Jewelry Industry

In February 2006, a 4-year-old child changed the jewelry business. The little boy, brought to a Minneapolis hospital emergency room because of vomiting and a stomachache, got steadily worse. After four days, he died. During an autopsy, a heart-shaped metal charm was found in the stomach of the boy, whose identity wasn't revealed. The piece of metal had the word Reebok printed on it. The charm had come with a pair of children's sneakers. A test revealed it to be 99.1% lead.

Environmentalists want you to buy organic roses, and human rights groups tout conflict-free diamonds. Now, just in time for Valentine's Day, jewelry retailers are stepping up a campaign that aims to discourage the mining and sale of "dirty gold." A group of prominent jewelers including Tiffany & Co.

Doris Payne never carried a gun. She never smashed a window or broke into a safe to take what she wanted. She just crossed her pantyhosed legs and murmured about the filigree ring under the glass. She wondered aloud about matching earrings. She would promise to return in 45 minutes, and only after Payne wafted away in her flowered dress would the clerk count the rings and come up short. But the decades passed, and the job grew more difficult. Her face became familiar.

Merchants in downtown Los Angeles' Jewelry District gritted their teeth Wednesday as the price of gold soared $70.10 an ounce -- the highest-ever one-day gain in dollars -- and dashed even slim hopes that the struggling economy hadn't wiped out all customers. A gold chain that cost $450 last year at Acapulco Jewelry now costs $1,000 -- and isn't likely to be sold soon, said owner Raymond Cohan. "The economy's so bad customers can't even pay their mortgages.

First it was organic fruits and vegetables. Then it was clothing manufactured outside of sweatshop conditions. Now, this Valentine's Day, the hottest item for the caring consumer is ethical jewelry -- diamonds, gold and silver that have been mined free of conflict and pollution. On the heels of the movie "Blood Diamond," several top jewelry retailers have pledged to support more socially responsible mining. A few companies have gone even further, selling recycled stones or diamonds from Canada.

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but when it comes to paying for the expensive sparklers, the boy's best friend may be Stephen D. Lux. Lux is a chemical engineer whose company, Gemesis Corp., turns out thousands of gem-quality yellow diamonds every month from a factory in Sarasota, Fla. Gem snobs may never go for them. But they're not fakes -- no cheap cubic zirconias, no moissanites these.

Jewelry and accessories retailer Claire's Stores Inc. said Tuesday that it would be acquired by private equity firm Apollo Management for about $3.1 billion. Apollo would pay $33 a share for Claire's, which targets girls and young women with its baubles. Shares of Pembroke Pines, Fla.-based Claire's rose $1.12 to $31.88 after the announcement. Claire's said members of its founding family, who own about one-third of the company's voting shares, would support the deal.

First he raided your grooming products. Then he usurped your aesthetician. And now, ladies, not even your jewelry box is safe. Today, men are buying themselves bracelets, rings and pendant necklaces with increasing frequency and wearing their bling with a confidence and flair heretofore unseen in the Western world, according to fashion experts and industry observers.

In more than 30 years in jewelry design, John Atencio has built a reputation for heavy rings, necklaces and earrings. So when gold prices topped $730 an ounce this year, he became more cognizant of how thick his pieces are -- and the accompanying higher costs. Still, although retailers such as Helzberg Diamonds say they've seen some designers use less gold in each piece, Atencio has been reluctant to change his style. "When it got over $700, then the red lights were going off," Atencio said.

China's last empress dowager, Cixi, was said to have so loved tourmaline that on her deathbed in 1908, the ironfisted ruler demanded that a pink gemstone mined in Pala, Calif., be placed on her finger. The story may be apocryphal, but Yu Chuan Yih, who also goes by Lorenzo, has good reason to promote it. As chief executive of LJ International, Yih has been producing tourmaline, amethyst and other semiprecious jewelry in China for the last two decades.