The 10 Most Expensive Dream Shoes – 10 through 6

June 26, 2011 · 0 comments

The 10 Most Expensive Dream Shoes – Shoes 10 through 6

Everyone wants to own the nicest and latest fashioned, name branded shoes but what about shoes that girls can only dream about? Believe it or not, they do exist! All you have to do is add the most exquisite diamonds, jewels and precious metals to these coveted shoes.

Still don’t believe it? Well, go ahead and take a look at the first half of the world’s most amazing and expensive dream shoes!

10. Dream Shoe Designer: Unnamed Italian Designer in Wuhu

Although the designer has remained vague about his creation, his masterpiece is anything but! These sparkling, gold pumps used 680 grams of pure gold to mould them into perfection under the invitation of the World Gold Council.

While the price is has also not been released, if you calculate the going rate for 1 gram of gold ($44 USD), then the price for the gold alone comes in $29, 920 USD.

9. Dream Shoe Designer: Bruno Frisoni for Roger Vivier

Named, The Dovima, these taxidermy bird shoes (yes, they’re actually real birds!) were dyed a rose pink colour and attached to the toe of these heels by their crystal encrusted head. Frisoni really knew how to set himself apart in the designer world since this is the type of shoe that will never be forgotten once you’ve seen it!

Each bird’s crystallised head is surrounded by 24 carat gold-coated mesh, silk, ribbons and crocodile-skin rosettes with the added bonus of protective crocodile or snakeskin that are attachable to keep the shoes, themselves, from ever touching the ground.

These oddly creative, animal-esque shoes can be ordered for $30,000 (USD).

8. Dream Shoe Designer: Giuseppe Zanotti

This Italian shoe designer created the design for these extremely pink shoes with the help of the fine jewellery company, Chopard, who gave the jewellery needed for this fascinating footwear.

Unlike the previous shoe Shellis designed using one specific type of stone, Zanotti incorporated pink diamonds, pink sapphires, tourmalines and russellites to create this one-of-a-kind satin high-heels.

The biggest plus for these shoes is that the jewelled ankle strap of the shoe is removable so that the owner can have not one, but TWO valuable bracelets!

Totalling 22 carats of diamonds, 134 carats of rubellites and 199 carats of pink sapphires, Giuseppe Zanotti also designed a matching set of rose gold, pink sapphire and diamond hoop earrings.

Believed to be auctioned off for up to $175,000 dollars USD for amfAR’s fight against AIDS, these gorgeous bejewelled, satin stilettos sold for an even bigger sum of $200,000 (USD) to a private bidder!

7. Dream Shoe Designer: Christopher Michael Shellis for House of Borgezie

Founder and jewellery designer of the House Of Borgezie, Shellis has designed some of the most expensive shoes of all times with his main attributes to them consisting of diamonds, platinum and solid gold.

This shoe was given the title of, The Eternal Borgezie Diamond Stiletto, and rightfully so due to the 30 carats of 2,200 encrusted white diamonds set into this platinum beauty.

Since all of his jewelled and precious metalled shoes are made with such precision and the best raw materials, they’re guaranteed to last much longer than 10 lifetimes – 1,000 years!

Shellis’ reason for creating these expensive shoes is to showcase the jewels and create jewellery rather than making shoes for people to wear. He has begun the pricing at £100,000 UK.

6. Dream Shoe Designer: Christopher Michael Shellis for the House of Borgezie

Designing another shoe on our Top 10 list, Shellis has once again created his own pair of diamond encrusted stilettos that he calls, ‘A treasure of the feet’ – which, they truly are!

These shoes required a team of goldsmiths to work with temperatures of over 1000ºC to create the entire shoe out of gold. After the base was made, over 2,200 white diamonds were again added to both shoes, totalling a humongous 30 carats.

Having gone on sale just 5 months ago, these dream stilettos can be bought for the big price of £140,000 UK or $319,469 USD.

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Luxury Emerald And Diamond Tiara

June 19, 2011 · 0 comments

Breaking the news again after auctioning off the word record holding Graff Pink just last year, Sotheby’s is at it again this year, bringing a circa 1900s and extremely rare emerald and diamond tiara to this years auction!

