LAROGBLOG

507 CARAT DIAMOND SOLD FOR 35.3 MILLION

2010-02-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

A 507 carat big hunk of "Bling" (as big as a chicken egg) sold for 35.3 million bucks to a jeweler in Hong Kong. It is the 19th largest rough diamond ever discovered. It has the potential to become one of the most important gems ever cut. It was discovered in the Cullinan mine located in South Africa. The diamond weighs 3.53 ounces. Now THAT is a ROCK!

EDDA BROWN IS THE QUEEN BEE OF LA ROG'S

2009-12-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

Edda announced her retirement this year and tomorrow will be her final day at LaRogs. Edda Brown joined our family of jewelers twenty years ago and has been the leader in sales and remarkable customer service ever since. Our family and the entire staff is really going to miss our Queen Bee, but we are also happy for her and her husband Charlie who will travel and enjoy life! There are no words to describe how much we will miss seeing you in the store and your customers who adore you.

WE DID THIS IN A BIG WAY! PANDORA!

2009-11-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

We are proud to be the only 2 store GOLD LEVEL Pandora dealer in the state. If you want to see the largest selection of Pandora, visit our eastside or westside location, or BOTH! Pandora is the #1 designer in the world and LaRog Brothers is your #1 Pandora Jeweler.

IF YOU DIG & DIG..THERE IS A CHANCE YOU WILL FIND IT!

2009-11-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Wedding Ring Found Amid 10 Tons Of Trash

Husband Accidentally Threw Away Ring In Cup

POSTED: 3:52 am PST November 11, 2009

UPDATED: 4:05 am PST November 11, 2009

PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- Sanitation workers sorted through 10 tons of trash to recover a wedding ring accidentally thrown away by a New Jersey couple.

Bridget Pericolo had placed the ring in a cup that her husband, Angelo, threw out with the garbage before leaving for work. When he realized the mistake, he contacted the town's sanitation supervisor, who suggested coming by the Parsippany dump.

Supervisor Michael Brotons and sanitation workers Edgar Lopez and Joseph McGee dug through the refuse until they found the garbage bag that Angelo Pericolo had thrown away.

The Pericolos recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.

YANKEE CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS!

2009-10-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

JEWELRY FOUND FROM 675 AD

2009-09-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is one incredible discovery! An amateur treasure hunter found jewelry buried from 675 A.D.

The treasures included helmet crests as well as earrings, necklaces and bracelets. Terry Herbert, who is unemployed spent five days searching a field outside of London when his metal detector went nuts! The exact location is being kept secret for security reasons. The value? Priceless.

MAGGIE ...OUR STORE GREETER!

2009-09-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Maggie was just waking from her nap when this photo was snapped. Maggie is going on 14 years old, so she needs her daily nap. Kids adore Maggie when they stop by with Mom & Dad. Maggie even wears REAL Pearls! So on your next visit to Hall & Greenburg, say hi to Maggie.

WHAT MAKES THE DIAMOND BUSINESS FUN.......

2009-08-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

A wonderful couple were shopping for their wedding rings and fell in love with a J. Kirk design that we just got in. They took the information and returned the following day with the brides Mom & Dad who I have known for over thirty years and sold them their rings! The couple really are nuts over each other (met in high school just like the Brides parents) and took photos of the ring (has to be special ordered) and photos with the parents and me! It was a real special day in the store. This is a couple that has a great future before them. Thanks for making my day!

Dave Rogoway

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE HOPE DIAMOND DESIGN

2009-08-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/index.html

It is a tough choice, they are all stunning designs! The most famous rock in the world is going to get a new home. Check it out

WE LOVE OUR NEW SIGN

2008-10-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Theres nothing like a cool retro-neon sign. This one really lights up at night on SW Hall & Greenburg Road. We stay open until 7pm Mon-Thursday - Fridays till 8 - Saturday 10am-6pm
Sundays Noon-5. Drop in for a glass of Northwest wine and a relaxing shopping experience.
Our Eastside store is terrific also with a staff that loves their Customers! It's all about service!
We hope to serve you and earn your business for that big rock or a simple repair. We are the last of the full service Jewelers in town.

