Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you throwback songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we flip the 45 of The Kingston Trio's 1958 chart-topping hit, "Tom Dooley," to find a surprising gem of a song on the B-side, "Ruby Red." Writers Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance employ […]
Israeli teenagers unearthed a hoard of 425 ancient gold coins while volunteering at an archeological site during their summer vacations. The two youths were helping the Israel Antiquities Authority with an excavation in the central part of the country when they noticed something shimmering in the ground. “It was amazing,” said Oz Cohen. “I dug […]
Actress Gal Gadot gets to wear the 128.54-carat "Tiffany Diamond" in the soon-to-be-released big screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. The famous — but rarely worn — gem dangles from a platinum necklace featuring an openwork motif of sun rays glistening with 481 diamonds totaling more than 100 carats. A Tiffany representative […]
Within the span of just a few hours, a family of gold prospectors pulled two huge gold nuggets from the ground near Tarnagulla in the Australian state of Victoria. The dramatic scene played out during Thursday's episode of Aussie Gold Hunters on the Discovery Channel. The nuggets weigh a combined 3.5 kilograms (7.7 pounds) and […]
The Letšeng mine in the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho has produced another colossal gem-quality diamond. The 442-carat, Type IIa stone could be worth as much as $18 million. The still-unnamed rough gem is the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever unearthed at Letšeng, a mine that is recognized as the highest dollar-per-carat kimberlite mine in […]
Hustling to meet a billionaire's December 31 deadline, Israeli luxury brand Yvel has assembled a team of 25 jewelers and diamond setters to fabricate a COVID-19 protective mask decorated with 3,608 black and white diamonds. The team will be working in shifts to complete the bespoke mask, which is valued at $1.5 million and is […]
Officials at Aussie mining company IBDH (India Bore Diamond Holdings) were surprised to learn that many of its signature "Ellendale" fancy yellow diamonds are displaying an extremely rare purple fluorescence when placed under ultraviolet light. This is extremely unusual because violet or purple fluorescence is normally associated with blue diamonds. The anomaly came to light […]
After finding a diamond engagement ring and wedding band on the sidewalk in Philadelphia's Center City, Ian Buchannon was able to locate the rightful owner in a matter of minutes — thanks to the power of social media. Buchannon happened upon the rings at Spruce and 16th after fumbling his pen. He bent over to […]
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you classic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today we feature 1989’s “End of the Line” by the Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup composed of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. The hopeful, upbeat song about how everything […]
Cut from a 240-carat rough stone found in 1951 at the Premier Mine in Transvaal, South Africa, the "Victoria-Transvaal Diamond" is one of the most prized possessions in the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection. Today’s virtual tour of the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals takes you right to the case where the […]