Made famous in the landmark 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers have been a popular attraction at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., for more than three decades. But the 77-year-old slippers are showing their age. The color has faded and the slippers appear dull and washed-out. The ruby-red sequins that once gave the shoes their vibrant color are flaking …

Samford University junior linebacker Deion Pierre recruited his teammates to assist in an unforgettable postgame marriage proposal on Saturday. Right after the Bulldogs’ convincing 55-21 win over VMI, Pierre and his squad — still in full football gear — surprised Jasmine Henderson at the 50 yard line with a choreographed presentation set to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” Henderson was …

It’s not easy to render a cartoon penguin in precious metals and gemstones, but that was exactly the challenge Jostens faced when tasked with designing the 2016 Stanley Cup rings for the champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The team’s iconic logo crest features a black penguin skating with a hockey stick across a golden triangle that represent the shape of downtown Pittsburgh. Jostens used a …

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, RaeLynn — who is best known as a finalist in Season 2 of The Voice — sings about how an engagement ring embodies a lifelong pledge of love and devotion in her 2016 release, “Diamonds.” In the song, RaeLynn …

On January 26, 1905, Captain Frederick Wells was conducting a standard inspection of the Premier Mine in South Africa when a glint off the wall of the mine caught his attention. At first, he thought it was a shard of glass that may have been embedded there by a miner as a practical joke. But, then he pulled out his …

“The Sky Blue Diamond” is the latest in a procession of majestic fancy vivid blue diamonds that have captivated the auction world over the past 12 months. Weighing 8.01 carats, the “Sky Blue Diamond” is the headliner of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale, which is set to take place in Geneva on November 16. The square-cut gem, which is set …

First-time prospectors Dan Frederick and his daughter, Lauren, scored a 2.03-carat white diamond within 60 minutes of searching the side of a plowed furrow at Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park last Tuesday. Dan Frederick, who hails from Renton, Wash., and Lauren, who lives in Los Angeles, traveled 2,200 and 1,600 miles, respectively, to prospect for gems together at the only …

Back in February, a thumb-shaped 404-carat gem-quality rough diamond miraculously found its way through a hole in the sorting screen at Lucapa Diamond Co.’s Lulo processing plant in Angola because it was oriented vertically, not horizontally. Had the gem — which was eventually sold for $16 million — passed through lying flat instead of standing up on edge, it would …

Every once in a while nature delivers something so unusual, so spectacular that even the curator of the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection is impressed. In January of 2011, the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., welcomed its newest resident, the “Yowah Nut Opal.” It weighed 29.83 carats and, at first glance, looked like a nugget of rusted metal. A …

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you uplifting tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Canadian Christian rock band Hawk Nelson performs “Diamonds,” a spiritual song about how the pressure of dealing with life’s many challenges often makes us stronger in the end. Lead vocalist Jonathan Steingard sings, “He’s making diamonds, diamonds / …