Word: carats
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Died. Pierre Cartier, 86, Manhattan jeweler, grandson of the founder of the Paris original, who was sent across the Atlantic in 1907 to mine the U.S. market, quickly established himself as the purveyor of gems to America's rich and famous, displaying 24-carat charm, matchless discretion ("We are the confessor of our clients"), and some of the world's most dazzling baubles, among them the famed Thiers pearl necklace, purchased by Cartier from the Louvre in 1924 for $760,000; of uremia; in Geneva...
...Pasadena, Calif., for the past four years, the ion rocket is likely to prove to be the Mighty Mouse of the space age. On earth it develops no more thrust than several milli-pounds (engineers call it the "milli-mouse burp"), barely enough to lift a one-carat diamond an inch off a desk. But in frictionless, gravity-free space, such burps can propel the biggest payloads. And the ion rocket's assignment is just that: to take over the task of propelling huge space cargoes to the planets and back after the mighty chemical rockets lift them clear...
First there was the 44½-carat Hope Diamond that he gave to the Smithsonian in 1958. Now Manhattan Jeweler Harry Winston, 68, has given the Smithsonian another rock: a 253.7-carat uncut stone that is the largest of its kind in any museum. South Africa's Harry Oppenheimer, 55, sold it to him for much less than the $1,000,000 or so Winston might pay for such a stone for commercial use-because both knew its eventual destination. "The Smithsonian thought it would be interesting for the public to see what a diamond in the rough looked...
...whom it deigns-announced that stocks were little more than half as high as a year ago. There have been two wholesale-price increases, totaling 15%, in the past 15 months. Jewelers' retail markups have remained at a princely 100%. On Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, a one-carat ring of high quality now retails for $1,600 to $1,700, up from $1,000 five years ago. Leading diamond dealers, not unmindful that talk of higher future prices will induce some would-be purchasers to buy sooner rather than later, estimate that in ten years a one-carat...
...reason for the spiral is that increasingly affluent Americans, who accounted for more than half of last year's sales, are calling for more and more diamonds. Four-fifths of the U.S. purchases are for engagement rings, the most popular type being stones of about one-half carat that retail for about $250. Styles are shifting: the pear shape and emerald cut are fading in popularity, but sales of the marquise and brilliant cut are sparkling. New York is the richest market (20% to 25% of all U.S. sales), followed by Chicago, Texas and Southern California. Surprisingly, many Americans...