This exquisite, once-in-a-lifetime jewel encrusted tiara was created by renowned jewellers, Chaumet, for Guido Count von Henckel, First Prince von Donnersmark, as a gift for his second wife, Princess Katharina. The emeralds, themselves, are believed to be a part of a collection owned by Napolean III’s wife, Empress Eugenie before the tiara was designed for Princess Katharina.

Not only is this the most rare and valuable emerald and diamond tiaras to come to light, it’s also one of the most historic and prized jewellery pieces to make its debut at Sotheby’s in over 30 years!

Sotheby has recently released this description of the Luxury Emerald and Diamond Tiara:

“The tiara is a crown of foliate and floral inspiration. The base is set with a central row of eleven larger cushion-shaped diamonds, each set between pairs of muguets, above a line of laurel leaf motifs and surmounted by festooned ribbons, pierced and millegrain set throughout with rose and brilliant-cut diamonds, surmount by a row of eleven polished pear-shaped emeralds. The emeralds, totaling approximately 500 carats, graduated in size from the center, each emerald drilled and held in diamond set cusp motifs, the nine largest tipped by rose diamonds, mounted in silver and gold, later detachable tiara fitting”.

Quite the description to match the tiara’s intricate, magnificent historical piece of work!

Understandably so, this amazing and brilliant Luxury Emerald and Diamond Tiara is estimated to sell for $5 to $10 million dollars in Geneva on May 17, 2011.

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Birthstone Of The Month – June

June 12, 2011 · 0 comments

Pop open an oyster and hope to find what? June’s birthstone: Pearl!

The pearl birthstone is a favourite of millions and is the only precious stone to be created by a living organism. Talk about a unique birthstone!

Origins

There are two types of pearls: Natural (non-nacreous) and Cultured (nacreous). Natural pearls happen accidentally, naturally and can occur in just about any salt or fresh-water mollusc. Coming in three basic forms, they can be shaped as whole-round pearls, blister pearls and blisters.

Nacreous pearls are formed by irritants, such as a single grain of sand that’s added by people. To create a the best and most valuable cultured pearl, the irritant should only be stimulated inside of the mollusc and nothing more, allowing nature to then take its course.

Cultured pearls come many different colours with two specific factors that determine its overall colour: Body Colour and Overtone. The Body Colour is the base of the pearl’s colouring, such as white, cream, black or gold whereas, the Overtone is considered to be the secondary colour or tint. This is the most visual colour, i.e. pink, rose, peacock or blue.

Unlike most other gemstones, pearls are extremely fragile and soft which makes a lot of room for marring and other small imperfections. Usually, the bigger a pearl is, the more imperfections it will contain which is why large, minimally marked natural pearls found in the wild are extremely rare and very seldom found for an affordable price.

In order to create a fine cultured pearl, professionals let pearled oysters sit for a minimum of two to three years. This develops what is called nacre and gives the pearl its layer of protection as well as that beautiful sheen with ridges and swoops.

Mystical Qualities

Also known as the Stone of Sincerity, pearls signify faith, charity and innocence to enhance one’s personal integrity, bring the truth to light and inhibit boisterous behaviour. Other mystical qualities derive from ancient Chinese myths that say pearls fell from the sky where dragons fought, ancient legends that state pearls are the tears of gods and ancient Greek legends that believed pearls were drops of love to be worn and prevent newlywed women from crying.

Besides its legendary qualities, pearls are believed to also hold healing powers. People who believe strongly in a pearl’s healing power, ingest them to cure bloating and biliousness along with stronger powers of increasing chance of childbirth and easing pain from giving birth.

Gift Ideas

In today’s day and time, pearls are used to symbolise June birthdays and 30th wedding anniversaries. One quality pearls did carry over from ancient legends is the purity and innocence that shows through when worn. There is something so wholesome about pearls, alone, that make it a favourite for office wear, formal occasions and most popularly, bridal jewellery.

Women are coming up with newer, more modern ways of wearing pearls by adding other precious stones, such as diamonds or coloured gemstones to make the pearl pop. Another popular way women are wearing pearl necklaces is by either layering them or wearing long strands of pearls

However you choose to gift a woman with pearls, whether it’s a fancy ring, gorgeous earrings or a magnificent necklace, you can’t ever go wrong because she’ll love them the minute she lays her eyes on her brand new pearls!

