Hestia tiara features in State Opening of Parliament

We don’t normally pay much attention to the State Opening of Parliament, but yesterday’s ceremonials were a bit special to us, and not just because we have a shiny new coalition government in place in the UK for the first time in anyone’s memory.

Some months ago we had an enquiry about our stunning Hestia tiara (below), but not for a wedding: our customer was interested in hiring the tiara for the State Opening of Parliament, on a date yet to be set (this was before the UK election was called).

And so it came to pass: our tiara was perched atop an aristocratic head during the Queen’s Speech in the House of Lords in Parliament here in London, and we’re told that it got lots of appreciative comments from all sides.

Of course it also gave us an excuse to watch ‘The Gracious Speech’ (as it’s known) and we couldn’t help but notice that our precious tiara was jostling for attention, and, well yes perhaps we must concede that it was being upstaged somewhat by the crown that the Queen was wearing.

So we did what all loyal UK subjects should do in such circumstances: we didn’t really listen to what Her Majesty was saying about the important legislative plans for Her Government, we started doing a bit of research into what she was wearing.

And here’s what we discovered: for the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears the Imperial State Crown (below).

The crown is adorned with over 3000 gems, mostly diamonds, but also rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls.

Others will highlight the ‘Black Prince Ruby’, the ‘Stuart Sapphire’, or the ‘St. Edward’s Sapphire’.

But we reckon that the main event is the Cullinan II diamond which sits on the front of the crown and weighs in at 317.4 carats.

The Cullinan II diamond is sometimes called the Lesser Star of Africa. It’s the second biggest polished diamond cut from the world’s largest gem quality rough diamond ever discovered, the 3,106.75 carat Cullinan Diamond from the Premier Mine (later called the Cullinan Mine) in South Africa, unearthed in 1905.

Which is all very impressive of course, but the Imperial State Crown makes regular appearances in Parliament so it’s not much of a story in its own right.

So please forgive us if we dwell on the debut appearance of our Hestia tiara in such a historical setting.

We got quite a thrill to see our relatively humble jewels rubbing shoulders with our shiny new Prime Minister, Her Majesty the Queen, the Imperial State Crown, and the Cullinan II diamond — absolute royalty in the world of jewels, and pretty good company for Diamondthrills to be keeping!

If you would like to experience the thrill of being adorned by our magnificent Hestia tiara at your wedding or special event, then please get in touch and we’ll make it available to you — provided that it’s not already booked out for any more state occasions, of course.

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk

Would you tell people you've hired the diamonds you're wearing?

Well, would you? This question occasionally comes up as we chat to our customers, and we hear a range of responses.

Just last week we asked a customer about this because his wife wore a diamond necklace with matching earrings (pictured, right) to a family wedding.

Now the retail cost of this jewellery would be around £12,500 – probably rather more from a fancy Bond Street boutique – and our customer told us that their fellow wedding guests admired the diamond jewellery and asked about it.

So did they tell those admirers that they didn’t own the jewellery, but that they had hired it for the evening?

No: they said that the jewellery was a ‘gift’ and left it at that.

Well we want people to enjoy wearing our diamonds on special occasions such as weddings, so whether they come clean about the fact that the jewellery is not theirs is – to us – quite immaterial.

For us it’s about the experience of the moment – the evening, the wedding, the party – rather than the commitment of ownership or the symbolism of a gift of love.

They say that ‘A diamond is forever’ – well, of course, it will last forever, but you’ll only get to wear that diamond for a tiny fraction of eternity, and frankly, an evening or a weekend is not so very different to a human lifetime when set against the geological, eternal, forever-ness of a diamond.

Anyway, it got us thinking…

When we first had the idea for Diamondthrills a couple of years ago, we did worry that renting diamond jewellery would be a bit infra dig [from the Latin infra dignitatem, literally - 'beneath (one's) dignity'].

And that therefore people might not want to do it, or if they did, to not talk about it, in much the same way that a chap might go to a smart black tie function but would be reluctant to admit that he had hired the dinner jacket he’s wearing.

But as we did more research and talked to more women, and especially as the gathering storm of the recession set in, it became clear that for many people the idea of hiring jewellery would be seen as smart and savvy, a clever way to accessorise with stunning diamond jewellery for a special occasion, but without the high cost and commitment of ownership.

So, far from clamming up and not wanting to talk about it, we found that lots of women would actually boast about how clever they were being by hiring diamond jewellery!

Well, that’s music to our ears, of course.

And for those – like our customer last week – who don’t want to broadcast the fact that those diamonds they’re wearing are on loan, well that’s fine too. Your secret is safe with us.

What about you? Would you tell people that the sparkling diamonds you’re wearing have been rented for the occasion?

