So This Is Christmas

Merry Christmas is such an infectious feeling I like to feel that way all year around.

So if you are visiting just before Christmas, just after Christmas or even here on Christmas day I am sure you will find something of interest for you and in the spirit of Christmas.

It may be said that Christmas is no longer a celebration but this must be spoken by people that have never had trouble closing their eyes on Christmas Eve in an expectation of what maybe left for them on the carpet under the tree.

I continue to look forward to the surprise on my Grandchild's faces to this day at Christmas events.

Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas

Friday, January 1, 2010

What is the World's Most Popular Heart-Shaped Jewelry Item?

By Betsy Johnson

The "heart shape" often conjures up thoughts of love and romance. It has worked its way into our treasured annual holidays like St. Valentine's Day, into greeting cards and gifts, and into our jewelry designs as well. As we all know, jewelry is often made out of precious metals like gold and silver, and precious gems like diamonds and emeralds, and by incorporating the "heart shape" we are produce an object that displays the eternal ideas of romance, love, caring, and belonging. We will now explore the origins of heart jewelry, the "heart shape symbol", and the world's most famous heart-shaped diamond.

For years and years the heart symbol has been used to refer to not only the spiritual and emotional, but also the moral and intellectual core of a human being. It is usually colored "red" as this suggests not only blood (which the heart is responsible for pumping thorough the body), but strong emotions like passion and what emotion can possibly be stronger than that of true love?

Finding a true heart-shaped diamond is a rare event, but they do exist. For example, the most rare and famous of these is the "Blue Heart" (also called the Eugenie Blue) diamond. Many people consider it to be the best example of a blue diamond that the world has ever seen. The only diamond that can rival its fame is perhaps the Hope Diamond, but with the unique heart shape of the "Blue Heart", it really stands out in the crowd. From the standpoint of pure elegance and simplicity, there are few diamonds that can hold a candle to the "Blue Heart".

Weighing in at 30.82 metric carats, it's debatable whether the "Blue Heart" diamond is of African or Indian origin. Antanik Ekyanan cut the rough diamond in Neuilly, Paris in either 1909 or 1910. The dimensions of this beautiful gem are: 20mm x 19mm x 12mm.

In 1910 Cartier purchased this diamond from an Argentinean woman named Mrs. Unzue. Mrs. Unzue had the diamond set into a corsage. It was in this corsage when the diamond was purchased by Van Cleef and Arpels in 1953.

An European family ended up with the diamond next, and they sold it to a gentleman named Harry Winston in 1950. He placed this heart jewelry gem into a ring and sold it to Marjorie Merriweather Post. Now on to it's final resting place... Marjorie Merriweather Post donated it to the Smithsonian Institution, and this wonderful example of heart jewelry is on display here today. For trivia buffs, three of the world's most famous diamonds, the "Blue Heart", the Hope, and the Heart of Eternity were all on display at the Smithsonian at one time.

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