Among the "Protector Collection" pieces Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt designed with Asprey is this jeweled bracelet featuring a mechanism that opens and closes the bangle in a smooth motion

London--Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are famous for juggling their film schedules with philanthropic efforts that take them around the globe, all while playing parents to six kids, but the Hollywood power couple has lately gotten even busier: They've dipped into jewelry design.

British jewelry brand Asprey recently announced the launch of the "Protector Collection," featuring limited-edition fine jewels and silver objects designed in collaboration with Jolie and Pitt.

Each piece in the collection features a snake motif, one that Asprey said Jolie chose for its symbolism as an iconic guardian, particularly over family protection and fertility.

According to Asprey, during Jolie's first pregnancy, she was given a snake ring, intended to guard her and her unborn child. The symbol has become a family guardian to the Jolie-Pitts, and in the Protector Collection, it appears in everything from fine jeweled bracelets to rings, earrings and pendants available for both children and adults.

The motif can also be found in three sterling silver objects: a tooth box featuring an animated snake that stands above the circular box; an eggcup replete with a coiled snake wrapped around the cup's base; and a spoon whose handle takes serpentine form.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yz8cxzh

Jason of Beverly Hills designed personlized championship rings for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles--Jason of Beverly Hills can now add an entire basketball team to its roster of celebrity clients.

Newly crowned NBA champions the Los Angeles Lakers selected Jason of Beverly Hills, owned and operated by Jason Arasheben, to design the team's championship rings, according to a release from the designer.

The Lakers won the NBA title for a remarkable 15th time when the team defeated the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals.

Players received their rings in a ceremony held Oct. 27 at the Lakers' home arena, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Jason of Beverly Hills hand-delivered the rings in custom boxes, complete with rotating platforms and light-emitting diode (LED) lights.

The rings were crafted from a special batch of 15-karat yellow and white gold, an unusual karatage that was a nod to the number of championships won by the team, according to the release.

Also, for the first time in championship ring history, the release states, each player was immortalized on the rings themselves.  Each of the player's faces and jersey numbers were inscribed on their personal rings using a rare, state-of-the art technology.

Fourteen round brilliant white diamonds surround a centered championship trophy, another reference to the 15 NBA titles.

The ring also has a unique shape that, when viewed from the side, resembles the Staples Center.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yzlswxg

This ring by manufacturer J. Birnbach features a 2.01-carat cushion-cut center stone with D color in a handmade platinum mounting with 0.33 carats of pave diamonds on the band. It retails for $28,355.

New York--At Greenwich Jewelers in New York City, the current diamond cut of choice among the many well-heeled professionals who choose the 33-year-old lower Manhattan haunt for their engagement ring shopping might surprise: It's the cushion.

But don't just take the word of the owners, Jennifer Gandia and her sister, Christina Gandia. Just take a glance at Gambale's ring finger and see which diamond cut the young retailer herself chose when it came time for her to say "I do."

"Out of the fancy shapes, cushions are definitely our top fancy shape," Gandia says, noting that at Greenwich, cushion cuts have pulled ahead of princesses in popularity.

In terms of engagement rings, the only cut of diamond the jeweler sells more of is the ever-popular round.

"I think it's New York," Gandia says, when asked why the cushion is such a hot item in her store. She points out that the city's women are exposed to a lot of advertising and, thanks to New York City's position as one of the world's fashion hubs, they also get a first-hand look at the emerging trends that all the big brands are embracing.

To wit: Just last week, at its New York City flagship on Madison Avenue, David Yurman unveiled its bridal collection, and "The David Yurman Signature Cut Diamond," which is trademarked, was none other than a modified cushion.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yh7z73v

Designs from Disney Precious Collections, like this frog pendant celebrating the release of Disney's latest animated film, "The Princess and the Frog," will be on view alongside Disney artworks at the "Dreams Come True" exhibition.

New York--Disney Precious Collections, the fine-jewelry line for children, will be featured in a new exhibition featuring 600 original artworks instrumental in the development of some of Disney's most beloved animated features.

The exhibition, "Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studios," will open at the New Orleans Museum of Art on Nov. 15 and will run through March 14, 2010.

The showcase of artworks from films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid, among others, will coincide with the premiere of Disney's newest animated feature film: The Princess and the Frog.

