Julee's Jewelry Blog

Jewelry insiders at the JCK Luxury Show in Las Vegas this past weekend were treated to a rare and radiant experience: an in-person viewing of Jack Abraham’s "Royal Ruby Collection," a $10 million suite of five natural, unheated rubies, each sourced from a different exotic location. Representing over 40 years of passionate collecting, this one-of-a-kind ensemble is the masterwork of Abraham — known across the industry as the “Ruby Baron” of New York.



We had the honor of meeting with the octogenarian and witnessing the rubies firsthand — each glowing with a unique hue and story that reflects its country of origin: Burma (Myanmar), Tajikistan, Thailand, Mozambique and Madagascar.

Together, the five stones total 53.53 carats, with individual weights ranging from 7.11 to 17.88 carats. Each ruby has been carefully set in handcrafted platinum and 18-karat gold rings, selected to highlight the gem’s shape and personality.

Abraham’s favorite color is red and his ruby journey began in 1979 with the acquisition of a rare, 5.79-carat, no-heat Thai ruby — an increasingly scarce gem due to depleted mines in the region. Over the decades, he sought out equally extraordinary rubies from other famed origins, upgrading and curating the collection until it formed a perfectly balanced global quintet.

What distinguishes the Royal Ruby Collection is not only its beauty, but its rarity and geological significance. According to Abraham, each ruby in the collection has unique color traits, mineral content and origin-specific characteristics.

This exceptional suite debuted publicly in 2024 at the grand reopening of the Peabody Museum’s Gem and Mineral Hall at Yale University, where it took center stage among some of the world's most important natural treasures. The museum’s gem advisory board chairman, Cap Beesley, personally invited Abraham to exhibit the rubies, calling the collection “one of the most significant ever assembled.”

At JCK in Vegas, the rubies once again drew awe and admiration — not only for their vibrant reds and near-flawless clarity, but also for what they represent: decades of expertise, unrelenting pursuit and a love for rubies.

Though several interested ruby buyers approached Abraham at the show, he remains reluctant to break up the set. Ideally he'd prefer to see them kept together, perhaps in a museum exhibit to be enjoyed by the masses.

Credit: Image courtesy of Jack Abraham.

A groundbreaking study from researchers at Germany's University of Göttingen has uncovered tantalizing evidence that the Earth's molten metallic core — long thought to be geochemically sealed off — may, in fact, be slowly "leaking" gold and other precious metals into the rocky mantle and up to the planet’s surface via volcanic activity.



This surprising discovery opens up a fascinating new chapter in our understanding of Earth’s geology, and it may even help explain the origins of some of the precious metals we rely on in jewelry, electronics and clean energy technologies.

The key to the discovery lies in Hawaii’s volcanoes. Scientists analyzed volcanic rocks, including samples from the actively erupting Kilauea volcano, and found something astonishing: an unusually high concentration of a rare deep-Earth isotope of the platinum group metal ruthenium, known as 100Ru. This particular isotope acts like a chemical fingerprint, revealing that the ruthenium in these rocks must have originated not from the Earth’s mantle — as would be expected — but from the core itself, some 3,000 kilometers (about 1,900 miles) below the surface.

Detecting such a faint signal is no easy task. In fact, past attempts had failed to differentiate the tiny isotopic differences between mantle- and core-derived ruthenium. However, new ultra-precise analytical techniques developed by the Göttingen team finally cracked the code. The presence of core-derived 100Ru in Hawaiian lava flows is now taken as direct evidence that material from the Earth’s core is migrating upward through the mantle.

“This is the geochemical equivalent of striking gold,” said Dr. Nils Messling, lead author of the study, published in Nature. “It shows that the Earth’s core is not entirely isolated and that metals from the core, including gold, are being transported up toward the surface.”

While more than 99.999% of Earth’s gold remains locked deep within the core, unreachable by any mining technology, this study suggests that volcanic activity may deliver tiny, but measurable, amounts of these core metals to the surface.

Hawaii, for example, sits atop a deep mantle plume — a jet of superheated rock rising from the boundary between the core and the mantle. These plumes act as natural elevators, bringing up material enriched in precious metals.

