Man Oh Man - Michael Fassbender in W!

Every so often I think that things are going to slow down and that I'm going to be able to take a little break from my real life and catch up on all the blogs that I've missed over the past few months...
and then things speed up even more!
Such is life, non?
But being busy means all good things in my life.

While my time to blog has been drastically limited to a few minutes here and there I wanted to share with you something special.

Michael Fassbender photographed by Jeff Burton for W Magazine

Yeah, I thought that you would think that this was special too!

Miss de Ville was lucky enough to get to deliver the Beladora jewelry to this photo shoot and get a glimpse of Mr. Fassbender in dishabille.

Here is the ring that he was wearing in this photo.



Crest Signet Ring in 14K

As I've mentioned here before, we send out copious amounts of jewelry for magazine photo shoots, but we never know whether or not our pieces will make it into print...until we see the magazine.

So of course we are thrilled to see our estate jewelry in W, ELLE, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, InStyle and other major fashionista magazines.

(Thank you editors and stylists...we LOVE you!)

Outside of all things Beladora I've been busy reading all the George R.R. Martin and Diana Gabaldon books.  Because of my minor amount of obsessive compulsiveness, when I find an author that I like, I tend to read their entire oeuvre. 

Do you do that too?

Luckily, with my trip next week to the Miami International Antiques and Estate Jewelry, I will have plenty of time on the cross country flight to read.

What are you reading right now?

Can you make some suggestions?

While I love Martin and Gabaldon...I'd like to find some books that have less than 700 plus pages!

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

Ah, Christmas is finally here.



Happily this year our family will celebrate Christmas at my son's home in Brentwood. 
It's wonderful to see the traditional family dinner now passed down to the next generation.
In addition, the highlight of this holiday is my son's engagement to the lovely lawyer Laura.
Today I will meet her family which arrived this week from New York.
So, this is a very special holiday for me.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Oh La La - La Peregrina Pearl

Monday night we were glued to the computer watching the Christie's auction of Elizabeth Taylor's magnificent jewelry collection.  For months everyone in the trade had been talking about how the numbers in this auction were going to go through the roof...and they did.

Tuesday morning one of my dealer buddies from New York stopped by my office to say hi...not really, he came to collect money.

Anyhoo, we discussed the results of the previous night's auction. How could we not?

My dealer buddy had a little story to tell me apropos the auction.

Back in 1969, his father, the world's foremost dealer in natural pearls, had sold a beautiful teardrop shaped pearl pendant, La Peregrina, at auction for around $38,000.

Richard Burton was the buyer.

This week La Peregrina sold over $11,800,000 at Christie's.

Imagine that.

I wonder who the buyer was.

We have been so busy for the last few months that I have not any time to blog.

Hopefully, after the Christmas rush is over, I can get back into blogging swing of things.

Who Are These People?

No really, I want to know
Who are these people?
from Drudge
Woman pepper sprays other Black Friday shoppers to 'gain upper hand'

'Girls punching each other' over yoga pants sale at Victoria's Secret
Literally, girls were punching each other,” said shopper Liz Wentling. “They threw little bags in baskets and they were just like, ‘Here.’ Girls were literally shoving each other, moms were getting into it.”

Mayhem over $2 waffle maker

Grandfather smashed to the ground as he tried to protect grandson from crowd

and the ultimate

Man dies shopping on Black Friday; unfazed shoppers walked around, stepped over body

Really, what does all this Black Friday nonsense say about us as a society?

How did we become a society of consumers who are afraid
that we can't import another bazillion big screen TVs from China
or that there will ever be any scarcity in yoga pants
Has consumerism pushed our collective IQ to the left end of the bell curve?

Every day of my life I am thankful to work in an internet business with clients who are smart, gracious, grateful and all around classy.

The Song Remains The Same - Stairway To Heaven Turns 40

The most overplayed song of my youth
and indeed the most overplayed song ever
turned 40 this week
for some reason this makes me feel both nostalgic
and  really old



"and it makes me wonder"
does anyone out there know how much money Led Zeppelin made from this one song?
It must have been bazillions

I love this cover
and Dolly's outfit in this video


And for those who prefer 60's style music to 70's metal rock
here's another version of the song