WOW...NOW THIS IS A ROCK!

2008-07-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

Rick & Dave checkin in.....Heres news that just broke on a very important & historic diamond sale. Have a great 4th of July everybody....This is the ultimate sparkler (sorry for the pun)

Jaw-Dropping Jewels

Athina Onassis, the billionaire daughter of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and the step-daughter of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, auctioned off this 38-carat diamond -- which once belonged to her late mother, Christina -- for $7.1 million on June 11, 2008, Reuters reported. The diamond sold for roughly twice as much as expected.

Coming Soon..............

2008-04-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

Wow....Are we excited about our new store ready to open in May! This is the store we have dreamed about. We have been asked by many customers "Why are you guy's leaving the mall?"

The answer to that is the ridiculous rising costs of just being in the mall....and we really wanted to have our own hours, parking close to the store and our staff have really earned a break from working the long haul hours which are dictated by Mall Owners. The new location is on the corner of SW Hall & Greenburg Rd which is less than a one minute drive from the Washington Square Mall parking lot! We will feature a new custom jewelry design center, expanded Goldsmith's shop, Simon G gallery and a few other cool surprises! We will be keeping you up to date when the store opens. There is still lots of work on the building......Keep your ring fingers crossed that we will open on time.

WHAT A COOL STORY!

2008-04-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

The above photo is the earliest known piece of gold jewelry that was discovered in Peru. The necklace, made nearly 4,000 years ago was found in a burial site near Lake Titcaca. It is assumed that a society needed to be settled to produce agricultural surpluses that can support activities such as making ornamental objects. Some experts feel it is a symbol of commitment. The stones are Turquoise with natural gold bars that had been carved and strung. We thought our business was old turning 99 years next November!!!!!!!!

LA ROG TV AD FEATURED IN MOTION PICTURE

2008-02-07T22:06:00.000-08:00

It was about one year ago that a Hollywood studio contacted us with the idea about using one of our TV commercials in a movie to be filmed in our hometown Portland...Well a year sure flies by fast, because low & behold our TV ad is in the movie "Untraceable" starring Diane Lane. They spent a few months here in the Rose City using site locations in the area. It was fun going to the theatre and seeing our ad appear on the big silver screen! It was nice that they wanted a local independent jeweler's ad instead of a national chain spot. The only thing that was a little strange was the scene they used when our ad came on the TV set.....but the whole movie is a thriller/ slasher/ Silence of the Lambs type of a film anyway! The producers made Portland look like the worst city on the planet with dark dreary scenery and lots of rain (yeah it does rain here quite a bit...We have to admit)......It is a good thriller & worth going to the theatre to see it. That is all for now!

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS......????????

2007-12-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

Sothebys Auction set a very impressive record for selling a 6.04 carat flawless cut vivid natural blue diamond that fetched $6.15 million bucks! Seven bids were placed and the diamond was sold within eight minutes. Natural blue vivid diamonds are very rare in the world of gems. A 47.60 natural emerald necklace set in platinum sold for $2,650,000. The piece once belonged to the famous music composer Irving Berlin. The total selling price of all the auction items came to a whopping 40 millions dollars! At LaRog Brothers you do not need to spend 6 million to make a loved one happy! But these auction stories are fun to read!

Rick & Dave

La Rog Brothers

2007-11-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

Our New East side location is open! We hope you will stop by & visit our new store located in the Sunnybrook Center next to Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant on SE 82nd & Sunnybrook (real close to the Clackamas Town Center!).......We are really proud of this new location complete with an expanded custom design center where Karla now has lots of room to create one of a kind pieces of jewelry. We also added a cool feature in this new store, a private diamond showing area where customers can relax and look at as many designs & diamonds as they like. It was tough locking the door of the Landmark diamond corner store on 82nd & Foster......but it was time to say farewell to a great little jewelry store that we grew up in as kids. As they say...Nothing stays the same! Our new store also features the worlds leading bridal designers, Simon G- Natalie K- B. Mor and others. You can see many of their styles on this web site. Thanks for reading our blog! Have a sparkling day!
Rick & Dave

EVEN BIGGER THAN THE BIGGEST!

