Jewelry History

The History of birthstones is believed to have gone back to the book of Exodus with the Breastplate of Aaron. It was a garment with twelve gemstones sewn into it that represented the twelve tribes of Israel. The gemstones were set in three rows of three gemstones. At that time the gemstones were “sardius, topaz and carbuncle; emerald, sapphire and diamond; ligure, agate and amethyst; beryl, onyx and jasper. The...

Cecil Rhodes was the founder of DeBeers and he started simply by renting water pumps during the rush of 1871. Then an 83.5 carat diamond was discovered in the Kimberly Mine in South Africa. He used the proceeds to buy small mining operations and started his own. To fund his new mining operations, he was able to get capital from the Rothschild family. DeBeers was founded in 1888 and, at...