Former First Lady Barbara Bush, who passed away last week at the age of 92, was rarely seen in public without her signature pearl necklace. Whether she was posing for an official White House portrait or helping her husband throw out the first pitch at a Houston Astros baseball game, pearls were always an essential part of her wardrobe. During …

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, country star Mark Collie’s 1990 ditty, “Something With a Ring to It,” tells the story of a guy who’s been getting the cold shoulder from his girlfriend. She’s got “diamonds in her eyes” and wants to take their …

A pair of genuine Wizard of Oz ruby slippers scored by a Tennessee teenager 78 years ago for picking the 10 best movies of 1939 went on sale this week for a whopping $6 million. The iconic slippers, which were worn by Judy Garland during the filming of the beloved musical, have been called “the most famous pair of shoes …

Lucara Diamond Corp. is continuing to recover massive diamonds at its Karowe Mine in Botswana. The latest find is a 472-carat “top light brown” gem that rates as the third-largest ever discovered at the prolific mine. Karowe has assembled an impressive track record for producing the world’s largest fine diamonds. The 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona and the 813-carat Constellation were …

A New Hampshire granny has earned internet stardom after generously gifting her own diamond engagement ring to a young waiter so he could propose to his girlfriend. “It was just the right thing to do,” Concord native Sharon Heinemann told local TV station WMUR. “I just did it, you know. He loved her, and he didn’t have a ring.” Last …

One of the world’s finest collections of California gold made its debut Saturday at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Conn. The exhibition features 23 natural formations of gold, some of which resemble leaves, coral and skeletons. “The Mockingbird” measures 2.5 x 2.0 x 1.0 inches and features skeletal octahedral gold crystals stacked on minor quartz …

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, a 14-year-old Tiffany Evans sings about a very special piece of jewelry in her 2007 debut single, “Promise Ring.” In the song, the former Star Search Grand Champion in the Junior Singer Division tells her boyfriend that sometimes …

The Mountain Star Ruby Collection, a grouping of four museum-quality gemstones discovered near Asheville, N.C., by self-described rockhound Jarvis Wayne Messer, is being offered for sale by Guernsey’s in New York City. The four star rubies weigh a total of 342 carats and display six-ray asterism. The auction house will be receiving sealed bids through June 5 and the lot …

A series of groundbreaking discoveries have the science community singing the praises of diamonds — especially the ones with inclusions. One physicist compared the precious gemstone, which can ferry material to the surface from hundreds of miles beneath the Earth’s crust, to a “tiny indestructible spaceship.” A few weeks ago, we reported on a never-before-seen deep-Earth mineral — calcium silicate …

Back in 1967, a Maasai tribesman named Jumanne Ngoma happened upon a cluster of intense blue-violet crystals in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. At first glance, they appeared to be sapphires, but it was later revealed that the stones were a never-before-seen variation of zoisite. The stunning mineral soon caught the attention of Tiffany & Co., which wanted …