Study co-author Matthias Willbold, a professor at the University of Göttingen, added, “This process isn’t just about gold. It’s about understanding the inner workings of our planet. The core and mantle are interacting in ways we never fully appreciated before.”

For jewelry lovers, this research provides a poetic reminder that the treasures we wear may, quite literally, come from the heart of the Earth.

Credit: Illustration by The Jeweler Blog using Microsoft's AI image generator.

A sapphire that made headlines 10 years ago has once again etched its name into the record books. Just last week, "The Regent Kashmir," a 35.09-carat antique cushion-shaped sapphire, achieved a staggering $9.5 million at Christie’s Hong Kong, setting a new world record for highest price per carat ever paid at auction for a sapphire — $271,515.



Revered for its unheated royal blue hue and Kashmir origin, The Regent Kashmir eclipsed the previous record of $243,703 per carat, held by the 27.6-carat "Jewel of Kashmir" sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in October 2015.

In May of that same year, The Regent Kashmir had commanded $7.4 million at Christie’s Geneva, with a then-record-setting price of $209,689 per carat. The sapphire’s triumphant return to the auction block in 2025 reaffirms its place among the most exceptional gems ever offered at auction.

Described by Christie’s as a “once-in-a-generation masterpiece,” The Regent Kashmir is set in a platinum ring and flanked by round brilliant diamonds. According to a report from the Swiss Gemmological Institute, the gem displays an “attractive and saturated blue color” and “outstanding clarity,” made even more vivid by its expert cutting. Its velvety “royal blue” hue, a hallmark of fine Kashmir sapphires, is attributed to subtle inclusions and trace elements unique to the storied mines of Kashmir in the Himalayas.

Kashmir sapphires, mined primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are among the rarest and most sought-after gemstones in the world. Their unparalleled coloration and natural (untreated) state significantly enhance their desirability and value.

Although The Regent Kashmir broke the price-per-carat record for a sapphire and sold above its pre-sale low estimate of $8.3 million, it fell short of its $12.1 million high estimate.

Credit: Image courtesy of Christie’s.

A bold new study is reshaping how scientists and entrepreneurs think about space mining. According to recent research published in Planetary and Space Science, lunar craters could contain more than a trillion dollars’ worth of platinum and other precious metals — making the Moon a more viable mining target than asteroids.



The study, led by astronomer Jayanth Chennamangalam and colleagues, estimates that at least 6,500 craters larger than one kilometer across on the Moon could harbor remnants of metal-rich asteroids. These platinum group metals (PGMs) — including platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and osmium — were deposited when asteroids collided with the Moon’s surface over billions of years.

This finding drastically shifts the economic calculus. Previous models suggested that fewer than a dozen near-Earth asteroids were rich enough in PGMs to be worth mining. But Chennamangalam’s team found that the Moon may contain one to two orders of magnitude more viable mining sites than accessible asteroids, especially in larger craters where asteroid material may have pooled after impact.

If even a fraction of these resources can be extracted and returned to Earth, the implications for the global precious metals market—and the jewelry industry—are massive.

However, the path from theory to treasure is anything but smooth.

Despite the promise of abundant PGMs, lunar mining faces steep technical and financial obstacles. Transporting mined materials from the Moon back to Earth remains prohibitively expensive. Researchers at the University of Alberta have emphasized that lifting heavy loads on the Moon and safely landing them on Earth would require unprecedented technology.

There’s also the matter of extraction. Because human missions would be costly and dangerous, robotic systems are the most likely candidates to do the digging. But developing autonomous, rugged and energy-efficient robots that can operate in the Moon’s harsh environment is a massive engineering challenge in itself.

Even if these hurdles are overcome, companies eager to stake a lunar claim may find themselves mired in legal limbo.

International law on lunar mining remains ambiguous. The 1966 United Nations Outer Space Treaty forbids nations from claiming sovereignty over celestial bodies, while the 1979 Moon Agreement goes even further, prohibiting property rights of any kind on the Moon. However, neither treaty offers clear guidelines for private enterprises.

