EVEN BIGGER THAN THE BIGGEST!

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!

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

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!!!!!