2007-10-19T08:13:00.001-07:00

WOW....We thought "The Cullinan Diamond" was a monster rock weighing 530 carats!!!!!!!!
Now word has it there has been a bigger chunk of beautiful ice located in the West Province of South Africa, but the circumstances of the discovery have been kept very secret in that region of the world. We do know that the diamond weighing in it's rough state more than 2,000 carats (it will trim down to around 900 carats after the cutting process) was rushed to a Bank vault in Johannesburg. They have a security team of over 100 watching over the building. The famous Cullinan which was found more than a century ago lost out it's top status to the Golden Jubilee which was found in the same diamond mine and weighed 545.67 carats after cutting. The finest (big bling) is the 203 carat Millennium Star which is flawless and also priceless. We will keep you up date on the status of the worlds biggest as this incredible treasure hunt story develops.

Sad...But at the same time exciting!

2007-10-07T09:53:00.001-07:00

This is one of the last rotating neon signs in Portland. For all of you reading this blog outside of the Portland area, this sign has become a landmark in the city.

Our Dad designed the sign back in the 60's and it has become very retro cool!

The store was started way back in the late 1940's and will be torn down by a developer who purchased the property and is planning to put up a mini-mall.

We will be leaving the Diamond Corner after many wonderful years & happy memories. We grew up in this little Jewelry store, working the summers & holiday seasons as Kids. Our Dad taught us the business from how to clean the showcases to grading a diamond. There are lots emotions flowing about this move now that we are about 60 days from opening our new location on the east side. In another sense, it is very exciting! The store will offer our customers more space to shop, easy parking and a new & improved goldsmithing area for custom design & repair. Now we are wondering what we should do with the sign! Any suggestions will be appreciated. These signs were outlawed by the City of Portland many years ago. We had an original which was grandfathered in to the laws & regulations. The Oregonian newspaper even did a big story about the demise of this great sign! Our new store will be located in the Sunnybrook Center which is real close to the big mall....but not near the price!

Hope you will drop by & say goodbye to a wonderful little store & say hello to our store of the future!

HISTORY OF BLING

2007-10-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

We love the Engagement Ring business and it its interesting to know how it all started back in 1215. This is the sharing of plain gold wedding band began. The metal was actually silver, iron or in some rare cases gold. Only the high elite were able to afford the real thing! Gems were important as a status of even a higher level of aristocracy. Laws were passed to preserve a visible division of social rank, ensuring only the highly privileged wore the jewels. As time passed diamonds & gems became available to anyone who could make the purchase. The Romans valued the diamond entirely on account of its supernatural powers! The first traditional "Engagement Ring with a matching wedding band " gets traced back to the marriage of Maximilian (Duke of Austria) to Mary of Burgundy in 1477. It is interesting that still today the most popular bridal rings sold in Finland, Germany, Norway & Denmark are plain gold or platinum bands. The female is occasionally given a diamond engagement ring. In Spain usually, the woman buys an engagement watch after accepting a marriage proposal. We are proud to be part of the history due to being bridal specialists for almost a century!

Rock on!!!!!

Hi...Were Rick & Dave

2007-09-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our first Blog! We hope you will find our thoughts interesting (maybe boring...who knows!).....We will write about the latest & greatest in Jewelry design plus what is going on in the stores on a regular basis, like today when a Mom was in the store and asked her little Daughter how big of a carat ring she would like when she was grown up like Mom....and the little girl replied "I thought those were to EAT!"

We will stay in touch.

Rick & Dave

The LaRog Bros