Jewelry PR Division

I would have thought she would have done a shoe line but no Imelda Marcos — wife of the late Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos — launched a jewelry line on Saturday which she described as "both worthless and priceless," but would entitle the buyer to a piece of the glamorous former first lady.

Called "The Imelda Collection," it includes earrings, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, pins, combs and even cuff links made from a combination of glass beads, gemstones and gold-plated chains.

Many of them feature images of butterflies and shoes, trademarks of the 77-year-old widow. During her heyday at the height of power of her late husband, Imelda was called the "iron butterfly" for her ability to get her own way.

Cocktail rings — first popular in the 1940s and 1950s as a way to show off at cocktail parties —are staging a comeback this holiday season. The rings, which sport big colorful gems, can be found everywhere, real and fake, from Tiffany's to Macy's and even at Walmart.com. Ravi Jariwala, a spokesman for Walmart.com, says the site expanded its selection from about 10 last year to more than 30 this year to keep up with the trend. "This season there's a pretty strong customer response," said Jariwala, noting sales have more than doubled from last year.

A top seller is a cushion-cut square ring made with either blue topaz, pink sapphire or amethyst surrounded by "diamond accents," which retails for $79.97. Prices range from $59.88 for a pink sapphire three-stone ring to $1,590 for a fancy-yellow grade and white diamond ring. At Macy's, cocktail rings are offered both in its fashion jewelry and fine jewelry departments. "We have some great styles in fine jewelry featuring rubies and various stones," said Macy's spokeswoman Elena Kazan. "A lot of them are very Deco-inspired." Big sellers are Levian brand rings with sapphire and topaz, Kazan said. Prices range from about $300 to $9,000 dollars

Platinum has run to record highs this year, but it's not a rush of demand for wedding bands that has boosted prices. It's diesel. Demand for platinum comes from two main arenas: the consumer market for jewelry and the auto market, which uses the metal as a catalyst in diesel engines. According to JPMorgan, the price of platinum group metals has surged nearly twofold in a year and is up 85 percent since January. That performance has been topped only by zinc indexes and is trailed by other industrial and precious metals, including nickel, copper and gold.

Months of volatile price swings have scared off some buyers in the jewelry market, where demand is expected to drop 12 percent this year. However, demand for platinum as an auto catalyst is predicted to jump 15 percent in 2006, according to a report by platinum trading house Johnson Matthey, based in London.

Canada's Excellence in Design 2006 competition awarded the top prize in the diamond category to designer Tracy Borlase for her Oprah Winfrey-inspired diamond necklace.

Borlase—originally from South Africa—said the piece was designed for one of her clients who was set to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She created the necklace "O Afrique" as a tribute to her own heritage and Winfrey's African heritage. The small "O" shaped pendant represents the disc-shaped jewelry popular in Africa and also stands for "Oprah." It also features a zebra-striped pattern of 225 black and white diamonds, and hangs from a black, rhodium-plated, 14-karat white-gold chain.

The 35-year-old designer ran a successful business and studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, before deciding to move to Toronto eight years ago. She made the move to get away from a violent post-Apartheid climate where, as a young woman, she felt increasingly at risk.

Excellence in Design 2006 is the first competition Borlase has entered since arriving in Canada. The annual competition is sponsored by Canadian Jeweller and Jewellers Vigilance Canada.

It has been used to crown kings and fill cavities, for high-end jewelry and high-flying space travel. Gold has long represented wealth, power and prestige, and a new exhibit showcases just how remarkable this rare and precious material is. "Gold" opens Saturday at the American Museum of Natural History and runs through Aug. 19.

Gold is a unique mineral in a number of ways, said Jim Webster, one of the curators for the show — it's malleable, so it can be stretched into the slimmest of wires or flattened into the thinnest of sheets. It's reflective, which is why it has been used on astronauts' helmets to reduce glare.

It can be worked and handled in its native form, right out of the ground, and doesn't need to be heated or smelted like other minerals such as copper. And it doesn't really tarnish or corrode, so even coins on sunken ships that spend hundreds of years on the ocean floor can be found in perfect condition.

The American Gem Trade Association awarded Hannibal's Brandy Hurt with a Spectrum Award, which is known as the Oscar of the jewelry world. She designed and created a reversible pearl necklace to enter in Spectrum's bridal division. It features an opal set in 18 karat white and rose gold with more than 3 carats of diamonds. The 21-year-old beat out jewelry designers from around the world. "I was surprised! The majority of the winners are based in New York, L.A., or Florida. Nobody from the Midwest ever wins," Bradi said. "I think it's exciting for the people around here to have an award winning designer in their area." Brandy doesn't plan to sell her award winning necklace. If she did, it would retail for around $25,000.