Blacklock

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After a very busy year and lots of development Blacklock Jewellery is going into the Christmas period on a very positive note.

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So far this year Blacklock Jewellery has been very busy.

New packaging has been invested in and will be arriving in the uk next week. We are delighted with the outcome - it exudes all the right Blacklock values - elegance, style, substance and sophistication. Pictures to follow soon.

It is with great delight that we can anounce that Blacklock Jewellery are through to the final of the UK Jewellery awards for UK Jewellery E-tailer of the year. In 2010 we got through to the final after only being live 2 - 3 months, now a year on we are there again and hope to go one stage further.

Spring is well and truly upon us. Fresh and bright days are signalling the imminent arrival of Summer.

This coupled with the Royal Wedding makes all at Blacklock start to think about beautiful gemstones that can be adorned and adored at this special time of year. Time to hint to the husband or loved one about how a beautiful new piece of Blacklock Jewellery will mark such a special moment...Why not?

Tough Luxe...a very real mixture

A new trend is embracing the fashion world. This trend is called 'Tough Luxe' and is in essence about using more organic and rustic materials with an overlay of luxury. This is a interesting trend which has been in evidence in fine jewellery for a while. Some of the larger jewellery brands have activated this in the past without realising it - using uncut coloured diamonds with fine precious metal for example.

We are often asked about what happens to a rough diamond once it is mined, this blog post helps demystify the process.

What really happens to a diamond once it is mined.....

When a rough stone is first mined it is categorised according to its size, shape of crystal and colour. These factors ultimately determine the style and shape of the polished diamond. From here a diamond generally follows one of two routes which conform to the Kimberley Process (the process which stops conflict diamonds from being traded). They are either sold to a large mining company such as De Beers or to an independent who sells directly to the retailer or consumer.

The sourcing of an ethical stone and the future

Many rumours have been circulating about the supply of Tanzanite depleting. Unfortunately, most of these rumours are true. As with any non renewable resources, the supply of Tanzanite gemstones will be practically exhausted, perhaps in another 5 to 10 years. Tanzanite has been mined for more than 40 years now and there's only a small percentage of untouched land left. Tanzanite crystals are highly sought after by collectors worldwide and once the supply of these gemstones are extinct, the scarcity will inevitably cause tanzanite's value to soar.

Rubies are very special gemstones; they are acknowledged as one of the most beautiful gemstones on earth, exhibiting all of the finest characteristics that precious gemstones should have; magnificent colour, excellent hardness and outstanding brilliance.

Rubies are deeply romantic stones which are closely associated with the most intense of emotions - love - because of their rich and intense red colour. They are also viewed by younger generations as not particularly fashionable stones due to their connection with 'Ruby weddings' - this celebration and association does not help the ruby to be fashionable, however their time will come again.

2010 was a great year for us here at Blacklock Jewellery. The highlights for us were;

• Blacklock re-launch in March
• The Blacklock Tender in conjunction with Macmillan Cancer Support in December
• The creation of an amazing website that we believe is one of the best in the uk

However, enough of looking back, lets look foward to 2011

The Blacklock Tender closed last week with great success. There were several bids with the winning bid hitting the guide price. We are delighted with the results and will be making a donation to MacMillan Cancer Support in the New Year. As you will all agree it is a wonderful cause and something well worth supporting.

With Christmas less than a week away we still have items in stock so do not hesitate to contact us to make a last minute purchase. We are sure that we will be able to deliver in time either by courier or by hand.

We've bean featured on MSN Life and Style online. The Article can be found at Read more

With Christmas just around the corner the two new additions to the Xanadu collection could not come soon enough.

The two new pieces are 18ct white gold tendril earrings at £295 and 18ct white gold tendril ring at £595.

Limited numbers will be available in the run up to Christmas.

It was a big day yesterday in the fine jewellery world as Prince William's engagement to Kate (Katherine) Middleton was anounced.

William's beautiful gesture of presenting his mother's engagement ring moved many and immediately brought back echoes of previous times. However our interest was really just in the engagement ring, where was the ring from and what was the quality of the sapphire?

The news of Prince William's and Kate Middleton's engagement eclipsed the news of the purchase of the 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond at Sotheby's 'Magnificent Jewels' Geneva auction yesterday.

The incredibly rare diamond was expected to fetch $38 million, however in the end it exceeded all expectations and went for $46 million (GBP 30 million).

Next Tuesday will be one of the most fascinating days in the fine jewellery world. Anticipation has been building for a while now as Sotheby's are holding an auction in Geneva entitled 'Maginificent Gems', some of the rarest and finest gems in the world are going under the hammer. As you may appreciate this will be some auction.

The centrepiece is a 24.78 carat 'Fancy Intense Pink' emerald cut diamond. This diamond is remarkable in many ways and is causing a stir across much of the world.

I recently took a Client out for cocktails after work and was greatly impressed by the level of service achieved - we went to Browns on Albermarle Street.

I suppose you would expect it from such an establishment, however it exceeded expectations by just being Browns....what I mean is that as I waited for my Client Roger Moore walked past with all of the swagger of Bond. This event was soon followed by the appearance of Michael Winner extoling his feelings about the 'ceviche'. I felt like I had been transported back to the 80's.

Few people understand or realise the true value of Argyle pink diamonds. I recently spent the day with one of the world's foremost authorities on pink diamonds and was given a fantastic insight into why they really are so sought after and scarce. They are beyond rare - one fact will help you understand this is that - for every 10,000 white diamonds mined one pink diamond is mined.

It has recently been said that we are within the last 8 / 9 years of production of the Argyle pinks which means that soon we will not see these beautiful stones ever again on the open market - they will only be available at auction where they will exceed all others when a price is achieved. At the moment they often trade for around 10x the price of a white diamond so it will be interesting to see what happens once production ceases!

Creating a piece of individual jewellery for a Client takes time, an awful lot of effort and emotional energy. The process that we go through is very thorough and involves getting to know the person for whom it is intended to make sure the piece of jewellery is individual to them.

In some respects it is like I am the artist doing the portrait, your first effort is never spot on so you go back to the drawing board again until you believe the masterpiece is ready to be presented for approval. There is always a great feeling of satisfaction when a Client approves the jewellery for production - you have invested a lot of yourself in its creation but also you have created a piece of jewellery that someone has dreamed of. At this stage the Client wants the piece as soon as possible however the difficult part is just beginning.

It is important that the phrase 'semi-precious' is debunked and put into context. Coloured gemstones are often talked about as being 'semi-precious', however in reality there are certain coloured gemstones that are more valuable and rarer than diamonds.

Each coloured gemstone is unique and greatly valuable - take a Columbian emerald from the Chivor mine and you will pay significant sums to have one of the finest, most sophisticated stones on the planet that exudes an intense, beautiful radiant green.

The idea of each gemstone being unique needs to be understood - these rare stones are formed in special geological conditions where the right elements are present under intense pressure and heat to form the gemstone. This coming together of nature does not happen in abundance and needs to be appreciated.