experience of working with specialist lenders Borro and working for SYMEV (French Association of Auctioneers) in Paris where she was Head of Communications.

About

In her spare time, Aurélia writes feature length screenplays and children books. Being able to value clients’ jewellery is what she loves to do and she has been privileged to handle some unique pieces.

Spot-light

Aurélia’s favourite piece valued was an Art Déco pigeon blood ruby and diamond three-stone ring by Cartier.

Covering

  • London, Greater London
  • East of England
  • South West, South East
  • Guernsey & Jersey

Profile – Jenny Knott

Silver & Jewellery Specialist

Jenny has been working in the Silver and Jewellery industry for over 35 years. She is a graduate of Reading University, where she gained a BA Hons in English literature. She joined Bonham’s auctioneers in Knightsbridge as a post-graduate in the silver, jewellery, clocks and watches departments, specialising in silver and jewellery. Jenny soon rose to the position of deputy head of the department.

Experience

Her career has seen her run Bonham’s highly successful Gentlemen’s sales. Jenny worked with the John Lewis Partnership for 25 years, supplying them with antique jewellery for their retail sales. She also enjoyed working with Bloomingdales in the United States for many years, supplying cufflinks and gentlemen’s accessories. Both these roles involved training their staff.

Furthermore, she worked with the Buckingham Palace team and supplied their store, lectured extensively in the UK (including lectures to NAFAS and the National Association of Jewellers) and in the States on her specialist areas. Jenny has also co-curated a cufflink exhibition with The Goldsmiths Company. She is highly experienced in insurance and probate work and continues alongside doing valuations, supplying antiques, particularly wine related items, to the Rothschild Waddesdon Trust and National Trust.

About

Jenny is very sporty and loves the outdoors. In her spare time, you’re likely to find her out and about, walking her dog, playing tennis, cycling, or skiing down a mountain.

Spot-light

Jenny’s favourite things to value are quirky or unusual antique pieces, both silver and jewellery. She also loves wonderful enamel work be it Fabergé, Scandinavian enamel or French guilloché enamelling.

Covering

  • London, Greater London
  • East of England
  • South West, South East
  • Oxfordshire & Warwickshire

Fluctuations of the market in the last few years

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As with every market, jewellery prices will inevitably fluctuate, though I can’t say I’ve seen the price of precious stones go down in the last few years. Seen as a commodity by some and as a treasure by others, it’s important to understand the cost of remaking a unique piece of jewellery. It will be dictated by global demand for diamond (or other precious stones), gold, silver, palladium and other alloy metals and stones.

High worldwide demand for palladium – due to its key importance in the development of renewable energy – inevitably increases the cost of gold – based items of jewellery. Because of its softness, gold used in jewellery is mixed with alloys. Alloys are other metals, such as zinc, copper, nickel, iron, cadmium, aluminium, silver, platinum and palladium. This mix then alters its appearance, hardness and melting point. Palladium is a chosen favourite as an alloy metal. At today’s value, the scrap value for palladium is £41/gram compared to £21.50/gram for platinum, which then impacts gold jewellery pieces.

As an example, this 9ct gold gate bracelet with heart locket was estimated £70-£100 by Bonhams in 2005. Today’s estimate would most likely be £200-£300.

Designer pieces with diamonds are affected in a similar manner.

This diamond and gold bracelet by Kutchinsky (above) sold at Bonhams for £1,553 (including premium) in 2005.

A similar item by the same designer (below) sold for £2,550 (including premium) in 2019.

For insurance purpose, the above bracelet would receive a value of £8,000 as at 2022.

Coloured stones have also seen an increase in price.

This emerald and diamond cluster ring is set with an emerald weighing approximately 5.20 carats and approximately 1.15 carats of diamonds. It was previously valued at £42,000 in 2011 for insurance purpose. Eleven years on, it is now valued at £65,000.

One could try to apply generic inflation percentages as a tool to update valuations, however this is incorrect and will often lead to your jewellery being under or overvalued. In the case of the above ring, a formula trying to reflect inflation would be detrimental to the value of the ring.

