Chinese Gold Coins

China has issued coins for over two thousand years, including gold coins. In 1982 it introduced gold bullion coins known as pandas in convenient one ounce sizes with fractions and multiples.

Moonstone

The moonstone is characterised by an enchanting play of light. Indeed it owes its name to that mysterious shimmer which always looks different when the stone is moved and is known in the trade as 'adularescence'. In earlier times, people believed they could recognise in it the crescent and waning phases of the moon.Moonstones from Sri Lanka, the classical country of origin of the moonstone, shimmer in pale blue on an almost transparent background. Specimens from India feature a nebulous interplay of light and shadow on a background of beige-brown, green, orange or brown. These discreet colours, in connection with the fine shimmer, make the moonstone an ideal gemstone for jewellery with a sensual, feminine aura. This gemstone was very popular once before, about a hundred years ago at the time of Art Nouveau. It adorns a noticeably large number of the jewellery creations of the French master goldsmith René Lalique and his contemporaries, mainly to be found in museums and collections today. This gemstone is surrounded by a good deal of mystique and magic. In many cultures, for example in India, it is regarded as a holy, magical gemstone. In India, moonstones are also regarded as 'dream stones' which bring the wearer beautiful visions at night. In Arabic countries, women often wear moonstones sewn out of sight into their garments, for in their cultures the moonstone is a symbol of fertility. The moonstone symbolises our being in its entirety. With its soft shimmer, it strengthens our emotional and subconscious aspects. The associations connected with that make it a "lovers' stone", evoking tender feelings and safeguarding the true joys of love. It is also said that wearing a moonstone strengthens our intuition and our capacity to understand.

Labradorite

Labradorite is truely a fascinatingly beautiful mineral. Its a mineral whose charm is not fully noticed and may be overlooked if not viewed from the proper position. Generally a dull, dark looking mineral with no special virtue until the colorful shiller is observed glowing on the surface. Labradorite can produce a colorful play of light across cleavage planes and in sliced sections called labradorescence. The usually intense colors range from the typical blues and violets through greens, yellows and oranges. Some rare specimens display all these colors simultaneously.

The color display is from lamellar intergrowths inside the crystal. These intergrowths result from compatible chemistries at high temperatures becoming incompatible at lower temperatures and thus a separating and layering of these two phases. The resulting color effect is caused by a ray of light entering a layer and being refracted back and forth by deeper layers. This refracted ray is slowed by the extra travel through the layers and mixes with other rays to produce a light ray coming out that has a different wavelength than when it went in. The wavelength could correspond to the wavelength of a particular color, such as blue. The effect depends on the thickness and orientation of the layers. If the layers are too thick or too thin no color shiller is seen. Also if the viewer does not observe from the precise angle or if light is not supplied from the proper angle then no color shiller is seen. The labradorescence is truely a one of a kind mineralogical experience and must be observed in person in order to truely appreciate its beauty.

Labradorite is a member of the plagioclase series of minerals. The plagioclase series comprises felspars that range in chemical composition from pure NaAlSi3 O8 to pure CaAl2 Si2 O8 . Labradorite is defined at approximately the 50% to 70% CaAl2 Si2 O8 . Labradorite by definition must contain 50-70% calcium to 50-30% sodium in the sodium/calcium position of the crystal structure. All members of the plagioclase series usually display lamellar twinning called "Albite Twinning". The twinning is caused by a error in the crystal structure during its growth.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