And women, don’t forget that pearls can be given to men as birthday and anniversary gifts too! While you won’t see a man with a string of pearls around his neck, men do enjoy tie clips, cufflinks and money clips accented or set by pearl. As long as it keeps a masculine look, don’t be afraid to give a valuable gift of pearl to the guy in your life!

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Birthstone Of The Month: May – Emerald

June 5, 2011 · 0 comments

 

 

Birthstones are especially extraordinary jewels because there is always a birthstone for everyone! No matter who the person is, when they are gifted with a piece of jewellery that holds their personal birthstone, it’s a very sentimental occasion.

Because of this reason, once a month, we’ll be posting the Birthstone Of The Month to explain its history as well as offer some unique and creative ways to show off your personal gemstone.

Although a year is typically started with January, we’ll begin with the current month, May. Most people have heard the saying of Spring: ‘April showers bring May flowers,’ but do you know what else May brings? Emeralds!

Origins

Emeralds almost always include flaws due to small inclusions of other minerals when growing and yet, they are one of the loveliest birthstones around and sell for higher prices than all other gemstones except for diamonds.

Coming from the beryl family of minerals and a sibling to the aquamarine gemstone, its green hue is given to the emerald when pure, clear beryl contains either chromium or vanadium. One quality that makes emeralds stand out from the other birthstones is the fact that they’re extremely strong with a rating of 7.5 on the Mohs scale (to put it into perspective, diamonds are a 10).

While a diamond’s clarity is what makes it more expensive, an emerald’s richness of its green colour is what demands very high prices. The paler an emerald is, the less it’s worth and if pale enough, the emerald no longer considered an emerald; instead, it’s classed as simply, green beryl.

The catch to this is that there’s no law that states green beryl cannot be sold as an emerald which means that you have to shop wisely and always pick a darker colour green when shopping to get your money’s worth!

Mystical Qualities

Emeralds are often dedicated to the Goddess, Venus, for immortality

Many people are fascinated by reading their astrological signs for the month, week or even daily to pass time, as an

interest or they truly believe in it. Birthstones were often used the same way thousands of years ago and are still used that way for today, so much so, that there is a whole different calendar of birthstones set aside and called ‘Zodiac Birthstones.’

When using this system of birthstones, emeralds are known to have very significant powers since it goes back to Biblical times, with many believing that the first known emerald formed the Holy Grail.

Also associated with Greek mythology, emeralds have long been believed to hold psychic powers, purity and immortality. Also called the Stone of Successful Love, the romantic side of emeralds are thought to enhance domestic bliss and fill couples with loyalty and sensitivity towards each other.

Gift Ideas

Not only is an emerald significant for the month of birth, it’s also used as a traditional gift for 20th and 35th wedding anniversaries! This birthstone looks gorgeous in any way it’s worn but because it has such a bold colour to it, emeralds look the best when worn alone or adorned with clear, white diamonds.

Some may feel that emeralds can only be worn when wearing a matching green outfit but remember that the idea is to bring attention to the emerald, not to camouflage it. The colour of any emerald looks great on top of any colour since it doesn’t have any clashing qualities so go ahead and mix-n-match your wardrobe up!

Many people do prefer to have their emeralds customised since it represents one person in particular and they’ll surely feel a special bond with their birthstone. For example, smaller people will choose a short chain if they wear their emerald in necklace form while others enjoy picking out different styles of cut – such as pear-shaped, round, emerald-cut, trillion, marquise, princess- if they prefer to wear it as a ring.

Because an emerald is so strong, it will require an equally strong setting such as platinum or white gold. Yellow gold is beautiful but when combining this with an emerald, it can change the colour’s appearance dulling it out. Choosing a precious metal like platinum or using both white and yellow gold simultaneously allows the reflection of its own green shade allowing it to shoot sparkly beams of birthstone delight!

Whether you’re the gifter or the giftee, emeralds are fun to admire and even more gorgeous to wear. Others will be green with envy (like the pun?) over your emerald since you can never go wrong when wearing it or choosing this gemstone as a birthday (or anniversary) gift!

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