Free Republic

On a clear day in Laguna Niguel, California, Anthony Franco and Shawna Stewart stood together at the altar, surrounded by 40 family members and friends. It was a traditional ceremony: The two Colorado natives smiled in a sea of purple and white, Franco’s lilac tie matching the strapless dresses of Stewart’s five bridesmaids. Sunlight bounced off of the round brilliant-cut diamond on her left hand. But one small detail set their ceremony apart from others. When the time came to exchange wedding bands with one another, Franco was already wearing a ring.

Five armed men who attempted to rob a jewellery store were left scrambling for the door when a 65-year-old woman opened fire on them. The handgun-wielding thieves, clad in hoodies, were forced to flee Continental Jewelry in Garden Grove, California, after the woman chased after them last week. The men pulled up to the store in a white Ford SUV and entered one by one, pointing their guns at the clerks and one customer. They ordered everybody to drop to the ground, while opening up pillowcases and demanding cash in what was likely to be a violent smash-and-grab heist. But...

The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — SNIPPET: "Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver." SNIPPET: "He'd been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada. Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002. They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a...

Indian inspired costume jewelry was a big hit at Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2008 fashion show. Silver and gold-tiered necklaces with glass, pearls, and crystal embellishments were worn as a headpiece on the runway.

Jewelry designer Elizabeth Yarborough makes bangle bracelets from cable-knit cashmere, wool, tweed, and angora. For some people, these bangles give them a warm and fuzzy feeling, but for others, they are a fashion don’t. Take our poll and tell us, wool bangles: are they hot or not?

The items include a 1958 cocktail dress for Dior and a 1970s Rive Gauche camel cable-knit sweater trimmed in fox fur similar to one Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore. “What’s exciting about the collection is that you see the progression of his career. He was a real style-setter,” said Christie’s couture specialist, Laura Leyfer to AP.

Jewelry and makeup in ancient Persia Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:12:00 By Hedieh Ghavidel, Press TV, Tehran Archaeological finds in Iran show that women and men applied makeup and arrayed themselves with ornaments approximately 10,000 years ago, a trend which began from religious convictions rather than mere beautification motivations. Archaeologists have discovered various instruments of make-up and ornamental items in the Burnt City, which date back to the third millennium BCE. The caves of the Bakhtiari region, where the first hunter-gatherers settled at the end of the ice age, have yielded not only stone tools, daggers and grindstones but also...

82,000 year old jewellery found By Fran Bardsley Archaeologists from Oxford have discovered what are thought to be the oldest examples of human decorations in the world. The international team of archaeologists, led by Oxford University's Institute of Archaeology, have found shell beads believed to be 82,000 years old from a limestone cave in Morocco. Institute director Prof Nick Barton said: "Bead-making in Africa was a widespread practice at the time, which was spread between cultures with different stone technology by exchange or by long-distance social networks. "A major question in evolutionary studies today is 'how early did humans begin...