The US has tried to fill the gap with its 2020 Artemis Accords, which aim to establish “safety zones” for lunar activities and protect commercial interests. Yet major space powers, such as Russia and China, have not signed on, and legal scholars warn that without a comprehensive global framework, disputes are inevitable.

As technology pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in space exploration, the race for lunar riches is only just beginning. But whether moon mining becomes a new frontier for the jewelry industry—or remains an expensive fantasy—will depend as much on policy and innovation as on what lies just beneath the Moon’s dusty surface.

Credit: The Moon's Hayn Crater photo by NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

Love makes us do crazy things — like stripping a car interior down to the floorboard to find a diamond ring. That’s exactly what newlywed Geno Foster of Southern California did when his wife Jessica’s engagement ring mysteriously vanished during a routine errand run earlier this year.



The 31-year-old social media manager was cleaning her ring with a jewelry pen in the passenger seat of their BMW when the car hit a bump. In an instant, the ring slipped from her hands and disappeared into the abyss between the seat and center console.

At first, the couple wasn’t overly concerned.

But after hours of searching, Geno, a 29-year-old freelance videographer, knew he needed to take this task to the next level.



With calm determination, he began disassembling their car. Seats, center console, even the carpet — nothing was off-limits.

“I just knew I had to do whatever it takes to find the ring,” he later told Inside Edition. “I wasn’t going to stop looking for it.”

After about two hours of mechanical sleuthing, Geno struck gold. The ring had somehow lodged itself in a narrow crevice between two layers of carpet beneath the center console.



Jessica captured the entire ordeal on video, sharing it to TikTok on February 18. The clip quickly went viral, with more than 9.7 million views and thousands of comments from fans who applauded Geno’s devotion — and shared similar stories of lost treasures in hard-to-reach places.

The saga was picked up by People magazine on February 24, and resurfaced in the media spotlight again when Inside Edition featured the couple on June 1.

Geno now jokes about putting an AirTag on the ring. But in an industry built on symbolism and sentiment, this story is a timeless reminder: a ring may be small, but its meaning — and the lengths someone will go to recover it — can be enormous.

Credits: Screen captures via Jessandgeno / Tiktok, YouTube / Inside Edition.

As we celebrate June’s birthstone — the timeless and elegant pearl — we spotlight one of history’s most extraordinary jewels: Marie Antoinette’s natural pearl and diamond pendant, which shattered records when it sold for $36.8 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2018.



This spectacular piece, featuring a slightly baroque-shaped natural saltwater pearl, was once part of the doomed French queen’s private collection. Measuring an impressive 15.90mm x 18.35mm x 25.85mm, the pendant is suspended from a diamond bow set with an oval diamond — a design that exemplifies 18th-century royal refinement.

But what makes this jewel even more compelling is the extraordinary story of how it escaped the French Revolution.

In March 1791, with revolution gripping France, Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI prepared a desperate escape. Before their attempted flight, the queen carefully wrapped her most prized jewels — including this pearl pendant — in cotton and packed them into a wooden chest. Entrusting them to Count Mercy-Argenteau, a loyal ally, the jewels were smuggled out of France and sent to her native Austria.

While the jewels made it safely to Vienna, Marie Antoinette did not. Just three months later, the royal family was captured in Varennes during their failed escape and imprisoned. The queen and king were executed by guillotine in 1793.

Only their daughter, Marie-Thérèse, survived. After enduring three years of solitary confinement, she was released and allowed to go to Austria, where she was reunited with her mother’s hidden jewels. The pendant remained in royal hands for over two centuries, unseen by the public until it reemerged at auction.

Sotheby’s listed the pendant with a modest pre-sale estimate of $1.6 million to $2.9 million. Fierce bidding drove the final hammer price to a record-breaking $36.8 million, eclipsing the previous record held by Elizabeth Taylor’s La Peregrina pearl, which was sold for $11.8 million at Christie's New York in 2011.

Why are natural pearls so prized? Unlike cultured pearls, which are created with human intervention by inserting a bead nucleus into a mollusk, natural pearls form organically when an irritant like a grain of sand becomes trapped inside a mollusk.

