The Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co. and American Gem Society (AGS) have announced a long-term partnership that is the first of its kind for both the organizations.

An exclusive insurance endorsement from the AGS is provided in the partnership to the Jewelers Mutual.Jewelers Mutual, in turn, will serve as presenting sponsor of the AGS Conclave, the premier educational event for the jewelry industry.The sponsorship ensures ongoing support for the event beginning with the 2009 Conclave, to be conducted in Chicago from April 1-4.

AGS members too gets lots of oppurtunities through this partnership.Society members can order Jewelers Mutual supplies for free, and with no shipping fees, to make the company's Personal Jewelry Insurance program available to their customers.Member retail jewelers,even those not yet insured through Jewelers Mutual can take JM University courses at no cost.

Patti Geolat, Jewelers Mutual board chair, interim president and CEO, said in a media release that "Jewelers Mutual is so excited about this opportunity to partner with such an important industry association that shares our mission and values.This is a unique arrangement for both of our organizations, and we look forward to aligning our efforts to continue providing superior service to the jewelry industry."

A press conference is being held at the AGTA GemFair in Tucson, Ariz. The press conference will be held at the AGS booth, No. 17, on Feb. 6 at 12:00 p.m.

For more information, contact the AGS' Ruth Batson at rbatson@ags.orgor (866) 805-6500 ext. 1007, or Jewelers Mutual's Patrick Drummond at pdrummon@jminsure.com or (800) 558-6411.

Obama's Watch

The First Lady Michelle Obama is the new style icon for the fashion industry and it has already created news, but now its time for the leader himself. What does the most powerful man in the world wears on his hand. Its time for the watch industry to eye the timepieces that Obama and his second in command puts on every morning.

While a formal dress code was established by the former President Bush who required his staffers to wear business suits while on the clock. President Barack Obama is already making news for cultivating a less-formal, rolled-up shirtsleeves environment at the White House.But Obama's latest choice of timepiece is not just formal, it's government-issued, with a Secret Service seal on it.

Back in 2007, when Obama was still a U.S. senator, Secret Service agents gave him the black-dial chronograph watch as a gift for his 46th birthday.He subsequently wore same watch for the inauguration and for the signing of his first act as president.The gift came from the Secret Service employees' store at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., according to a report in The Times of London.

Seeing the Obama's popularity the manufacturers "Jorg Gray" has come up with the Obama watch--without the Secret Service shield.Though the Secret Service employees store is not open to the public the watch can be purchased from the manufacturer, Jorg Gray. It is called the JGC6500 Chronograph and its retail prices for $325, the paper said.

Obama wore a TAG Heuer Series 1500 Two-Tone Diver's Watch.The news was conformed by TAG Heuer as recently as 2007.

Recently in a press release, Omega has laid claim to having Vice President Joe Biden as a fan. The new second-in-command leader "completes his stately look with a classic Omega timepiece." Specifically, Biden wears a stainless steel Omega Seamaster 300m timepiece, which features a precision quartz movement and is water resistant down to 1,000 feet. The suggested retail on the watch is $2,080.

Green Jewelry's first lecture which was held in August was a big success.Seeing the popularity the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts has scheduled another session for March 7.

As the consumers today are demanding more of ethically sourced materials the academy developed the one-day class to meet the changing need of the jewelry industry.

The main focus of the class will be on the source from where metals and gemstones come from, about "green" suppliers and the ways to implement the tactics to promote healthy mining practices.

The participants will also learn how to respond to customer's questions about the sourcing and sustainability of materials.

The major points to be covered in the class are  gold testing, ingot making, safe and eco-friendly studio practices, future green-business certification and many more.

Gary Rowe, a jewelry businessman from Arkansas who took the Green Jewelry class last August, said: "Everyone in our industry needs to make sure our processes and procedures are ethical and safe. I had actively sought scientific information, specific to the jewelry industry without success. The class at Revere provided me with what I needed, plus numerous resources in a succinct, one-day format."

The timings and the registration fee are from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., costs $129, with $50 of the fee going to Ethical Metalsmiths (EthicalMetalsmiths.org). To register, visit Revere Academy's Web site, RevereAcademy.com.

De Beers are coming up with strategies like Selling rough diamonds to companies that are not sightholders and continuing to market the enduring value of diamonds to weather the current economic crisis.These are just two among the other strategies De Beer is employing to fight the current crisis.

DTC Managing Director Varda Shine said the substantial decrease in sightholder demand for rough diamonds has the DTC anticipating a 50 percent reduction in its offerings for January, February and March/April. She said this at the Diamond Trading Co.'s (DTC) annual Client Reception for sightholders, held in London on Jan. 20.