• Color is gray to smoky black.
• Luster is dull to vitreous.
• Transparency crystals are transparent to translucent.
• Crystal System is triclinic; bar 1
  Crystal Habits include blocky crystals that rarely form free of the host rock and therefore do not usually show their full crystal forms. In sliced sections of rock, the labradorite appears as blocky chunks with a predominance of near right angled corners. Twinning is common and pervasive so that in labradorite it produces a layered or stacked effect. The twin layers are typically only fractions of millimeters to several millimeters thick. Crystals of labradorite are found imbedded in gabbros and other mafic igneous rocks of low silica content. In anorthosites, labradorite is a main constituent.
• Cleavage is perfect in one and good in another direction forming nearly right angled prisms.
• Fracture is conchoidal.
• Hardness is 6 - 6.5.
• Specific Gravity is approximately 2.70 - 2.74 (average)
• Streak is white.
• Associated Minerals are biotite, pyroxene and hornblende.
• Other Characteristics: index of refraction is 1.55 - 1.75. Play of colors called labradorescence seen from certain directions can cause flashes of blue, violet and green and sometimes orange and yellow.
• Notable Occurrences include Labrador, Canada and Scandinavian Pennisula.
• Best Field Indicators are occurence, twinning striations and labradorescence.
• Chemistry: Ca(50-70%) Na(50-30%) (Al, Si)AlSi2 O8, Calcium sodium aluminum silicate.
• Class: Silicates
• Subclass: Tectosilicates
• Group: Feldspars
• Uses: ornamental and semi-precious stone

Peridot

Peridot (pronounced pair-a-doe) is the gem variety of olivine. Olivine, which is actually not an official mineral, is composed of two minerals: fayalite and forsterite. Fayalite is the iron rich member with a pure formula of Fe2SiO4. Forsterite is the magnesium rich member with a pure formula of Mg2SiO4. Olivine's formula is written as (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 to show the substitution of the magnesium and iron. Peridot is usually closer to forsterite than fayalite in composition although iron is the coloring agent for peridot. The best colored peridot has an iron percentage of less than 15% and includes nickel and chromium as trace elements that may also contribute to the best peridot color.

Gem quality peridot comes from the ancient source of Zagbargad (Zebirget) Island in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt; Mogok, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma); Kohistan, Pakistan; Minas Gerais, Brazil; Eifel, Germany; Chihuahua, Mexico; Ethiopia; Australia; Peridot Mesa, San Carlos Apache Reservation, Gila County, Arizona and Salt Lake Crater, Oahu, Hawaii, USA. The best quality peridot has historically come either from Myanmar or Egypt. But new sources in Pakistan are challenging that claim with some exceptional specimens. The Arizona gem material is of lesser quality, but is far more abundant and is therefore much more affordable. An estimated 80 - 95% of all world production of peridot comes from Arizona. The Myanmar, Pakistani and Egyptian gems are rarer and of better quality and thus quite valuable approaching the per carat values of top gemstones. Possibly the most unusual peridot is that which comes from iron-nickel meteorites called pallasites. Some are actually facetted and set in jewelry.

Peridot is perhaps derived from the French word peritot which means unclear, probably due to the inclusions and cloudy nature of large stones. It could also be named from the Arabic word faridat which means gem. In either case, peridot has been mined as a gemstone for an estimated four thousand years or better, and is mentioned in the Bible under the Hebrew name of pitdah. Peridot gems along with other gems were probably used in the fabled Breastplates of the Jewish High Priest, artifacts that have never been found. The Greeks and Romans referred to peridot as topazion and topazius respectively and this name was later given to topaz, to end the confusion with the two gems. Historical legend has it that peridot was the favorite gemstone of Cleopatra. Pliny wrote about the green stone from Zagbargad Island in 1500 B.C.. Even until recently have jewelers used the term "chrysolite" (latin for golden stone) in referring to peridot gems for some reason. This term has also been used to refer to other gemstones, of a more golden color.

Zagbargad (Zebirget) Island has been known as St John's Island and was mined for centuries. Before World War I, this island was extensively mined and produced millions of dollars worth of gems. Since then the mining has been off and on and at present is all but nonexistent. Still, specimens from here are available at times and it certainly is a classic mineral locality.
Throughout time, peridot has been confused with many other gemstones, even emerald. Many "emeralds" of royal treasures have turned out to be peridots! And although peridot is distinctly a different shade of green, many jewelers refer to peridot as "evening emerald". Emerald is a dark green as opposed to a yellow green and always contains inclusions. Other green gemstones confused with peridot include apatite (which is much softer); green garnets (have no double refraction), green tourmaline and green sinhalite (both of which are strongly pleochroic), moldavites (no double refraction) and green zircon (significantly heavier). All of these gemstones rarely have as nice a yellow component to their green color as does most peridot, but darker green peridot can be confusing when good crystal form is not discernible.