To commemorate the release and exhibit, Disney Precious Collections has produced a limited-edition pendant featuring a three-pointed princess crown. Crafted in 14-karat gold and accented with fine gemstones, the keepsake pendant will be available only at the New Orleans Museum of Art and via select Disney Precious Collections retailers.

In addition to viewing pieces from the Disney Precious Collections, which is composed of two lines: "The Enchanting Gemstones" collection of 14-karat gold with diamonds and precious gems, as well as "The Enduring Enamels" collection of handcrafted 14-karat gold and brightly painted enamel designs, visitors will have a chance to peruse a children's section celebrating Disney's connections with jazz music and New Orleans.

Visitors viewing the artworks, on loan from the Walt Disney Studio Animation Research Library, will find that they are accompanied by film clips helping to demonstrate how individual sketches and paintings lead to a finished animated masterpiece.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yks3ea8

Two pieces by James Currens of J.W. Currens in New York, a moonstone ring and an emerald brooch, tied for best of show at the AGTA Spectrum Awards.

New York--Pretty and practical won out at the 2010 AGTA Spectrum Awards, where many of the winning pieces seemed easily wearable--and given the use of more affordably priced colored gems--saleable in a tough economic climate, too.

An editor's preview of the Spectrum Awards--now in its 26th year--was held on Monday at a penthouse studio in New York City's Greenwich Village and hosted by the Dallas-based American Gem Trade Association (AGTA). The event also showcased lapidary arts as part of the AGTA Cutting Edge Awards.

This year, moody, luminous moonstones seemed to be having a moment. The top winner, tied for "Best of Show" and winning "First Place Evening Wear," was James Currens of New York-based J.W. Currens Inc., who took honors for a platinum and silver "Empress" ring featuring a 15.58-carat pear-shaped moonstone encircled by rows of diamonds, color-change garnets and oval-shaped moonstones.

But classic stones were big players, too. The piece that tied for "Best of Show," which also took third place in the evening wear category, was "The Quiet Moment" brooch, featuring 66.15 carats of oval-shaped emeralds.

Gems that played prominently among the winning selections included not only moonstone, but sapphires, garnet and tourmaline--all appearing in various and often unexpected colors. Winning designs were also generously sprinkled with colored and colorless diamonds as accents, and even rough-diamond slices made their way into the designs.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yf38mc7

Platinum and mixed-cut diamond cluster earrings with 9.67 carats total weight of diamonds ($130,000).

New York--It shouldn't come as any surprise whose jewelry Ivanka Trump wore when she walked down the aisle to marry newspaper owner and fellow real estate scion Jared Kushner. Why, her own, of course.

The Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry owner, who married Kushner in a private ceremony at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., wore a custom Vera Wang gown and $265,000 in jewels from Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, including a custom-designed, platinum and mixed-cut diamond hair piece, platinum and mixed-cut diamond cluster earrings and an art deco platinum and fancy-link diamond estate bracelet.

The hair piece, valued at $45,000, accented Trump's veil and featured 6.38 carats of diamonds, while her $90,000 estate bracelet weighed in at 26 carats of diamonds.

It was her hefty earrings, though, that carried the heaviest price tag: $130,000 for the 9.67-carat total-weight stunners.

Trump wasn't the only one wearing the line's jewels. Her bridesmaids sported Carolina Herrera gowns with assorted designs from Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/ylpdj3z

Buyers line up to gain access to the JA New York Special Delivery show on Sunday, the opening day of the cash-and-carry jewelry show. The show runs through Oct. 27 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

New York--In yet another sign that the economy is slowly, but surely, recovering, buyers flooded the floor of the JA New York Special Delivery show, which opened on Sunday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Pre-registration for the show, which runs through Tuesday, Oct. 27, was up from last year and about on par with 2007 figures, JA New York Group Show Director Drew Lawsky said.

In addition, prior to the show's 10:00 a.m. opening, would-be attendees who had not pre-registered lined up at the registration desk, with total show attendance up 18 percent at the end of the day.

Lawsky said he was "very satisfied" with the turnout, noting that the jewelry industry is starting to mirror the signs of recovery exhibited by the general economy.

"We're beginning to feel some of the turnaround," he said.

The pick-up in business didn't go unnoticed among buyers and exhibitors alike on opening day.