The animal responds by coating the irritant in layer upon layer of nacre — the luminous substance that gives pearls their famous glow. Due to overfishing and environmental changes, natural pearls are extremely rare in modern times, making specimens like Marie Antoinette’s not just beautiful, but almost mythical.

As we honor the birthstone of June, we’re reminded that pearls — especially natural ones — carry stories deeper than the sea. In the case of this royal pendant, it’s a story of luxury, legacy, and survival against the odds.

Credits: Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we turn our spotlight on Lady Gaga’s “Blade of Grass,” a tender and haunting ballad inspired by her own love story.



The story begins in Gaga’s own backyard, where she and tech entrepreneur Michael Polansky shared a quiet moment discussing the idea of marriage. “He said to me, ‘If I ever proposed to you, how do I do that?’” Gaga recounted. “And I said, ‘Just get a blade of grass from the backyard and wrap it around my finger.’” True to her words, Polansky did exactly that when he proposed on April Fool’s Day 2024.

But the modest blade of grass wasn’t the only ring Polansky had planned. He also presented Gaga with a breathtaking oval-cut diamond ring, estimated to be worth up to $2 million. The stunning sparkler features a 10-carat center stone set on an 18-karat white and rose gold pavé band, accented with natural pink ombré diamonds and a hidden white diamond halo.

Still, it was the symbolic blade of grass, cast in resin to preserve its sentiment, that touched Gaga most deeply. “I love them both,” she told The Howard Stern Show audience, “but the blade of grass, you can’t replace something that has a meaning like that.”

That deeply meaningful moment was the inspiration behind “Blade of Grass,” a love song Gaga co-wrote with Polansky. The lyrics echo the intimacy of the moment: “Come on and wrap that blade of grass / Around my finger like a cast… / Come on and wrap that blade of grass / And we’ll make it last.”

In interviews, Gaga has described the song as “a love song between the two of us” that also serves as a reflection on the journey it took to find love. The song is rooted not only in joy, but also in memory — the same backyard where the proposal took place was also the site of her late friend Sonja Durham’s wedding, held shortly before Durham’s passing in 2017. “Blade of Grass” becomes, then, a poignant tribute to the bittersweet nature of love, life and remembrance.

"Blade of Grass" was featured as the 13th track on Gaga's chart-topping 2025 album, Mayhem. The album charted in 32 countries and claimed the #1 spot on both the US Billboard 200 and the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. At the Little Monster Press Conference hosted by Spotify, Gaga singled out “Blade of Grass” as her favorite song on the album, not only for its beauty, but for the deeply collaborative and emotional experience of creating it.

Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986, is no stranger to emotional songwriting and show-stopping talent. Since the release of The Fame, her 2008 debut studio album, featuring mega-hits like “Just Dance” and “Poker Face,” she has reinvented herself across genres and mediums. Alongside her musical accomplishments, Gaga has earned 14 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award — cementing her status as one of the most versatile and lauded artists of her generation.

Whether it’s symbolically wrapped in platinum, diamonds or a blade of grass, love — like music — shines brightest when it comes from the heart.

Please check out Gaga's live performance of "Blade Of Grass" from Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"Blade of Grass"
Written by Lady Gaga, Andrew Watt, Mike Lévy and Michael Polansky. Performed by Lady Gaga.

Lovers kiss in a garden made of thorns
Traces of lonely words, illusions torn

You said, "How does a man like me love a woman like you?"
I said, "Hold me until I die and I'll make you brand new"

Come on and wrap that blade of grass
Around my finger like a cast
'Cause even though the church burned down
I'll be your queen without a crown
I've been so lonely in this field
Fighting a battle with no shield
Come on and wrap that blade of grass
And we'll make it last

This is the lawn of memories I mourn
I fall into your eyes, shelter from storm

You said, "How does a man like me love a woman like you?"
I said, "Hold me until I die and I'll make you brand new"

Come on and wrap that blade of grass
Around my finger like a cast
'Cause even though the church burned down
I'll be your queen without a crown
I've been so lonely in this field
Fighting a battle with no shield
Come on and wrap that blade of grass
And we'll make it last
Come on and wrap that blade of grass
And we'll make it last

