Fourteen months ago, the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) and Jewelers of America (JA) announced that spinel — the great imposter — would be joining peridot as an official birthstone for the month of August. It was only the third time in the past 105 years that the modern birthstone list had been amended. The […]
Imagine walking barefoot on a blanket of sparkling green sand that owes its astounding color to olivine crystals eroded from an ancient volcanic formation and delivered to the shore by ocean waves. Mahana Beach on Hawaii’s Papakolea coast is one of only three green sand beaches in the world. The beach sand on the Big […]
An ultra-rare, 2.11-carat, fancy red diamond known as the Argyle Everglow headlines the 2017 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender – an annual showcase of the rarest diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Western Australia. The Argyle Everglow, which earned a grade of fancy red VS2 from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), is the largest […]
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you hit songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we feature superstar Tim McGraw singing Billboard's #1 country hit of 1998, "Just to See You Smile." In this song about selflessness, unconditional love and heartbreak, McGraw portrays a hard-working Texas miner who […]
So, you thought finding a needle in a haystack was tough. How about finding a diamond engagement ring at the bottom of a cascading — and very cold — waterfall? That was the challenge for Maine resident Evan Nadeau, whose fiancée, Erin Helfen, had lost her solitaire ring while swimming under the Buttermilk Falls in […]
For the past 27 years, a succession of golden retrievers — each playing the role of "Jake The Diamond Dog" — have delighted minor league baseball fans from coast to coast. Just recently, however, Jake's brilliant and adorable on-field antics have caught the attention of huge media outlets and made him an instant celebrity. The […]
On Sunday, after 21 days and 2,500 grueling miles, British road racing cyclist Chris Froome got to hold aloft the coveted Tour de France trophy — but Frenchman Cyril Gautier got the girl. About 20km into the race's last leg into Paris, the 29-year-old Gautier called over to a motorcycle cameraman who was able to […]
Last month, Wisconsin resident Destinee Fitzgerald woke up a bit earlier than usual to check the time on her cell phone. She became terrified when she smelled smoke in her apartment and heard the the faint sound of a neighbor's smoke alarm. She looked out the window and saw flames leaping from her landlord's air […]
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you exciting new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Coldplay introduces us to the curious phrase "diamonds ate the radio" with the July 14 release of "Aliens." In the song's animated video, we see a family of aliens — rendered as […]
In a video that's become an instant sensation on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, choreographer and dancer Phil Wright proposed to his shocked girlfriend, Ashley Liai, in the middle of an elaborate dance routine. The couple had started dating exactly eight years ago when she was attending his dance class, so the 26-year-old Wright decided to […]