Valuing jewellery should always be case by case, as some signed vintage pieces will increase over the years, but not at the same rate as precious gemstones for example. The market for an Art Déco Cartier wristwatch (as below), though rare, has a smaller market of potential buyers and sellers. Comparatively to coloured stones, the value for this wristwatch will never exceed a certain plateau. This watch currently retails for £35,000.

A similar wristwatch by Cartier (below) sold at Bonhams in 2017 for £16,250 (including premium) and would have most likely received an insurance value of £23,000.

Diamonds on the other hand continue to escalate at a steady pace.

These diamonds earstuds (above) are 4.01 carats and 4.04 carats respectively. They were valued for insurance purposes at £300,000 in 2012 and are now valued at £360,000.

The same applies to contemporary signed pieces such as the Alhambra collection by Van Cleef & Arpels.

The mother-of-pearl Alhambra necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels was sold for £9,950 less than ten years ago and now retails for £15,800. A steady increase reflecting world demand for durable contemporary and elegant jewellery by a reputable designer.

The jewellery market is not exempt from worldwide affairs and economic changes, but it will always have an added unquantifiable value: emotional value. Jewellery can be seen as an investment, but it still predominantly remains a purchase of pleasure and luxury, whichever gem or metal one chooses and whatever happens in the world.

Hocus pocus… Focus on… Amber

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To kick off this mini series of Halloween gems, amber is the chosen first. What could be more spooky than trapped insect containing deadly bacteria…

Prized for its deep rich and warm orange hue, amber is an organic gem, meaning that it is created from living or once living organism, it is fossilized tree resin dating tens of millions of years. It is composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Nicknamed “the gold of the North”, it is most commonly found on Northern Europe’s beaches, washed away with the ocean tides. It can also be dug from the ground and deposits have also been found in the Dominican Republic, Myanmar (Burma) and Mexico.

There is a distinction to be made between amber and copal amber. The latter refers to amber which fossilized less than a million years ago. But who’s counting!! It is also fossilized tree resin and is formed in the same manner. One cannot differentiate between the two using a magnifying glass, but rather by using “granny’s old tricks”. Some say that rubbing copal amber on the heel of your hand will emit a smell, others suggest a drop of acetone or even gasoline to determine copal from mature amber: amber is unaffected by acetone whereas copal softens the material. Either way, probably best to avoid doing at home and damaging one’s precious jewel!

Like with all gems, it takes very specific conditions to create amber. It takes a few million years for resin to harden. Once it has hardened it lays under sediment in an oxygen-free environment. It turns to copal amber. It then takes a few more million years to become more stable with the effects of heat and pressure applied to the copal amber to become amber. Research shows that the deposits found in the Baltic and Dominican Republic came from extended immersion under seawater.

Because of its relative softness – rating at 2/2.5 on the Mohs scale (talc powder rates at 1) – it is not commonly cut with facets, but rather polished into beads or free-form pieces.

Jewellery made of amber tend to be big pieces. The reason for it being the lightness of this gem, making it a perfect candidate to wear around one’s neck without feeling weighed down.

The most prized amber pieces are typically transparent, dark reddish hue. However, amber also comes in white and treatments to enhance colour can modify its appearance totally. Heat treatment and dying are commonly used to enhance amber and one distinct mark to look for are sun spangles. Heating amber can cause fracture-like marks: sun spangles.

Amber is a treasured gem because of the secrets they can unveil. The insects, fauna and animals they have sometimes captured tell a tale.

Inclusions play a huge part in the final value of amber but often if the inclusion is perfect, then it probably is too perfect to be real.

It can be extremely difficult to trust authentic amber with inclusions, such as this piece for sale on eBay for $129,000:

And this perfectly preserved scorpion, also on for sale at eBay for £4.90! :

When in doubt and spending a large amount, always ask for a report from a reputable laboratory.

Man-made or real, amber with insect inclusions make the perfect jewellery piece for trick or treating!