Shopping in the Hong Kong Pavilion a little more than an hour after the show opened, retailer Joseph Wallace, of Wallace Brothers Jewelry in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was among those who noted the show-floor buzz.

"I'm surprised how busy it is," he said. "I see counters I want to get into and find I have to come back. They're kind of full."

More at: http://tinyurl.com/ykaudqw

Model Marisa Miller wears Victoria's Secret's "Harlequin Fantasy Bra," designed by Italian jewelry house Damiani.

New York--Victoria's Secret has been selling its convertible bras for years, but when shoppers receive the lingerie retailer's newest catalog in the mail this week, they'll find one version with a $3 million price tag.

The latest of the diamond-studded stunners that Victoria's Secret reveals each year is a Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Convertible bra crafted with an 18-karat gold harlequin-patterned net and embellished with 2,355 colorless and cognac diamonds.

Topping it all off is a rare, 16-carat heart-shaped diamond in a champagne hue.

The "Harlequin Fantasy Bra," as it has been named, was designed by Italian jewelry house Damiani and manufactured at the brand's workshop in Valenza, Italy.

A team of 15 artisans labored for more than 800 hours to produce the bra's gold framework and hand-set its nearly 150 carats of diamonds. Each link of the bra's intertwining gold frame, as well as all of the feather-like gold elements that line the bra, were mounted individually and move independently.

After the diamonds were set, the artisans set to burnishing the gold, protecting each stone with an enamel solution before submerging the piece in a rhodium bath. The final result: a striking contrast between the sparkle of the diamonds and the darkened gold.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yk4aykc

The design of pieces in De Beers' "Everlon Diamond Knot Collection," like this pave diamond ring, is based on the Hercules knot, an ancient Greek symbol of strength.

London--After months under wraps, De Beers unveiled its "Big Idea" for the fourth quarter, a line of knot-shaped diamond jewelry intended to remind consumers that the strength of a couple's love never unravels, even in the toughest times.

The "Everlon Diamond Knot Collection" motif is based on the Hercules knot, an ancient symbol of strength, with each piece featuring a diamond at the knot's center. De Beers created the Everlon name, product logo and central collection of pieces, but unlike "beacons" of past years, such as Journey or three-stone diamond jewelry, not everyone can pick up Everlon and run with it.

This year, De Beers is sharing the costs of the trademarked program with Diamond Trading Co. (DTC) sightholders that have opted in, as well as retailers who had to pay fees to sell Everlon, says Jamie Caldwell, director of the Diamond Information Center (DIC), De Beers' U.S. marketing arm.

De Beers wouldn't confirm the per-jeweler costs (one jeweler said it was $3,000 per store) but said those dollars will help fund what it calls a "groundbreaking cooperative marketing approach."

Out of the DTC's 79 sightholders, four met the deadline to sign on for Everlon: Elegant Collection/Jasani, JBDM, Pluczenik and Rosy Blue, as did 300 independent retailers and 10 major retailers: Ben Bridge Jeweler, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Helzberg Diamond Shops, J.C. Penney Co., Macy's, Reeds Jewelers, Riddle's Jewelry, Sam's Club, Samuels/Rogers Jewelers and Zale Corp.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yjj3oxm

The Olympia Diamond Collection consists of five colored diamonds ranging in size from 1.01 to 2.34 carats. It is on display now through January at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

New York--A collection of 25 diamonds, including the Olympia Diamond Collection, is on display now through January at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

According to a news release from the museum, the public can view the diamonds in the museum's Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems.

Diamonds in the exhibit include a brilliant-cut intense-pink diamond set in gold with smaller pink diamonds, designed by Carvin French with diamonds from Rio Tinto's Argyle Mine in Australia; a 5.4-carat round-brilliant-cut diamond pendant surrounded by 20 sapphires and set in white gold, designed in California in 1960; and the five colored diamonds of the Olympia Diamond Collection.

According to the release, the Olympia Diamond Collection is on loan from Scarselli Diamonds Inc. and consists of a 1.01-carat vivid orange-yellow diamond, a 1.02-carat vivid blue-green diamond, a 2.17-carat vivid purplish-pink diamond, a 2.13-carat vivid blue diamond and a 2.34-carat vivid orange diamond.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/yhf4hf3