I'll give you something
Yeah, it's no diamond ring
The air that I'm breathing
Forever's not enough
A song we'll both sing
Yeah, it's not the same thing
Yeah, it's not the same thing
Forever's not enough

Come on and wrap that blade of grass
Around my finger like a cast
'Cause even though the church burned down
I'll be your queen without a crown
I've been so lonely in this field
Fighting a battle with no shield
Come on and wrap that blade of grass
Wrap that blade of grass
Wrap that blade of grass
And we'll make it last
Come on and wrap that blade of grass
And we'll make it last



Credit: Photo by Justin Higuchi, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

When the New York Liberty clinched their long-awaited first WNBA championship in October 2024, they didn’t just make history — they inspired a masterpiece. The team’s iconic seafoam green and black color palette became the foundation for one of the most uniquely symbolic championship rings in sports.



Designed by Jason of Beverly Hills in collaboration with Brooklyn-based twin sisters Dynasty and Soull Ogun of L’Enchanteur, the ring features rare paraíba tourmalines and striking black diamonds — stones chosen not just for their beauty, but for what they represent.

“Color was everything,” explained Soull Ogun to bkmag.com. “The Liberty’s seafoam green opened the door for us to incorporate paraíba, which is incredibly rare, vibrant and powerful. And the black diamonds? That’s New York grit. That’s every hard-fought win.”

In a moment 28 years in the making, the New York Liberty finally secured their first WNBA championship in 2024. And earlier this month, the team celebrated that historic achievement at Barclays Center in Brooklyn — not only by raising a banner to the rafters, but by unveiling an impressive memento of an epic season.

“This wasn't just a ring, it was a responsibility,” said Jason Arasheben, founder of Jason of Beverly Hills. “The New York Liberty waited 28 years for this moment, and we knew the jewelry needed to reflect every ounce of that journey.”

The twins’ artistic vision helped him do just that. Known for their storytelling in fashion and jewelry, Dynasty and Soull brought a deeply personal and symbolic lens to the project.



Soull Ogun told bkmag.com that the design began with the Liberty’s torch logo, which was “made to spill over the edge” of the ring — turning a familiar icon into something bold and reimagined. But the centerpiece of their vision was the leaf rising from concrete, a poetic tribute to the Liberty’s resilience.

“Concrete is such a heavy, dense material, and then you have this delicate leaf of life growing through it,” she said. “That’s our story, being from 'The Concrete Jungle,' and I feel like that’s the story of the New York Liberty.”



The symbolism runs deep throughout the ring. The leaf features 28 paraíba tourmalines (a perfect match to the Liberty's official seafoam green team color), representing the team’s 28-year journey. The “Y” in “NY” holds 11 black diamonds for the Liberty’s playoff victories, and 32 points of black diamond acknowledge their regular-season wins. A single diamond set in the WNBA championship trophy honors their inaugural title. More than six carats of white diamonds reflect the six years of ownership by Joe and Clara Wu Tsai — visionary leaders behind the franchise's revival.



Adding a unique twist, the ring’s top opens to reveal hidden crown earrings, designed by Arasheben. “This is the first time we've done earrings inside the ring,” Jason noted. The idea, according to Soull, was to give players an everyday token of their triumph — “a piece of that championship they can wear all the time.”

The inside of the ring holds even more personal touches: engraved jersey numbers of the 2024 roster, a miniature basketball court detailing each playoff series, and the Liberty’s rallying cry—"We All We Got! We All We Need!"

From its textured surface to the cracks representing the team's challenges, every inch of the ring was meticulously crafted. Dynasty and Soull, whose work often explores transformation and resilience, made sure this piece honored not just a win, but a journey.

“A diamond in the rough, also growing from the concrete,” they said. “That’s the Liberty. That’s Brooklyn.”

As CEO Keia Clarke noted during the unveiling, “This ring is a tribute to every fan, every player who believed in the New York Liberty and shared in our unforgettable 2024 title run.”

Indeed, the ring is more than a memento — it’s a symbol of perseverance, unity, and a dream realized in the heart of Brooklyn. It honors the past, celebrates the present, and gleams with the promise of more championships to come.

