“The season of love would not be complete without teddy bear hugs,” said Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive bear. “With endless options for personalization, and a large selection of $10 and $12 animals Guests can make gifts from the heart at the perfect price.”

NEW for Valentine’s Day this year is Beary Limited(R) edition Hugs Fur You Monkey for only $15. With long arms to hug your sweetheart and adorable pink heart fur, this new friend is sure to make you a hero this holiday!

It’s the pawfect gift for kids too – especially because Hugs Fur You Monkey, comes with a BONUS emoticon, along with all the other virtual gifts that come with bringing this friend to life online for FREE at buildabearville.com(R) – the Build-A-Bear Workshop virtual world stuffed with fun. And moms will love that Stuff Fur Stuff(R) club members will receive double points when they purchase a Hugs Fur You Monkey! It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Build-A-Bear Workshop(R) is THE place to find personalized gifts at pawsome prices. Guests can say “money clips I love you” with Hugs & Kisses Lil’ Butter Cream Cub. This cute friend sports a red bow tie and offers a plush box of no calorie chocolates, rose bouquet, and plush heart picture frame all for just $17. Send a little love to your sweetheart with the Love Bug Brown Sugar Puppy for only $24. Another loveable option is the Beary Romantic Lil’ Honey Cub, wearing a layered red vest, black pants, scarf and matching cap, this romantic furry friend will steal your Valentine’s heart and is priced at $22.

Another perfect Valentine’s Day present is a gift that gives twice. When Guests make the NEW Jack Russell Terrier, or any of our full-sized Bearemy’s Kennel Pals(R) friends, $1 will be donated to support local animal shelters and stray pet rescue and rehabilitation organizations. In 2008, the Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation granted over $500,000 to domestic pet programs.

Build-A-Bear Workshop has always had a strong commitment to leave a pawsitive mark on the world. Since its inception in 1997, the Company has donated over $20 million to support causes related to children, animals and the environment, sharing the hug of a teddy bear wherever needed in local communities and abroad and recognizing kids doing great things.

About Build-A-Bear Workshop

Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc., is the only global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. The company currently operates more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Founded in St. Louis in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop is the leader in interactive retail. Brands include make-your-own Major League Baseball(R) mascot in-stadium locations, Build-A-Dino(R) stores and friends 2B made(R) doll locations. In December 2007, Build-A-Bear Workshop(R) extended its in-store interactive experience online with the launch of its virtual world pendants at www.buildabearville.com. Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $474 million in fiscal 2007. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR (2327) or visit the company’s award-winning Web sites at www.buildabear.com and www.friends2Bmade.com.

TRADEMARKS

We would like to thank you for your interest in covering our business. As you write your story, we would ask that you use our full Name: Build-A-Bear Workshop(R) and that when referencing the process of making stuffed animals you use the word “make” not “build.”

Build-A-Bear Workshop is our well-known trade name and our registered trademark of Build-A-Bear earrings Retail Management, Inc. Build-A-Bear Workshop(R) should only be used in capital letters to refer to our products and services and should not be used as a verb.

A dozen authors will introduce and sign their books at this yearly event, sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene Chapter of the Idaho Writers League.

McManus will have a number of his books available, including his most recent, “The Double-Jack Murders.”

Other participating authors include Boots Reynolds, Nikki Arana, Larry Telles, Elizabeth Brinton, George Brinkman, Mike Kincaid, Nancy Owens Barnes, Michael Marsden, Maryn Langer, Charles Lyons and Gary Edwards.

Admission is free and autographed copies of the authors’ books will be on sale.

Reminder: McManus will also read at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave., on Nov. 22 cufflinks at 12:30 p.m.

A lyrical Edwards event

Speaking of Gary Edwards, he’ll be reading at Auntie’s on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Did we say “reading”? That doesn’t quite cover the scope of this event. Edwards is a local poet, composer and lyricist, so he’ll also recite and sing.

His most recent books are “TroubleClef: Life of a North Idaho Musician,” which contains money clips poems and lyrics, and “The Gallery,” a volume of poetry.

A Free Speech book

With all of the attention given to Spokane’s 1909 Free Speech Fight on its centennial, we’d like to bring to your attention local author-historian Dale Raugust’s self-published book, “Fanning the Flames of Discontent: Spokane’s Free Speech Fight.”

The book is available through Amazon. Raugust also has another self-published history book available on Amazon, “The Northwest Inland Empire: Native History and Early Settlements.”