"The DTC is exploring options for bringing surplus goods to the market once very avenue of sightholder demand has been satisfied," Shine said, according to an online transcript of her speech.

The DTC is searching for other ways to sell rough diamond looking at the decrease in demand which also includes making rough available to the secondary market goods that are not absorbed by the sightholders.

In a statement released on Thursday, World Federation of Diamond Bourses President Avi Paz applauded this decision, noting that the diamond trade will be better equipped to deal with the diamond crisis if small and medium-sized companies have access to rough at "fair and current market prices."

Paz also said, "If the DTC's new approach pans out, as we hope it does, it could bring some much-needed relief to the secondary market.We welcome the DTC's decision not only because it will be good for the industry, but also because it recognizes the stabilizing role of the thousands of dealers and manufacturers who are not sightholders."

In her speech, Shine also said the DTC would continue to actively promote the equity of diamonds through the marketing campaign launched shortly before the 2008 holiday season that stressed the enduring value of the stones.

"We will continue to drive demand by investing in the highly regarded generic marketing campaign in the U.S. that highlights the enduring value of diamonds," Shine said.

On Thursday, DTC spokeswoman Lynnette Gould told National Jeweler that more details about the continuation of this campaign would be revealed at the February sight, scheduled for the week of Feb. 23.

The annual DTC Client Reception was hosted by Shine and attended by De Beers Group Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer and De Beers Group Managing Director Gareth Penny. The event provides sightholders with an opportunity to discuss the year ahead.

Two seminars are conducted by The Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) at the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) GemFair Tucson, scheduled for Feb. 4-9 at the Tucson Convention Center in Arizona.

The topics would be "The Basics of Memo Transactions--The Do's and Don'ts of Trading on Memo," and
"Burma and Beyond--Operating Your Business in Today's New Regulatory Environment" respectively.

The first topic is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. in the Cochise Room and the latter at 11:00 a.m., in the Mohave Room.

The basic idea is to outline the important points included in the JVC's new guide, "The Essential Guide to 'Memo' Transactions."

Topics will include reviewing consignment agreements, how to protect your business in the event of a bankruptcy and the steps to take to check credit worthiness.JVC will present these topics in association with AGTA Chief Executive Officer Douglas Hucker, this seminar will provide up-to-the-minute information on the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act.
The act which was signed into law in July, prohibits the importation of rubies and jadeite from Burma.

Written materials containing updated information about the act will be available and an international trade specialist from U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be present to answer questions.

Registration is not required for these seminars however space is limited, so the JVC requests those who are interested to arrive on time.

For questions, contact AGTA's Adam Graham at adam@agta.org or the JVC's Amy Greenbaum at amy@jvclegal.org.

Its a good week for the jewellers who were waiting for some sort of standard guidance on colored diamonds,as The Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) and the Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA) have released "The Essential Guide to the U.S. Trade in Color Diamonds," this week.

There are many queries from the industry about the laws governing the manufacture, sales and marketing of colored diamonds,so this guide is in response to these queries providing people with full fledged information on colored diamonds.This guide is excellent in providing FAQs regarding colored diamonds and also guiding us on when the diamond treatments must be disclosed.It has perfect overview of geology of natural-color diamonds, simplified nomenclature to describe "natural," "synthetic" and "simulated," and a description of treatments used to alter the color of the stones.

Cecilia L. Gardner, JVC's president, CEO and general counsel of the guide said, "Natural color diamonds are often imitated as they are found very rare hence very expensive,consequently giving manufacturers no option but to develop new technologies to create synthetic and imitations.The guide contains very informative guidelines on various treatment procedures like if a diamond requires special care or treatment significantly affects the value of the gemstone.It explains the information that jewelers need to disclose if a diamond has been treated, if the treatment is not permanent."

Robert May, NCDIA executive director, said to maintain consumer trust in the diamond industry and to protect the pre-eminent position of natural-color diamonds legal compliance is necessary.

May also said " the guide is very simple to understand,explains laws  requires honest and timely disclosure for all diamonds.the consequences of a technological treatment that began this morning or legal compliance and proper disclosure is imperative when a color diamond might be the result of geological processes that began millions of years ago.so This guide is an  essential tool for sales associates or anyone communicating with consumers about color diamonds."

The new proposal of New York Governor, David Paterson, for the state budget comes as a disappointment to most of the luxury good buyers. He proposed a $21.1 billion budget, thus increasing 5% sales tax on luxury goods that cost above $20,000 which would also include Jewelry.