Hocus pocus… Focus on… Skull Jewellery

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Skull jewellery and gemstones

Skulls. Usually not what comes to mind when talking about jewellery design and carved gems. However, skull jewels, and especially rings, have had a long tradition of being part of one’s collection.

The appeal may not be so obvious but it is one that continues to be popular throughout times.

Why a skull? It acts as a reminder. That life is not forever and days are counted. That one should live every day to the fullest, carpe diem. And what’s not to love about that message? Embracing one’s life and accepting your fate, not always fighting against the things we cannot control.

In more recent years, Theo Fennell is recognised as one of the top fashion jewellers to use this symbol of life and has used all sorts of gemstones in his creations to amplify his creations.

If rings are not your go to jewellery item this Halloween, then perhaps a pendant necklace by the same designer could be an option.

Halloween calls for creativity, so this year, why not trade in the pumpkin for a carved gem skull? Sure to get your neighbours quivering in their boots and make a bold statement.

There are a multitude of options. In keeping with the orange theme of the pumpkin, a citrine skull could be an option.

Quartz, which citrine is a variety of, has a hardness of 7/7.5 on the Mohs scale and makes it a good candidate to get sharp edges to carve the teeth and a pointy nose.

It can also come other colours such as purple amethyst:

Or even blue:

A wide variety of options is available on the market, including at specialized auctions.

Bonhams sold this lot in Los Angeles in 2017 for $1,187 incl premium. It includes an amethyst obelisk decorated with twenty carved skulls, Height 11in; a sculpture comprising three skulls with a butterfly, carved of boulder opal from Queensland, Australia, length 5 1/2 in; together with a Mexican black obsidian carving of a skull with owl perched, height 6 1/2 in.

But possibly the most “out of this world” carved skull must be a sculpture sold in 2015 at Bonhams in Los Angeles, carved out of meteorite, making it the largest Gibeon meteorite carving in the world.

Gibeon meteorites are iron-based and “originated billions of years ago from unstable planet that existed briefly between Jupiter and Mars.

When the planet broke apart, a section of its core travelled through space for four billion years.” It penetrated the Earth’s atmosphere about 1,000 years ago and landed in Namibia.

This particular 21kgs life-sized carving, nicknamed Yorick, was created from a 280kgs meteorite. It is one of the rarest forms of meteorite.

The choice is vast for Halloween decorations whether for the house or fashionwear. All one needs to do now is pick the right outfit for a night of trick or treating…

Ametrine

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Ametrine is a form of quartz. It combines both the purple amethyst and the yellow citrine all into one stone, making it somewhat of a unique specimen. To add to this uniqueness, commercial ametrine is only found in Bolivia, and more precisely in the mine of Anahi.

What do we mean by commercial? Stones that are of a particular quality that can be cut and set into jewellery.

 

The mine was named after a legendary princess of the 1600s who married a Spanish conquistador and was given the mine as dowry. The mine located in a very remote area of Bolivia, was lost for centuries. Research shows that the mine was only rediscovered in the mid-50s, only accessible by plane and small boats.

Ametrine displays the same properties as amethystand citrine. Ametrine rates a 7/10 on the Mohs scale. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness was created by Friedrich Mohs in 1822 and determines the scratch resistance of minerals when scratches by another mineral.

The Mohs scale is used to manufacture everyday objects: your mobile phone’s screen glass is made of a material that scratches at level 6, some at level 7. Ametrine therefore has good toughness and is suitable to be set in jewellery, such as this sapphire and ametrine torsade necklace which sold at auction for $408 (pictured below).

It can be noticed that ametrine is most commonly found in jewellery as a rectangular-cut stone. This cut displays the bi-colour property of the gem, exposing both colours at its best, with the clear demarcation between the yellow and the purple. The most prized ametrine will display fine transparency, a good contrast of colours and an equal balance between the two colours. Though it rates rather high on the Mohs scale, its colour can fade if exposed for long periods of time to too much bright light. If ametrine is worn in jewellery, its wearer should be aware of its possibility to scratch and chip if not cared for properly.

