Archive for July 31st, 2006
Bride Donates Jewelry to Lebanese Victims
Arab News/Arab News, Saudi Arabia
JIZAN, 31 July 2006 — Having watched graphic images of innocent Lebanese civilians ruthlessly bombed by Israeli F-16 jets, a bride in Jizan declared on her wedding day that she felt bad wearing jewelry while her Muslim brothers and sisters in Lebanon were suffering, the Okaz daily reported yesterday. In sympathy for the victims, the young woman took off all of her gold jewelry and diamonds at the wedding hall and asked her husband to sell them and donate the proceeds to the victims of the continued Israeli aggression.
July 31st, 2006
On lookout for missing jewelry
Boston Globe, United States
By Steve Heyman, Globe Correspondent | July 30, 2006
Plainville police are urging residents to check for missing valuables after a local woman was convicted of stealing at least $50,000 worth of jewelry from homes in the town and nearby communities.
Millene Wilmarth, 30, admitted to lifting jewelry from at least four homes in Plainville and Foxborough, and possibly one in North Attleborough, to support a drug habit, police said.
Police said she capitalized on her jobs as a realtor and a home attendant to gain entry to residences. Wilmarth, who was arrested last fall, pleaded guilty to several larceny and drug charges and was sentenced July 19 in Wrentham District Court to three years’ probation.
According to Plainville Detective James Floyd, Wilmarth cannot recall how much jewelry she stole. Some of her loot was recovered in pawnshops in Rhode Island.
“There’s a good possibility that people may not realize that they are missing jewelry,” Floyd said. He said there are about 100 pieces, worth about $10,000, waiting to be claimed at the Plainville station. About 20 people have come in recent weeks to try to identify them, but only one person was successful, he said.
Francis Doran, a Natick lawyer who represented Wilmarth, said his client had returned or led police to nearly all the stolen jewelry. More “could be missing in the sense that she may have lost it, or it may have been pawned while she was under the influence of drugs,” Doran said. “But whatever she took, she’s given back to the police.”
Wilmarth had lived in Plainville, but has moved out of town, he said.
Floyd said Wilmarth, a former agent at Prudential Realty in Plainville, would often take jewelry while working with prospective buyers at an open house, or she would use another job as a home attendant, cooking and cleaning for elderly residents, to steal from her clients. The thefts took place over a period of at least two months before her arrest in September.
“The pieces she took were very distinctive, very identifiable,” Floyd said.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
July 31st, 2006
AGTA Pres. Robbed of Jewelry Worth Millions
Diamonds.net, NY
The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) revealed details of the million dollar robbery which resulted in the sudden three month leave of absence of AGTA president, Richard Krementz, beginning July 17.
Richard Krementz, of Richard Krementz Gemstone, was robbed of over one million dollars worth of fine jewelry on June 26 in Amarillo, Texas.
In a statement issued on July 28 by the AGTA, Krementz said he expects to return to his position as president of the AGTA in October, following a reorganization of Richard Kremetz Gemstone, established in 1866. “This robbery does not impact our financial strength,†said Krementz. “It did however cause us to strategically review our business and address some of our challenges long-term.â€
Krementz added that the company will be dropping its bridal business by the end of 2006, in order to focus on color, which is the core of the company’s business
A total of 388 pieces were stolen, mostly color gems set in platinum, including 161 bridal pieces in both 18 karat and platinum. Thirty varieties of gems, including 24 tanzanites, 15 pink and red tourmalines, and unusual colors such as benitoite, chrysocolla, zircon, andalusite and alexandrite were stolen, as well as, ninety-eight pieces are from the Nastajjia 18-karat fashion color line.
The AGTA provided a partial list of the stolen goods and requested of anyone coming in contact with the stolen goods to contact the authorities. The stolen pieces are mostly platinum rings set with very fine gems. The gems are well cut to superbly-well cut with no windows and are quite clean. The jewelry is stamped RKG1866.
The following is a partial list of the stolen goods:
• 2.60 ct round vivid sky blue Brazilian paraiba (8.7 mm) surrounded by six half moon diamonds and six small marquise diamonds. Total diamond weight 1.27 ct.
• 1.57 ct navette Brazilian paraiba (13.1 x 5.2 mm) set in platinum and 18 karat yellow gold. Diam weight 0.84 ct.
• 6.33 ct oval Burma unheated blue sapphire (10.2 x 9.0 mm) in three stone mounting with shield shaped diamonds weighing 1.31 ct and two yellow diamond surprise stones.
• 8.49 ct oval unheated yellow sapphire (10.2 x 9.9 mm) cut by Phil Youngman in the same three stone mounting as above with shield shaped diamonds weighing 0.95 ct and two pink sapphire surprise stones.
• 5.72 ct antique pastel pink sapphire (9.9 x 8.1 mm) cut by Phil Youngman set in pink gold and platinum, with two shield shaped diamonds and 36 pavé round diamonds, total weight 1.80 ct.