The purchases of aircraft's which costs more than $500,000; yachts that cost $200,000 or even cars that cost $60,000 would be highly effected and the sales would go down. The proposal comes about to fill the $ 15.4 billion deficit over two years which does not only include a tax increase, but also involves job layoffs and reduction in school aids. This is in effect for 2009-2010 fiscal year budget.

On one hand where we see the increase in taxes, the other side also sees that sales tax has been exempted on clothing and footwear that cost less than $110. This comes as a good Christmas news for the general public. In addition to this, there will also be a twice a year tax holiday during which any clothing or footwear under the cost $500 would not be subjected to sales tax.

Paterson remarked in his morning presentation "In his inaugural address, President Franklin Roosevelt told a nation in the grips of the Great Depression that now is 'the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly,'"Today, we, too, cannot shrink from the challenges ahead". He said this budget presentation is in view to deal with the historical financial crisis of New york.

Pearls are the most elegant when it comes to jewelry selection. People with sophisticated life styles prefer wearing pearl jewelry rather than stone jewelry that’s because the color of pearl that is white indicates sophistication. Women love pearls for its beautiful look and usually working women love wearing them because of it stylish yet elegant look.

How real pearls are made:

The main source of mother of pearl is pearl oyster found in warm and tropical seas. It is mainly found in rivers of United States, Europe and Asia. Mother of pearl that is Nacre is a composite material produced by mollusks. Mollusks are animals belonging to phylum Mollusc. Mollusc blood is rich in dissolved calcium .This calcium is deposited as calcium carbonate during shell deposition and layers of calcium carbonate is deposited into the inner layer of the shell where it hardens over a period of time and then we get the precious pearls.

Types of Pearls:

Fresh water pearls are found in Lakes, River, ponds which come from freshwater mussels. They are usually irregular in shapes but can be found in round shapes.

Salty water pearls are found Oceans, Seas etc and they come from salt water oysters. They again are irregular in shape and also perfect round shapes.

They are other type of pearls that come from Snails.

Pearls come in different beautiful colors like White, Black, Lavender, Pink, and Peach.
Authentication of pearl:

There are different methods that can help us find the difference between real and fake pearl.

1. When we rub two real pearls with one another than we feel friction between them and if there wouldn’t be any damage to the real pearls and if there was any scratch on the real pearl than rubbing them would disappear that scratch and the pearl would look as if nothing ever happened to it.

Where as if we rub two fake pearls than we would see that the pearl would loose its color and end up having scratch on it.

2. When we burn a real pearl than nothing really happens to it because real pearl is fire resistant and if we  find burn mark on it just clean it with a cloth or hand than you see the shiny pearl underneath.

Where as if we burn a fake pearl than it would surely melt a little and we can find its authentication.

3. When we don’t have two pearls to rub with each other than we can test a single pearl by rubbing it gently against top incisor (tooth). Rubbing real pearl creates little friction where as fake pearl will feel smooth over your tooth.

Well all the above tricks really work well when a seller allows you to test it or shows himself.  But finally no one would like to spend their precious money just for a fake pearl rather than a real pearl. So be brave and ask for the test or leave that seller and try another seller.

Finally if one is thinking of gifting something to their moms, aunties, grandma and friends than pearls would be the perfect gift.

Check out our Stores for Sparkling Pearl Jewelry

Gold has always been the safest investment in the history of financial dealings. With the recent financial crisis, many people are opting to rather invest their money in gold, than in any other investment.

The logic is pretty simple. Gold always retains its value, irrespective of whether the world around it is financially high or low. Just have a glance over the chart of Gold prices and how it faired this year. It started at $840 an ounce in Jan 08. The speculators were predicting a quick increase in oil prices, predicting as high as $200 a barrel. Amidst this speculations, Gold shot up to $1012 an ounce in March 08.

Gold prices kept on jumping back and forth all through the early months of this year. Although, more or less, it played between the range of $840 an ounce and $950 an ounce.

So that is approximately 19% increase. Later it dropped from march to September, tumbling down by 25%. Then it rebound back by 20%, then again declined by 18%, then increased again. Finally it closed out in october at $730 an ounce. On the face of it, gold seems to be in red if you see the year to date prices.

The catch here is that you can make good money and profits if you go in and out of Gold fluctuations properly. Gold regains its value immediately after it falls down. Many big investors play around with these fluctuating gold prices and make millions of dollars.

So final conclusion would be, invest in Gold and you will be happy. Go for Gold Jewelry this holiday season, instead of investing in any other plans.

You can check our stores for some good gold Jewelries.