no, you haven’t developed a sudden brain stem malfunction. the headline is upside down (and i promise you — just this once!). it’s my way of telling you that, as the new editor in chief of jck, i want to reexamine all the rules. my children love a book called the stinky cheeseman and other fairly ridiculous stories, in which the authors put the end at the beginning, the contents page at the ba…

design finds she doesn’t have a well-known name like david yurman and she doesn’t have a booth at any jewelry show. don’t feel bad for her, though. robin garin rotstein does have back-to-back diamonds-international awards. while it’s not unusual for a designer to win more than one of these prestigious awards in a career, rotstein is only the second designer in the history of the competition to …

a smooth transition to the future personnel depth — coaches refer to it as bench strength — is always a vital characteristic of any championship team. and it is our good fortune to have a remarkably strong bench of talented people on the jck team. that’s why we didn’t have to look far to find the ideal successors to george and debbie holmes, both of whom have retired after 22 years of jck edi…

carreras foundation benefits from chopard chopard has created a limited-edition watch to benefit the jose carreras foundation to fight leukemia. the classically styled 18k watches feature an automatic movement and hand-engraving of the vienna opera and carreras’ signature on the caseback. the company will make 250 of the watches and donate $920 of the $10,560 retail price of each one sold to th…

ponte d’oro competition recognizes designers susan sarantos of newport, r.i., won the grand prize of $5,000 in the ponte d’oro competition with this rendering for a brooch. the contest was sponsored by jck, the centro affari e convegni arezzo, the tuscan chamber of commerce foreign trade center, banca monte dei paschi de siena and local authorities of arezzo.

finlay unleashes leasing strategy the industry leader continues to expand market share in the u.s. and europe and is even opening its own outlets finlay enterprises inc., newyork, n.y., the largest leased jewelry department operator in the u.s., is strengthening its dominance of the domestic market and expanding its opportunities overseas.

give your first gift of the holiday season to your store by undertaking a refreshing makeover. customers will base their first opinions of your store on the way their senses respond. scrutinize the entire store. invest in a paint job for the walls and ceiling, put up new wallpaper, install a fresh carpet or professionally polish the floor as needed.

rothman to rapaport redux a careful analysis of the editorial that martin rapaport writes in the june issue of jck [“letters,” p. 30] clearly reveals the author’s own bias of his rapaport diamond report’s market force as a standard, rather than the information resource he repeatedly states it to be. rapaport claims to report on prices and not set them.

the mistletoe, dreidels and holly that decorate stores between thanksgiving and new year’s day mark a happy, busy time as consumers shop for holiday gifts. they also mark a darker sign of the season: higher crime. the holiday season is the most dangerous and costly period for jewelers, especially careless ones, say industry and security experts.

kurt nassau, ph.d., fga (hon.), of nassau consultants, lebanon, n.j., has long studied and written on the treatment and synthesis of gemstones. it’s a widely accepted principle that gemological testing used to identify the precise nature of a gemstone material should be non-destructive. yet there are exceptions.

changing buying patterns affect ja show attendance drops to 20-year low, but business was good in certain sectors. the weather was sunny, the temperatures just right. all in all, it was a perfect weekend to be in new york city. so why wasn’t there more business at the ja international jewelry show, wondered many vendors.

the gemological institute of america’s 11/2-year-old colored diamond grading system has made a smooth transition into the trade, says tom yonelunas, director of the gia gem trade lab. some retailers and dealers disagree, saying the gia system doesn’t tell the whole story and is applied inconsistently.

jsa raising funds to upgrade technology to upgrade its crime-fighting technology, the jewelers’ security alliance launched its first-ever fund-raising campaign in july. jsa, the non-profit crime-prevention association based in new york city, hopes to raise $600,000. “we’re coming into the 21st century and we had better be ready to meet its crime-fighting challenges,” says jsa chairman marvin m…

may is a critical month in indianapolis. race car drivers compete against time all month for starting positions in the indy 500. a few miles away, dan moyer also races for time — and generally wins. his store, moyer & co. fine jewelers, is one of the city’s leading choices for consumers interested in watches.

barry’s makes two key appointments barry’s jewelers named robert l. zeigler senior vice president of merchandise. ziegler was formerly vice president of merchandise for merksamer jewelers, a 50-store chain based in sacramento, cal. earlier in his 30-year retail jewelry career, he was with gordon’s jewelers, where he was an executive in merchandising with robert bridel, now barry’s president and…

cartier auction to be held in geneva antiquorum auctioneers and etude tajan, a leading french auction house, have scheduled “the magical art of cartier” theme sale for nov. 19 in geneva, switzerland. the auction will offer 300 to 400 lots, 60% them watches and 40% objets d’art. antiquorum’s biggest event of 1996, the sale kicks off the celebration of cartier’s 150th anniversary next year.

myanmar’s record-setting ruby a 21,450-ct. rough ruby — touted as the world’s largest to date — has been discovered in myanmar, formerly burma. according to the state-run newspaper, the new light of myanmar, the ruby was discovered in march in the northern town of mogok, historically a source of fine rubies.

what & where consumers buy one in 10 americans bought fine jewelry or watches in the second quarter of 1996, and jewelry stores were the most likely place they made the purchases. these are among the findings of the second edition of jck’s new quarterly national consumer survey. though consumers chose jewelers about twice as often as mass merchants or department stores, the percentage who s…

ijo celebrates 25th anniversary william f. roberts, founder and chairman of the independent jewelers organization, marked the group’s 25th anniversary with a very big present to ijo’s members. he announced at the buying organization’s 25th anniversary seminar/buying show in july in toronto, canada, that he’ll give ijo’s profits to members (after operating expenses and member service costs) i…

gia hosts gemfest, plans symposium gemfest asia, a seminar sponsored by the gemological institute of america, will be held sept. 19-20 at the hong kong convention centre. the program will coincide with the hong kong jewellery and watch fair. dr. james shigley, gia director of research, and dr. eduard gubelin of gubelin laboratories will discuss the future of the jewelry industry in two morning …