Credits: Images by Jason of Beverly Hills, courtesy of The New York Liberty.

A small gold ring set with a red gemstone — likely a garnet — has been unearthed in Jerusalem’s City of David, providing new insight into the coming-of-age rituals of ancient residents. Dating back approximately 2,300 years to the Early Hellenistic period, the ring is the second of its kind discovered in less than a year from the same archaeological site, further supporting theories of its symbolic role.



Excavated under the guidance of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University, the artifact was discovered beneath the floor of a large residential building believed to have housed affluent inhabitants. Alongside the ring, archaeologists uncovered a cache of jewelry, including bronze earrings, a gold earring adorned with a horned animal motif and a delicately decorated gold bead.

What makes this latest discovery especially compelling is the context in which the ring was found. Researchers believe that such jewelry was purposefully buried as part of a rite of passage, a Hellenistic-era custom wherein betrothed girls would place their childhood belongings — including treasured adornments — into the foundations of a new home. This symbolic act marked a profound transition from childhood into adulthood, reinforcing identity, familial roles and cultural belonging.



"The fact that two such rings were discovered in close proximity and from the same archaeological stratum significantly strengthens our assumption that these were part of a known cultural practice,” said Dr. Marion Zindel, the IAA archaeologist who examined the ring. “They may have belonged to children or adolescents preparing for marriage and adult life.”

Fashion during the Early Hellenistic period reflected a blend of Eastern and Mediterranean influences, largely due to the expanded trade networks following Alexander the Great’s conquests. Garnets and other vibrantly colored gemstones set in gold were prized for both their beauty and symbolic value, indicating a family's wealth and cosmopolitan tastes.

Rivka Lengler, an excavator who was present during the discovery, described the moment the ring was found: “At first, we thought it might be modern — something dropped recently. But the craftsmanship and the context made it clear: this was ancient. It was a deeply moving experience. You really feel history in your hands.”

Credits: Recent ring discovery, photo by Eliyahu Yanai, City of David. Previous ring discovery, photo by Asaf Pery, City of David.

This June, one of the most storied gems in auction history will once again take center stage as Christie’s presents "The Blue Belle" — a 392.52-carat sapphire and diamond necklace — at its Magnificent Jewels sale in New York. Scheduled for June 17 at Rockefeller Center, this historic event marks a rare reappearance of the world’s most valuable blue sapphire, a little more than a decade after it stunned the jewelry world with a record-breaking sale.



Discovered in 1926 in Pelmadula, Ratnapura — Sri Lanka’s famed “City of Gems” — The Blue Belle is a cushion-shaped Ceylon sapphire of exceptional color and clarity. The gem’s journey is as rich as its hue: originally owned by renowned Colombo-based jewelers O.L.M. Macan Markar & Co., it was sold in 1937 to British industrialist Lord Nuffield.

Rumors swirled that the sapphire was intended as a gift for Queen Elizabeth on her coronation day in May of that same year, but the presentation never occurred, and The Blue Belle quietly vanished into private collections.



It wasn’t until 2014 that The Blue Belle — then known as the "Blue Belle of Asia" — reappeared, captivating collectors at Christie’s Geneva. That year, the necklace shattered records by achieving $17.3 million, easily eclipsing its presale estimate of $6.9 to $9.9 million and becoming the most expensive sapphire ever sold at auction.

As Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewelry, memorably announced at the time, “The private collector… is now the new owner of the most valuable sapphire in the world.”

In 2025, The Blue Belle returns to the spotlight with a more conservative estimate of $8 million to $12 million. Despite the lower forecast, the significance of the sapphire remains undiminished.

Kadakia emphasizes, “Sapphires of this caliber are extraordinarily rare. This remarkable stone must be considered among the most prestigious colored gemstones to appear on the market in many years.”

The necklace itself is a masterwork: The Blue Belle is the centerpiece of a majestic diamond necklace featuring nine tassels adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds. Each tassel terminates in a larger oval-cut diamond.

Reports from leading gemological institutes, including SSEF and Gübelin, have certified the sapphire as untreated, confirming its natural brilliance and further elevating its rarity.

Credits: Images courtesy of Christie's.