Back to Business and BHB and Beladora

Well, the much dreaded Carmageddon turned out to be really nothing at all
no 20 mile traffic jams, no wild west road rage shoot outs.
People stayed home, traffic was nil and
Los Angeles turned out to be lovely place over the weekend.
Maybe Caltrans should shut down the 405 freeway every once in a while.

Have I mentioned that I'm happy to be home
and especially excited to be back in Beverly Hills at the Beladora HQ
doing my estate jewelry thing
because I just love the accessory that keeps on giving
as these things happen
when gold reaches a new high of $1600.

Yes, I know you love your Jimmy Choo shoes and your Hermes belts
but I prefer an accessory that goes up in value while I wear it!


Being tan, rested and jewelry-less in Mexico was great
but now it's back to business.
Take a basic white shirt, a Michael Kors pin stripped pencil skirt, a deep tan
and add estate jewelry....gold estate jewelry to be exact.

I'm totally loving this Carlo Weingrill choker necklace

I love super comfortable flexible jewelry that doesn't have clasps or hinges,
don't you?

And I love to wear ancient coin jewelry
because it lets me channel my inner 1960's jet set socialite babe alter ego.

This necklace makes me imagine a life of lolling on the yacht

on the shores of Sardinia, Santorini or St Tropez.

And then there's the basic bracelet

This solid gold link bracelet by the French jewelry house Fred

is the type of piece that I would love to wear everyday.

Do you have one signature piece of jewelry that you wear everyday?

Metal and Mother's Day

 Recently, I've been paying a lot of attention to this

and this

especially after last week's correction and I will have much to write on the subject of precious metal prices soon.

But, today I'd much rather ponder the flowers, lemons, limes, herbs, tomatoes and strawberries from my mother's garden where I had a wonderful lunch yesterday

Here's a recent photo of my mother with her sunhat in hand

and her formidable expression

Unlike Maxminimus, who wrote such a lovely tribute to his mother for Mother's Day,

I'm incapable of doing the same because sadly my writing skills are sorely lacking.

But what I can write about my mother is that she truly is all that and more

and I am very lucky to have her.

 

I hope that all of you were able to spend a lovely Mother's Day with your families.

Got Gold?

Yeah, you knew that I was going to get to this eventually
the crazy high price of gold
making business more difficult
but your personal jewelry more valuable

The trend continues upward

Here is where gold has gone since 2000

Has the value of any other accessories besides gold jewelry had this kind of appreciation...

Balenciaga, St Laurent, Hermes, Gucci or Prada bags?

Louboutin, Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik shoes?

Chanel ceramic watches?

Definitely not.

Jewelry is the only fashion accessory that holds value and that can appreciate

(and that you can liquidate for actual $$$)

if you buy pre-owned estate jewelry...and not pay full retail on brand new jewelry

Just saying

It's a value proposition

Minding Your Metals

In the crazy world of fashion where hubris reigns
we have Lindsey Lohan as the "muse" of the Ungaro line
and
Alexander McQueen putting 12 inch heels on the runway
and
Albert Elbaz of Lanvin selling costume jewelry nonsense for over $1,000
it makes you wonder
Is there anything out there of actual value worth buying?

Well you know where this is going
GOLD...the investment you can wear.

Check out this chart showing that gold is up more than 20% this year against the Dollar
(and only up some 12% against the Euro...)

The Duchesse on her Passage des Pearls blog has written an excellent explanation of the terminology associated with gold including

karat weight

Karat weight refers to the purity of the gold. (The word is spelled carat, abbreviated ct in some parts of the world, and karat, abbreviated k in the US, Canada and Germany.)

and pure gold

Do not be misled by the term "pure gold": In the US, 10k and up is considered pure gold, but a 10k and 18k bracelet will look very different. In Europe (and in parts of Asia) a number indicating percentage of gold is usually stamped, instead of karat: 10k= 417 (41.7% gold) 14k= 585 (58.5% gold) 18k=750 (75% gold)The higher the karat, the higher the gold purity is in the piece.

And she gives great tips on shopping for gold while traveling.
Be sure to read the whole thing.

Got Gold?

From the Telegraph.co.uk
UN wants new global currency to replace dollar

The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War.
In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises.
It added that the present system, under which the dollar acts as the world's reserve currency , should be subject to a wholesale reconsideration.

With this happening to the dollar it's not much of a surprise that gold is going up

Gold Rallies to 18-Month High on Dollar’s Weakness, Inflation




Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Gold rose to the highest price since March 2008, passing $1,000 an ounce

Looking for the positive spin on all of this...
the rise in gold prices makes newly manufactured jewelry more expensive
which of course makes vintage estate jewelry an even better value

Just thought I'd mention it