Peridot is a beautiful gemstone in its own right and is widely popular. Its popularity is said to be increasing yearly and with new finds in Pakistan producing exceptionally well crystallized specimens, peridot can be fun to collect for years to come.

VARIETY INFORMATION:
VARIETY OF: Olivine , (Mg, Fe)2SiO4.
USES: gemstone.
BIRTHSTONE FOR: August
COLOR: shades of green usually from yellow-green to greenish yellow.
INDEX OF REFRACTION: 1.630 - 1.695
BIREFRINGENCE: 0.037
HARDNESS: 6.5 - 7
CLEAVAGE: usually not discernible
CRYSTAL SYSTEM: orthorhombic

Fossil Wade Watch

Here’s Fossil Wade, a retro and slightly oversized watch sporting a black leather strap and a metal case with black wood inlay and silver dial markers. Excellent.

Kara Expo 2008

Start Date : 21-NOV-08 End Date : 23-NOV-08
Venue : Bourse de Commerce City / State : Paris, Ile-De-France Country : France

Event Profile:
Kara Expo is preparing to welcome some of the world's best jewellery designers, offering them the opportunity to meet their public. This is a response to public demand, mirroring the trend in precious jewelry for unique, custom-made, exclusive designs.

Visitor's Profile:
Jewellery wholeseller, Jeweller, Agent/distributor, Jewellery retailer, Department store buyer, Duty free retailer, Jewellery manufacturer, Jewellery designer, Gemmology, Watch or clock retailer, Student & others related to the jewellery are the target visitors.

Exhibitor's Profile:
Profile for exhibit include fine jewellery, fashion jewellery, gold, sterling, platinum, loose gemstones, estate jewellery, contemporary jewellery and ethnic jewellery.

Organizer:
Vecteur Expo5, Rue du Colonel Moll,Paris, France.

Biography of Hans Wilsdorf

Hans Wilsdorf (March 22, 1881 - July 6, 1960) was a German watchmaker, and the founder of Rolex and Tudor.

Born in Kulmbach, Bavaria and orphaned as a child, Wilsdorf worked for a Swiss watch manufacturer in La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1905, he moved to London and set up his own business, wanting to provide quality timepieces at affordable prices. With his brother-in-law, Alfred Davis, he founded a watch importing firm called Wilsdorf & Davis, and he partnered with Hermann Aegler, a watch manufacturer in Bienne to import wristwatches.

In 1908, he created the Rolex brand to sell his watches under, and during World War I, he left England for Switzerland due to wartime tax increases levied on luxury imports. In 1920, he established Montres Rolex S.A. in Bienne. The name ROLEX was invented by Hans Wilsdorf. It is easily pronounceable in many languages and, as all letters have the same size, allows to be written symmetrically. He also established the high quality, lower priced, watch brand, Tudor, a subsidiary company of Rolex in 1946. Upon the death of his wife in 1944, he established the Hans Wildorf Foundation in which he left all of his shares in Rolex, making sure that an amount of the company's income would go to charity. The company remains a foundation to the present day. Wilsdorf died in Geneva on July 6, 1960.

PVD Rolex Daytona Chronograph

Bamford PVD Cosmograph Daytona Rolex, "Oyster Perpetual, Superlative Chronometer, Officially Certified, Cosmograph Daytona," case No. F243778, Ref. 116520. Made in 2004. Very fine, self-winding, water-resistant, stainless steel PVD coated wristwatch with round button chronograph, registers and tachometer and a stainless steel deployant Rolex Oysterlock bracelet. Accompanied by a warranty (now void) and fitted box. C. Three-body, PVD coated, screwed-down case back, push-buttons and crown, Triplock winding crown protected by the Crown Guard, tachometer graduation on the bezel to 400 units per hour, sapphire crystal. D. Black with luminous steel indexes, subsidiary silver ring dials for the seconds, the 12-hour and 30-minute registers. Luminous white gold baton hands. M. Cal. 4130, rhodium-plated, 44 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to 6 positions, shock absorber, self-compensating free-sprung Breguet balance spring, Microstella regulating screws. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 40 mm. Thickness 12.5 mm. Approx. overall length 175 mm.