Shy no more
An Australian company has developed a pendant designed to ease the difficulty of meeting one's perfect partner.
The SHI (single, happy, interested) Symbol helps single people identify one another in the same way a wedding band sends the message that someone is married.
A release from its Perth-based creator reads: "Wearing an SHI Symbol identifies the wearer as being single, happy and interested."
Pronounced shy, the sterling silver symbol that links the male (Mars) and female (Venus) gender symbols can be worn as a pendant, earrings, cufflinks, tiepins lapel pin, on clothing or attached to handbags or mobiles.
Currently available in Australia and the UK, plans are in place to target the US market. This is coupled with the release of Gay and Lesbian SHI Symbols.
"We're excited to have such a vast singles market for capable and entrepreneurial business persons/investors to have the opportunity to get on board at the 'ground floor level' in various US States," said Jan Pagonis, managing director, SHI Symbol International.
See www.shisymbol.com.au for more info.
Diamond to fetch $US8m
London-based auction house Christies is expecting bids to reach $US8 million when a 101-carat, near-flawless diamond goes under the hammer at the group's international sale in Hong Kong during May.
The highlight of the sale, the stone is an F-colour VVS1 cut from a 460-carat rough discovered at the Premier diamond mine in South Africa - the largest and oldest diamond mine in the country. According to a statement from the company, the gem is the biggest white diamond at auction in nearly two decades and it is the first time a gem of this quality and weight is to be auctioned in Asia.
The vendor is a Europe-based diamond trading company run by three brothers.
The buyer will get the right to name the stone.
Well-belted
New-York-based belt manufacturer Kale Miles has created a line of belts with buckles fashioned from around 227 grams of platinum.
It takes about three weeks for Kale Miles designer Kristina Pitaniello to make each buckle in a Boston workshop and no two are alike.
Currently worth $US18,000 ($AU19,388) the price will fluctuate as the price of platinum rises and falls.
Hot diamond wheels
A Beverly Hills jeweller has created a Hot Wheels toy car cast in 18-carat white gold and set with diamonds.
The 1:64 scale model was designed by celebrity jeweller Jason of Beverly Hills to celebrate Hot Wheels' 40th anniversary. It is detailed with blue diamonds, ruby tail lights and red enamel tires, and features black and white diamonds on the miniature engine.
The car and custom case - also diamond-set - boasts 2,700 diamonds for a total diamond weight of almost 23 carats.
At $US140,000 ($AU150,794) collectors can drive-away with no more to pay.
Aguilera now a muse
Pop diva Christina Aguilera has inspired a new line of sterling silver jewellery.
Jewellery designer Stephen Webster will launch the Stephen Webster Silver Collection exclusively at Swiss trade fair Baselworld this month, before promoting it internationally.
"She was a real coup for us," said Webster of the pop star. "She's our longest-term regular client and the right age for the brand. We think she's in the most glamorous period of her life right now, and she is the main source of inspiration behind the collection."
Commitment pizza
Joining the trend to marry food and jewellery, a New York pizzeria has added a heart-shaped pizza to its menu for Valentine's Day, and garnished it with a diamond ring.
For $US8,180 ($AU8,809) Favitta's Family Pizzeria in Henrietta will serve the dish to one hungry couple and generously "throw in" a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne.
Pizza for Lovers, as the dish is known, has had no takers so far - perhaps pizza doesn't quite say "marry me".
Damiani robbed
A prestigious Italian boutique has been burgled for estimated losses of $AU32 million while its owners were away hosting an Oscars party in Los Angeles.
According to a report in The Australian, the heist occurred at the Damiani showroom in Milan's fashion district on the morning of February 24, where four thieves dressed in balaclavas, sunglasses and fake uniforms used an internal staircase to reach the first floor, thus avoiding alarms and cameras.
The thieves had spent more than a month digging a tunnel from an unused cellar in an adjoining building. All five employees inside during the heist were tied up with electrical cable, their mouths sealed with tape, and locked in the bathroom. The thieves then fled with the jewellery in an operation that took around 40 minutes.
Gold price up, marriage down
According to a report in Pakistan newspaper The Post, rising gold prices are making it difficult for citizens to get married.
Gold's escalating price tag means many parents are unable to meet the dowry demands of a potential groom's family - without the show of gold, parents cannot marry off their daughters with honour.
Teacher Muhammad Anwar, a father of three, told The Post "that the need for gold to adorn 'every inch of a bride' must end".
Brides have now begun using plated jewellery for their wedding day adornment. Manufacturers are responding accordingly, making plated-gold jewellery after losing millions during the gold hike.
The demand for such fake items is reportedly soaring in Pakistan and increasing in the US, Canada, UK, Africa and Gulf markets also.