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk

Our Flora diamond necklace makes its TV debut

Our lovely Flora daisy-chain necklace made a TV appearance yesterday, on ITV's This Morning programme.

They called us a few days ago to ask whether they could borrow some of our diamonds for a feature that they were planning on renting designer goods.

Of course we were very pleased to be able to help out, and so we trotted up to ITV's studios on London's South Bank with a couple of pieces: the Flora daisy-chain diamond necklace (pictured below) and our stunning Aphrodite diamond bangle.

They decided to use the Flora diamond necklace, and the feature also included designer dresses, handbags, and shoes - all available to hire.

Jason Gardiner introduced models wearing designer dresses that can be hired, plus handbags and shoes, and then our diamond necklace made its debut TV appearance.

Jason stumbled over our name a bit but we'll forgive him that. Holly Willoughby was heard to gasp when the necklace appeared, whilst Phillip Schofield looked like he was happy to leave the fashion tips to Jason and Holly.

Jason had this to say about Diamondthrills, "They mainly do bridal wear because it's just diamonds, so it's ideal for Something Borrowed!"

You can watch the whole segment - which they called 'Celebrity Style for Less' - on the ITV website here; our diamonds appear in the last minute of the 6 minute clip.

Flora daisy chain necklace, as seen on ITV's This Morning programme

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk

With diamonds, size is important, right?

We hear often that someone's been told they 'must' get a diamond that's at least 1 carat (or whatever...) but how about going to the opposite end of the scale?

Well that's what a diamond cutter in India set out to do recently by cutting & polishing the world's smallest diamond.

Surat-based Bhavani Gems have unveiled a diamond that weighs just 0.0003 carats, or 0.00006 grams. They've called it the Bhavani Mikro diamond.

One can imagine an unveiling ceremony: a stage with a plinth illuminated by brilliant lighting... dramatic music... and then the curtain is lifted to reveal... well, nothing really. Or nothing very visible, anyway.

For this diamond is about the size of a grain of sand, and yet it has been cut with the same number of facets - 57 - that you'd see on a conventional 'round brilliant' diamond of 1 carat or 100 carats.

The diamond has even been certified by the IGI (International Gemological Institute) - a neat self-promotional trick by them. Diamond grading laboratories usually certify diamonds starting at around 0.20-0.30 carats.

In my previous life at De Beers I had the pleasure and privilege of visiting a number of Bhavani Gems' diamond cutting factories - I actually did a tour of northern Gujarat with their charming founder and CEO Manjibhai Dholakia some years ago - and can vouch for their amazing skills in cutting really small diamonds.

Normally diamonds don't come much smaller than around '1 point' (one hundredth of a carat), but the Swiss watch industry and some other jewellers use diamonds of around 0.002 to 0.005 carats (when they get this small they are referred to as 500 per carat or 200 per carat).

Using the same terminology, this diamond is an incredible 3333 per carat - meaning that you'd need 3333 of them to make up a 1 carat diamond ring!

Rather than producing thousands of such small diamonds to set into diamond rings, I expect that this is a bit of a one-off exercise, designed to showcase the expertise of Bhavani Gems in cutting very small diamonds for the diamond watch industry.

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk

Venus diamond necklace helps romance a marriage proposal

At Diamondthrills we’re getting used to receiving enquiries from brides about hiring diamond jewellery for their wedding.

But back in January we had a rather different request.

Matt contacted us from Devon asking us about renting our stunning Venus zigzag diamond necklace (below) for a special weekend that he was planning for his girlfriend, Sian.

Venus 'zigzag' diamond necklace

Matt was putting together the perfect weekend: hire car, fancy hotel with a 4-poster bed and jacuzzi, romantic dinner… It was Sian’s birthday, and with an impressive appreciation of style Matt had even picked out a dress for Sian to wear and wanted to adorn her in dazzling diamonds for a very special occasion.

For not only was it Sian’s birthday, but Matt had another motive for spoiling her rotten over the weekend: he was planning to propose to her!

He swore us to secrecy and made us promise that we wouldn’t ring his home number or expose his elaborate plan in any way.

Matt told us, “I just wanted to blow her mind and make the weekend absolutely unforgettable.”

And so last weekend we shipped the diamond necklace to Matt’s address in Devon, and he and Sian headed off to an upmarket hotel in Dorset for the weekend.

Afterwards, we asked Matt and Sian how the weekend had gone.

Sian’s reaction was just the sort of thing that we love to hear at Diamondthrills:

“Gobsmacked when presented with it. Wow. Cried. Felt blinged up, especially with the ring which was given shortly afterwards (which matched). Didn’t want to give it back. Happy to wear it the whole time. Other peoples reaction – jaw dropping. Felt ladylike especially with the dress on.”

And Matt added, “A friend at work says I had set a new precedent for proposing“.

Well, we certainly hope so.

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk