The star studded 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was graced with some of the finest Neil Lane jewelery and custom suits as the actors and actresses graced the red carpet. Many bespoke suits were complimented by the sparkling jewelery that was on Hollywood best and brightest at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The custom suits were created by bespoke tailors. The jewelery was Drew Barrymore – Large sapphire, diamond and gold cocktail ring and gold drop earrings. Tina Fey – Long colored diamond, platinum and moonstone chandelier earrings and 3 white and colored diamond and platinum bracelets. Toni Colette – Turquoise platinum, gold and diamond bangles, gold, diamond and turquoise long drop earrings and a diamond, platinum turquoise cocktail ring. Sigourney Weaver – Gold and diamond chandelier earrings and 2 diamond and gold bracelets. Patricia Arquette – Huge gold and emerald chandelier earrings and a large emerald and gold cocktail ring. Jayma Mays –Diamond and platinum bracelets, turquoise circle earrings and a turquoise and diamond and platinum ring. Lauren Sanchez – Long pearl, diamond and platinum chandelier earrings, a pearl, diamond and platinum bracelet and a pearl, platinum and diamond ring. Samantha Harris – Diamond and gold earrings, multiple gold and diamond bangles and a diamond and gold bib necklace. Miranda Cosgrove – 3 diamond, platinum and sapphire bracelets, diamond and platinum moonstone cocktail ring and diamond and platinum studs. Rosetta Getty – Long emerald and gold earrings and a large emerald cocktail ring.

Jessica Stroup She co-starred in the 2007 sequel film The Hills Have Eyes 2. In 2008 she played the role of Claire in the remake of Prom Night. She has also appeared in the movie Broken, where her character shares a kiss with Heather Graham. She later reunited with her Prom Night co-star, Idris Elba in the movie This Christmas.

Over the years Jessica has appeared in numerous commercials, including spots for Honda, Velveeta and Target. Her most recognizable commercial appearance was as “the Dentyne Girl” in an advertisement for Dentyne Ice.

Jessica starred in Homecoming, a psychological thriller, alongside Mischa Barton and Matt Long, that was released July 2009. Diamond and platinum chandelier earrings, Diamond bracelets and a diamond, platinum and citrine ring. Jennifer Carpenter Carpenter first attracted critical attention for her performance in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. She took home the 2006 MTV Movie Award for “Best Frightened Performance”, and also received a Hollywood Life Breakthrough Award. She was also named “Breakout Performer” at the 2006 Scream Awards.

Carpenter currently plays the role of Debra Morgan in the Showtime television series Dexter which premiered October 1, 2006. Her portrayal of the title character’s sister has impressed some critics, with Australian journalist Jack Marx describing her “cool and clumsy” performance as “so perfect that many viewers appear to have mistaken the character’s flaws for the actor’s”. Diamond and platinum leaf earrings, diamond and platinum wide bracelet
and a platinum and diamond ring. Garcelle Beauvais At age seventeen, Beauvais went to New York to pursue a career as a fashion model, and was signed with Ford Models and Irene Marie Models in Miami. She modeled print ads for Avon, Mary Kay and Clairol. Beauvais also modeled in catalogs for Lerner New York Clothing Line,Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. She has appeared in Essence and Ebony and had a nude pictorial in the August 2007 issue of Playboy. She also walked the catwalk for Calvin Klein and Isaac Mizrahi. In 2008, Garcelle launched her children’s jewelry line called Petit Bijou”. Black and white diamond and platinum bracelet, black diamond ring and black, yellow and white diamond and coral drop earrings.

As a metal so flawless and pristine, Platinum is regarded by many to be a first rate material with which jewelry is made. As of late, it has become the favored precious metal of the celebrity. Understandably, this has put many under the impression that platinum – or rather its use in Jewelry – is “cutting edge” – a common misconception.

History of Platinum

Platinum jewelry, like gold jewelry has a long and illustrious history. Traces of Platinum are reported to have been found in Egyptian artifacts dating back to 1200 BC. It is said, that around 700 BC, the ancient Egyptians had fully mastered the art and technique with which Platinum is processed. The Natives in Central and South America are said to have worked with it as far back as 100 BC – combining it with Gold. The Spanish – during their campaign to conquer and colonize the New World, came across Platinum artifacts. Upon discovery, they called Platinum by the name “Platina” which means “Little Silver”. Foolishly thinking of it to be of no value, they discarded the artifacts and plundered the gold instead.

Platinum did not reach Europe until the 18^th Century. In 1751, Swedish scientist Theophil Scheffer took note of the unique properties of platinum, declaring it to be a precious metal. King Louis XVI referred to Platinum as “The Metal of Kings”. Marc Etienne Janety (1750-1823) – A French Artist/Metalworker (most famous for his mastery of the Arsenic process) and private jeweler to King Louis, designed a number of platinum artifacts. Most notable of these is a Platinum sugar bowl which can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Although Louis XVI was dispatched in the French revolution, the passion for platinum did not diminish and the appreciation for its unique and rare qualities only increased. King Carlos III of Spain is said to have commissioned an elegant and magnificent platinum chalice which was presented to Pope Pius VI. King Carlos IV of Spain had a “Platinum Room” built in his summer palace at Aranjuez.

In the 19^th Century, further progress was made, and platinum deposits were discovered in the Russian Urals. So plentiful were these sources, that throughout the 19^th Century, the Russians incorporated Platinum coins into their economy. In addition – with the onset of Diamond-Mining in South Africa, Platinum presented itself as the ideal setting for the stone. So perfect of a setting is platinum that the three most famous diamonds – the Hope, Jonker I, and the Koh-I-Noor – are all set in Platinum.

Celebrated jewelers such as Louis Cartier, Peter Faberge and Charles Tiffany earned and obtained much of their fame and success due to their timeless and magnificent designs made in platinum.

Around the early 1900’s, Platinum Jewelry reached the pinnacle of its popularity becoming the preferred precious metal for fine jewelry in America. Yet at the start of World War II (due to its density and durability), the United States Government proclaimed Platinum a “Strategic Metal” and in doing so outlawed its use in jewelry. To the consumer who valued the purity and white luster of Platinum, the jewelers introduced White Gold.

Interestingly enough – Platinum has many uses outside of the realm of Jewelry. It (as stated) is/was used in wartime for armaments. It should also be noted that Platinum is vital to the automobile industry and is used in electrical engineering, electronics and petrochemicals. The Dental and Medical field make use of Platinum as well. Due to the vital role which Platinum plays in industry, it can be understood as to why only 1/3 of Platinum which is mined is used in jewelry.

After World War II, when the ban on civilian use of Platinum was lifted, Platinum Jewelry quickly regained its popularity. There are many contributing factors which led to this resurgence. Put aside the fact Platinum is the most exquisite of all metals, Platinum is also known to be the most durable. It does not tarnish, and unlike other metals, it does not distort when exposed to heat. Platinum Jewelry is also known to be the most pure. Unlike 18k (75% Gold) and 14k (58% Gold), Platinum Jewelry is 90%-95% Platinum. Unlike Silver, Platinum is Hypo-Allergenic. In all this - Despite its rarity, the price of Platinum has remained steady. Especially now – a time when Platinum is within $200 of Gold, many (especially Brides) are turning to Platinum as the ‘must have’ of Jewelry.

Swedish Crown Princess Victoria is going to get married soon. She favors a tiara worn by  Queen Victoria of Sweden.  The  Queen Victoria of Sweden, nee Baden, wearing the Leucthenberg Saphires.

It is said that The Leucthenberg Sapphire parure (A parure is a set of various items of matching jewelry, which rose to popularity in 17th century Europe. The word is derived from Old French, parure means adornment, from the verb parer, to adorn.) is made from a belt that was part of Empress Josephine of the French people’s sapphire parure.

The pear shaped sapphires in the tiara have been replaced by large pear formed pearls, but no one since Queen Victoriahas has worn the pearls. The parure was also a favorite of her successor, Queen Louise, nee Battenberg/Mountbatten, who made the earrings out of two hairpins.

What is interesting about this picture is that Queen Victoria is also wearing the Baden Fringe tiara over her chest. The tiara that she got as a wedding present from her parents and that she wore as a necklace on her wedding to the crown prince Gustav.The tiara is a favorite of today’s Crown Princess Victoria.

Princess Victoria of Sweden has recently gotten engaged. As apart of the royal family she will be wearing the Cameo Parure Tiara to her wedding. The tiara is interesting, since it doesn’t have any stones at all, but are pearls and cameos set in gold while the pearl necklace, bracelet and brooch have cameos and diamonds set in gold.

The Cameo Parure Tiara is said to have belonged to Empress Josephine of France and came to Sweden via her grand daughter, Josephine of Leuchtenberg when she married the Swedish crown prince Oscar (future Oscar I).

Looking at old pictures it looks like every other cameo of the tiara has been removed and replaced by pearl honeysuckles to make the necklace, bracelet and brooch and that’s probably the reason why they have a slightly different look with diamonds.

Front cameo shows a woman and cupid, symbolizing “Love”, the front left is the profile of a man and the front right profile of a woman.

It has become the “wedding tiara” of Swedish royalties, since the queens sister HRH Princess Birgitta wore it at the civil cermony in Stockholm, as well as Desirée and later HM Queen Silvia. (Oldest sister Margareta wore a traditional local tiara and youngest sister Christina wore the Cannaught diamond forget-me-not-tiara. Pictures of Birgitta wearing a small crown is from the religious ceremony in Sigmaringen, Germany)

This is the tiara that the Crown Princess is most likely to wear at her wedding, but the tradition doesn’t go that far back and is not set in stone so it really is anyone’s guess. She has never worn it yet.

Luxury brands have always prided themselves with their rich history of exclusivity. However with the popularity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter they are becoming accessible to all. While they are not abandoning the traditional methods of publicity and the air of exclusivity they are embracing the new Web 2.0 user with unusual interest.Companies like Cartier have over 32,000 fans on their Facebook pages and they are only growing. Even Über exclusive brand Patek Philippe has almost 8,000 followers.

This growing modernisation trend is quite exciting. Many of the watch companies have resisted the Internet for quite some time growing only in exclusive circles. However this year at BaselWorld Corum made a shocking announcement. They are to open an online boutique to sell their watches. They are now coming onto exclusive territory held by exclusive dealers such as GoldWatches.com and Amazon.com.

So next time you are on your favorite social network watch look out for luxury brands. You now don’t have to have a pocket full of cash to join the exclusive club.

The Chambered Nautilus produces the second-rarest pearls on earth, with only the pearl of Argonauta rarer, since only one has been found and certified.  Only two Nautilus pearls have been studied and identified in the past by Gemological Institute of America; but in July, 2008, an additional pearl received certification after meticulous study in Bangkok, with confirmation from New York’s GIA Laboratory.  Historically the first major report on Nautilus Pearls, this article presents the science, beauty, lore, and history of these particularly rare gems.

The Nautilus Pearls

The pearl measures 5.94 x 5.93mm and weighs 1.49 carats (5.98 grains.).  It is nearly round and porcelaneous, with unblemished surfaces and no evidence of any treatment or working. Uniquely, it seems to emit an inner light. The pearl comes from one of the most unusual of animals, a creature that has existed almost unchanged since the beginning of our planet’s fossil record, because of many biological innovations that allowed it to survive.

The pearl came from the depths of the Celebes Sea to the East of North Borneo, in international waters off Malaysia and Indonesia, where the sea is warm and bountiful. The fishermen who caught the Nautilus were not specifically fishing for Nautilus, although the meat is considered a delicacy and the shells have good value.  Rather, their targets were cuttlefish or squid. To catch them, the men construct a square trap of bamboo which squid, cuttlefish or Nautilus can enter but cannot exit. After putting a piece of bait inside the trap, the fishermen drop it into very deep water, using a buoy to mark the location.  At sunrise, they retrieve their traps.

When my chief pearl finder heard rumors of discovery of one Nautilus pearl, I sent him racing, with a heavily armed team, by speedboat through rough seas to recover it.  The rumor of a Nautilus pearl took him on a perilous adventure to a distant island, not long ago the domain of fierce Dayak headhunters, a voyage which led to success. According to local reports, a fisherman recovered the pearl from a mollusk caught in 2004. No local person had heard of any other Nautilus pearl being found.  Almost to the point of rejecting all purchase offers, they were reluctant to part with the pearl because they believe such rarities possess magical powers which make the holder invisible to all enemies, impart ability to see behind as in a rear-view mirror, and render him invincible in battle.