How would one care for its ametrine-set jewels? The best and safest way to clean your jewellery is with good old fashion soap and warm water and not exposing it to high heat. It is preferable not to place the gem in an ultrasonic in case the stone or others in the piece of jewellery have been dyed or fracture filled (the machine’s vibrations will remove the modifications).

Because of its extraordinary features, ametrine is often carved into fantasy-cuts.

An ametrine carving of rooster by Gerd Dreher sold at auction for $12,575. Dreher is a German animal figure carver, the fourth generation of Dr eher in this line of activity. He was born in 1943 in Idar- Oberstein, one of the most important gemstone centres in the world with the finest lapidaries and gem cutters.

This gem-set obelisk / jewellery box by Manfred Wild (pictured top right) remained unsold at $200,000- 250,000. Wild aas born in 1944 in Kirshvayler near Idar-Oberstein. He is the eighth representative of the family dynasty that has been engaged in lapidary art since 1630. Manfred Wild is sometimes called “The 21st century Fabergé”.

Ametrine is used in a wide range of carvings for its intriguing features. It is not uncommon to see jewels set with ametrine but it seems to be slightly underappreciated for what it is: an exceptional wonder of nature who combines two stones into one giving it a delightful play with colours.

I For Iolite

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Iolite is the gemstone variety of cordierite, a magnesium, iron, aluminium and cyclosilicate mineral named after the French geologist Pierre Cordier (1777 – 1861) – founder of the French Geological Society.

As with some other blue gemstones, iolite is known for its pleochroic properties giving it that extra sparkle. Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon in which a substance has different colours when observed at different angles, especially with polarized light.

Iolite occurs in several areas of Africa, including Kenya and central Tanzania. In fact, when Tanzanite was first discovered, geologists thought it was corderite.

Other iolite source countries include India, Brazil, Norway and a large deposit found in 1994 in Madagascar.

The name iolite comes from the Greek word ios, meaning “violet”. It is said that iolite slices were used by Viking navigators to locate the sun on cloudy days, used as some form of compass.

The gem rates at 7 to 7.5/10 on the Mohs hardness scale. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness was created by Friedrich Mohs in 1822 and determines the scratch resistance of minerals when scratches by another mineral.

The Mohs scale is used to manufacture everyday objects: your mobile phone’s screen glass is made of a material that scratches at level 6, some at level 7.

Even though iolite scores rather high on the Mohs scale, it has strong cleavage in one direction, giving it only a fair toughness. Cleavage, caused by weak atomic bonds, is the weakest plane in a gemstone where the gemstone can split.

For this reason, jewellers are a little reluctant to use the gem in jewellery, specially any hard-wearing jewel such as rings for example.

The gem’s most sought after colours are violetish blue to fine blue. But iolite can appear to be greyish, even transparent, or golden and even brown. Depending on where the light hits, differentcolours will show. For this reason, iolite can be confused with colour change sapphires.

Vivid violetish iolites over 5 carats are rare and cannot be treated in the same way as corundum (sapphires) can be. Unlike sapphires, iolite’s chemical composition won’t allow it to be heat treated to intensify its colour. The gem would simply melt at such high temperatures.

Iolite is more often than not faceted, bringing out its unique transparency, free of inclusions.

But it also is a popular choice for cabochons.

In some iolites, a phenomenon called cat’s eye can sometimes be observed. This effect comes out at its best when the gem is cut as a cabochon.

The cat’s eye effect is caused by long, parallel, tubular inclusions. It can also be found in other gems such as sapphire and chrysoberyl.

Though iolite is hardly ever treated, making it a very appealing affordable blue-gem alternative, due to its relative hardness and lack of consistent fine quality supply, it is not found in as many workshops as tanzanites for example. However, iolite is also cut as beads and strung to make beautiful colourful
necklaces.

A wonderful twenty-first wedding anniversary gift…