Jewelry Headlines: February Stories

February is a month of love, Oscars, and incidentally some crazy jewelry stories.

Oscar Fever

• This year, Lupita Nyong’o makes Oscar news for the wrong reason. The gown she wore at this year’s gala was encrusted with 6000 white pearls that people believed were genuine Akoya pearls. A few days after, the gown was stolen from her hotel room. While the manhunt for the burglar was on, he/she returned it reporting that the pearls are fake!
• This year’s Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris apparently changed five watches during the course of the evening!

This Swim Champ’s Fiancé is a Real Gem

Michael Phelps got engaged to a former beauty pageant winner, Nicole Johnson, who also happens to hold a professional certificate in jewelry from GIA.

An Amethyst to Life Up spirits

His mom gave him a rock with amethyst crystals that (he believed) had special powers. This 12 year old believed that when he held it, it rid him of sadness and fear. At a jeweler’s store after his mother’s untimely passing away, the store manager could not ignore the sad little boy clutching the crystal. Hearing the story, the jeweler agreed to convert that stone into a necklace for the boy, at no charge.

Once Upon a Time, These Crown Jewels Cleaned Drains 

An upcoming science fair in the UK, will showcase replicas of the Crown Jewels. Now what’s crazy about it, you may ask. Just that scientists took drain cleaners and other household products, subjected them to high heat and voila…created synthetic crystals of spinel, corundum and so forth. These crystals were cut and set in jewelry casings like their precious gemstone counterparts!

The Stew with the Extra Crunch

A Massachusetts policeman diner discovered something extra crunchy in his seafood stew. What he found was a 6.22 carat purple pearl. This rare pearl is expected to fetch $15,000 at an auction.

Now Jewels Have a New Spot to Deck Up

Models walked the ramp at the Rodarte spring fashion show wearing thin lines of crystals beneath their eyes. Fashion pundits bemusedly wonder if under-lash jewelry can become a real trend for 2015.

This Boxing Champ Loves to Splurge on Jewelry

Remember how boxing champ Floyd Mayweather went jewelry shopping in Dec ’14 and spent a quarter of a million dollars? He did it again in February ’15, spending $685,000 on more than a dozen jewelry items in a New York jewelry store.

Drone Delivered Engagement Ring

When rock singer, Wang Feng proposed to actress Zhang Ziyi, a London jeweler got the 9.15 carat diamond engagement ring delivered by a drone.