Scientific Observations and Testing of Nautilus Pearls

The pearls underwent an extensive array of testing, which will be described in a monograph to be published in 2009 by Kenneth Scarratt, Chief of GIA Bangkok.

Nautilus Pearls in History

The first mention of Nautilus pearls in Western scientific literature came in Nature, October, 1912, in a letter from H. Lyster Jameson, who included a photograph of a pearl, “alleged to have been found in a Nautilus pompilus, from the Sulu Archipelago.  It was lent to me by Mr. T.H. Haynes, of the Montebello Islands, north-west Australia, one of the pioneers of the pearl-shelling industry in Australia and the East Indies, who is now in England.  This pearl was given to Mr. Haynes, about 1884, by a half-breed Chinaman named Oto, brother-in-law of the late Sultan of Sulu, Mohamed Budderuddin.  I will make further research on this project.” No further reference to the pearl can be found.

A drawing of the Sultan Budderuddin by Francis Henry Hill in 1895 comes courtesy of the Cornell University Library.

The Sultan of Sulu heads the second oldest royal house on earth, dating in a continuous lineage to the early 1400s, just after the establishment of the Sultanate of Brunei, his cousin.  Under Sultanate law, all large and unusual pearls found in his extensive domain had to be delivered to him expeditiously, upon pain of severe punishment for failure to do so. From the time of the Ming Dynasty in China, fleets of Chinese junks made annual voyages to Sulu to collect natural pearls, edible birds’ nests, and dried beeswax for carving.  Pearls ranked as the most prized acquisition.  In the records of the Sulu Sultanate, no mention is specifically made of pearls from the Chambered Nautilus.

The Chambered Nautilus

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Cephalopoda

Order: Nautilida

Family: Nautilidae

Genus: Nautilus

Species: Nautilus pompilius

The Nautilus pompilius takes its name from Latin, from Greek nautilos, sailor, from naus, ship.  Pompilius comes from Latin for parrot, because of resemblance of the shell to a parrot’s head and beak when viewed from the side.

This animal belongs to the phylum Mollusca, a group of soft-bodied animals that usually secrete external protective shells, and includes snails, clams, and squids.  The ventral portion of mollusks develops into a muscular portion, or foot, used in locomotion.

It belongs to the class Cephalopoda, or head-foot, characterized by a modification of the foot into the form of arms or tentacles, which gives them the general characteristics of being active and fast-moving. They are also considered the most intelligent of invertebrates, with well-developed senses and large brains.  Both the ability to support high metabolic rate nervous systems and to move rapidly arises because of the amount of oxygen they can move rapidly throughout their bodies. They are the only mollusks with a closed circulatory system, including a primitive heart, which pumps blood that is colorless because the oxygen carrying molecule, hemocyanin, contains copper rather than the iron found in mankind’s hemoglobin.  Their blood turns blue when exposed to air.

The Cephalopod class contains two living subclasses: in the Coleoidea the shell has been internalized or has disappeared entirely, as in octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish.  In the Nautiloidea, the shell remains; and the Chambered Nautilus is the only living representative of the subclass.

Of all Cephalopods, the Chambered Nautilus is the most primitive of living species, with relatives that are abundant as fossils dating all the way back to the beginning of known fossil records on earth, some 600 million years ago. When most dominant, the Chambered Nautilus sometimes grew shells as long as thirty feet if uncoiled, and were predators at the top of the food chain.  The Chambered Nautilus is commonly referred to as living fossils because of their identical structure to ancient forms.  Interestingly, in 1981 the World Jewellery Confederation conferred gemstone status on Ammolite, a rare organic gemstone found along the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and composed of the fossilized shells of ammonites, a relative of the Nautilus. Pearls, amber, ammolite, and coral are the only gems created from the animal kingdom.

Some 300 million years ago, evolution led to divergence from the external shell of the Nautilus, in favor of developmental lines leading to octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish, where the shell has either disappeared or become internal or vestigial.  Most of the Nautiloidea became extinct, but the Chambered Nautilus has survived to this day.

They range from the Andaman Sea to Northern Australia, from Japan to Indonesia.  Nautilus pompilius pompilius, or the Emperor Nautilus is so named because of its large size, up to 270mm in diameter.  A much smaller type, Nautilus pompilius suluensis, comes from the Sulu Sea and reaches a maximum 150mm diameter, or just over half the size.