• 6.19 ct antique blue sapphire (10.4 x 8.7 mm) cut by Phil Youngman with an interrupted girdle of round diamonds and two trilliants, with an underbridge in 18 kt yellow gold set pavé with diamonds in a split shank design. Sapphire has slight lavender hue. Total diamond weight 0.98 ct.
• 3.57 oval pink sapphire (10.8 x 7.9 mm) cut by Phil Youngman with three marquise diamond an each side, two marquise surprise diamonds, and 40 rounds pavé set with a total diamond weight of 1.06 ct.
• 7.98 ct trilliant tanzanite (12.9 x 11.9 mm) set in a three-inch snake motif brooch, with pink sapphires set in the tongue
and yellow sapphires in the body. Mostly platinum with 18 karat accents, total diamond weight 4.35 ct.
• 43.27 ct antique intense kunzite (20.1 x 19.5 mm) pendant set in white and pink 18 karat gold with 2.31 ct diamond weight.
• 12.50 ct antique orange garnet (12.8 x 12.1 mm) with checkerboard crown cut by John Dyer girdled by 1.60 ct of diamonds and two pink sapphire surprise stones in a split shank design.
• 1.24 ct round Brazilian alexandrite (6.5 mm) with strong color change from teal to raspberry, set with a pair of half moon diamonds and 102 pavé diamonds, total weight 1.29 ct.
July 31st, 2006
Pocono Life:Jewelry crafting craze gives moms, students, retirees a creative outlet
Pocono Life Writer/July 30, 2006
Dorothy Quartararo of Albrightsville took two classes and was hooked. Tara Hyland of Effort took one. Same thing.
Women stringing beads and crystals into jewelry are part of a sparkling trend.
“It’s a craze,” said Wendi Sathmary, owner of HandMade with Love Inc., Brodheadsville. “Ninety-five percent of people who come in want the jewelry. It’s fabulous. You just can’t stop. There are so many beads. You can make a one-of-a-kind creation and know you made it.”
July 31st, 2006
Holey Beads! The art of beading just keeps getting bigger
The Register-Guard, Oregon
By one definition, a bead is anything with a hole in it, which goes a little way toward explaining the broad appeal of beading, a hobby/craft/art form - whatever you want to call it - that remains popular tens of thousands of years after nomadic hunter-gatherers first took a break from killing stuff so they could adorn themselves with perforated seashells.
“Beads are accessible to everyone,” says Stacy Bierma, owner of Harlequin Beads & Jewelry in Eugene. “You can find something that you like in your budget.”
Bierma sells inexpensive beads that can be turned into bracelets for just a few dollars and gem stones that go for several hundred dollars apiece.
Her own collection includes antique amber beads and Italian-made “trade beads,” once used to buy gold, ivory and even slaves from Africa. She also has beaded headwear and an ancient African bead strand estimated at 2,000 years old.
“It’s the earliest form of adornment, a form of self-expression,” Bierma says. “It’s also kind of addictive.”
She should know. Bierma’s store could be a monument to the narcotic properties of beads. She draws lots of repeat customers from all walks
of life and, on a typical day, her store is abuzz with all sorts of beading activity.
Bierma’s clients include beginning beaders, Saturday Market artists, crafting fanatics, Girl Scout troups and bridal parties in search of novel group activities.
The majority of her clients are women, but Harlequin does attract a few men - some of them dabblers, some of them serious artists, some of them fishermen in search of colorful flair for their lures.
Bierma’s business has grown exponentially in the more than two decades since she started selling beads out of a backpack at Grateful Dead shows while still in her teens. Now she owns the 4,700-square-foot building that houses Harlequin. She employs 20 people and offers health and dental coverage.
All because of beads.
“In the last 10 years beads have just taken off,” Bierma says. “Now there’s a bead store in almost every town.”
Harlequin isn’t the only store that sells objects with holes in them. There are at least a half-dozen other outlets in the area that cater to beading enthusiasts, and that doesn’t include the hundreds of bead artists who sell their creations at craft fairs and other locations. At the Oregon Country Fair earlier this month, where Bierma set up a booth for the 22nd consecutive year, she estimated a quarter of the more than 400 vendors were selling some sort of beads.
Even with all those beads, Gabrielle Guidero believes that there’s still room for more retailers. The manager of the recently opened Azillion Beads in west Eugene, she says beading is only going to get bigger as more people discover how enjoyable it can be.
“We see people come in as hobbyists and eventually start their own business and become artists,” Guidero says. “I talked to a lady who took her beads on a cruise and ended up selling (her jewelry) on board the ship.”
Guidero, whose family also owns a flagship Azillion Beads store in Bend, says she believes that many people are drawn to beading by the sense of calm it provides.
That’s the case with Kendra Francesco of Eugene who started beading four years ago. She says beading helps her relax after work.
“I think the thing I like the best is the instant gratification of it,” says Francesco, who uses a process called wire twisting to turn beads into dangling silver jewelry. “You can see immediately what you’re doing.”
The learning curve never ends for beaders such as Francesco, says Nome May, a Eugene artist who’s been working with beads
July 31st, 2006