The Nautilus floats by secreting gas, which resembles air but with less oxygen, into its shell.  The shell has multiple chambers, and the animal only lives in the most recently added chamber.  A stalk, which secretes the gas, extends back through the other chambers so they can be inflated if the animal wishes to ascend, or deflated if it chooses to dive.  The Nautilus has modified its foot for both feeding and locomotion.  It can suck water in and constrict the foot against its mantle to produce a form of jet propulsion. It has up to ninety tentacles which it uses to grasp prey to deliver to its mouth, or to attach to rocks while resting. During the day, it lives very deep, up to 3000 feet or more; but at night it ascends to shallower water to feed, normally finding its prey with a keen sense of smell.  They feed on shrimp, fish, crabs, and carrion.

Probably one reason the Nautilus has become so rare is that they do not reach sexual maturity until age 15-20 years. They reproduce sexually by internal fertilization, with four of the tentacles on the males transferring sperm to the female’s mantle. They then lay oblong eggs of 1.5inches in length, but only a few each year, approximately a dozen.  These eggs rank among the largest relative to adult size of any animal. A newly hatched Chambered Nautilus has a small shell 1 inch in diameter.

Although since 1987 export of Nautilus shells has been banned, many nations continue to sell them. Slow growth rates, delayed maturity, and low fecundity are biological traits of an animal primed for extinction. With increasing fishing for squid and cuttlefish throughout its habitat, mankind may eventually eliminate what half a billion years of evolution found apparently ideal for life in the seas.

The Chambered Nautilus in Western Culture

Because of its mathematically intriguing shape with its ever-increasing spiral,  the Chambered Nautilus symbolizes both mathematical and aesthetic perfection to many people across the ages.  Robert Fulton, who later invented the steamboat, attempted to win the support of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte for a man-powered submarine capable of breaking the British blockade of France’s coastline.  Fulton christened his boat “Nautilus”, and successfully demonstrated it in 1800 on the River Seine, and later in seawater at Le Havre.  Napoleon, to Fulton’s dismay, lost interest.

Seven decades later, Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.  The tale began with a panic going around the world about some huge sea creature wreaking havoc in every ocean.  That creature, of course, was the submarine designed and built by Captain Nemo, also christened “Nautilus,” which eventually perished when sucked into the Maelstrom off Norway.

In 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote his famous poem, “The Chambered Nautilus”.  In it, he reflects on the making and remaking of a life, of transcendentalism,  as the Nautilus makes new chambers.  In the last stanza, he writes,

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.

Originally published in the new magazine Atlantic Monthly, it became one of the most famous of American poems.  Holmes, a medical doctor, novelist, travel writer, and philosopher, led what is sometimes called the American Renaissance, a flowering of literature and culture in Boston of his era.  He had a Chambered Nautilus engraved onto his personal bookplate, with the words per ampliora ad altiora, translated as “through breadth to depth.” His poem and later comments reveal no knowledge of Nautilus pearls, and one can only imagine what rhapsodic lines he might have written about extreme beauty emerging from the process of walling off unbearable pain.

Photo courtesy of Boston Medical Library

In 1916, American composer Deems Taylor debuted, “The Chambered Nautilus” in New York, a cantata for mixed voices with piano, organ and orchestra, in which Taylor used the poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes as the libretto. Taylor also did “The King’s Henchmen” with libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and performed as Master of Ceremonies in Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” of 1940.

In 1956, famed American painter Andrew Wyeth revealed his “Chambered Nautilus”, in which a woman in a four-poster bed stares wistfully into a night sky, while at the foot of her bed a Chambered Nautilus shell illuminates a dark corner with its timeless message of beauty and the mystery of the universe.

Today, one seriously passionate about the Chambered Nautilus can have a tattoo done, as on the forearm below, by marine expert Wilhelm Scherer in Portland, Maine.

Summary

Arguably, a Nautilus Pearl is the rarest gem on earth. The shell itself of this, the most ancient of mollusks, has inspired scientists, inventors, philosophers and collectors of all eras.  The beauty evident in the pearl should rightfully inspire similar appreciation in the beholder.

Article republished with permission of Author.