Raugust practiced law for 30 years in Spokane before turning to history. Just go to the Amazon pendants Web site and search under his name.

Auntie’s Angel Tree

The Auntie’s Bookstore Angel Tree will soon be dominating the main floor, as it has for 13 years.

It’s a large tree decorated with 300 paper angels containing the names of local children. You can purchase a book to donate to one of them.

The tree will go up after Thanksgiving. In the meantime, you can help out by donating to the Angel Tree Fund. Call (509) 838-0206 for details.

The Jess and Sherman Show

Here’s early warning of an upcoming Auntie’s event: Sherman Alexie and Jess Walter, Dec. 5 at 2 p.m.

These two top Northwest novelists will appear together — and spar entertainingly, no doubt — at this earrings ticketed event. You can get a ticket simply by buying one of their books at Auntie’s.

David Thompson books

KSPS-7 will re-broadcast its fascinating documentary, “Uncharted Territory: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau” on Wednesday at 7 p.m., Friday at 11 p.m. and Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

For those who want to learn more about this important trader-explorer, here are a few regional books to check out: “The Writings of David Thompson: The Travels,” edited by William E. Moreau (University of Washington Press); and “Sources of the River” (Sasquatch Books) and “The Mapmaker’s Eye” (Washington State University Press), both by Jack Nisbet.

ION Television

Amelie Tseng, 973-897-8868

amelie.tseng@verizon.net

or

Sayles & Winnikoff Communications

Alan Winnikoff, 212-725-5200 x111

alan@sayleswinnikoff.com

or

Carina Sayles, 212-725-5200 x210

carina@sayleswinnikoff.com

Logo: http://www.ionmedia.tv

ION Television’s first originally produced television film, the holiday themed silver jewelry “A Golden Christmas,” is set to make its world premiere on the Network on Sunday, December 13 at 9:00 PM, ET. The announcement was made today by Leslie Chesloff, Executive Vice President, Programming, ION Media Networks. This two-hour film marks the first of a dozen originally produced made-for-television movies that ION Television is slated to roll out throughout 2010.

“A Golden Christmas” stars Andrea Roth (“Rescue Me”), Jason London (“Dazed and Confused”), Nicholas Brendon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Bruce Davison (“Ghost Whisperer,” “Longtime Companion”), Elisa Donovan (“Sabrina, The Teenage Witch”) and Alley Mills (“The Wonder Years,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”). The film is produced by MarVista Entertainment; directed by John Murlowski; and written by Jay Cipriani.

“We are thrilled that “A Golden Christmas” is kicking off our new originally produced series of silver jewellery movies-for-television,” said Chesloff. “It’s a touching, funny story that is sure to become a holiday classic. We look forward to the premiere of this film and our other original movies, which together will help anchor our weekend primetime line-up as we move into 2010.”

Synopsis:

One summer a long time ago, a little girl and a little boy were brought together by a very special dog. They played all summer long, it was puppy love. Then the summer ended and they never saw each other again until…years later when her parents (Davison and Mills) retire and decide to sell their house. Jessica (Roth), recently widowed, pendants decides she needs to start over and moves back home with her son. She hopes to buy the old house as a Christmas surprise, however, her plan goes awry when she discovers that her parents have already sold it. What she does not know is that the house has been sold to the very same person that she spent that magical summer with years ago.

About ION Television

ION Television (www.iontelevision.com) is a general entertainment network which reaches over 96 million U.S. earrings television households via its nationwide broadcast television, cable and satellite distribution systems. Launched in 2006, ION Television features popular TV series and movies from the award-winning libraries of CBS Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Television and Warner Bros. Parent company, ION Media Networks, Inc., owns and operates the nation’s largest broadcast television station group. Using its digital multicasting capability, ION Media Networks has launched the digital TV brands qubo, a channel for children focusing on literacy and values, and ION Life, a channel dedicated to active living and personal growth. It also has launched Open Mobile Ventures Corporation (OMVION), a business unit focused on the research and development of portable, mobile and out-of-home transmission technology using over-the-air digital television spectrum. For more information, visit www.ionmedia.com.

South Florida is considered the center of a trade in which groups of young Cubans throughout the state are turning to the lucrative business of raising ultra-potent pot worth up to $4,500 a pound, without fear of deportation or lengthy prison sentences.

Probation is a common sentence for anyone convicted in state court of running a growhouse, drug agents say. And, unlike other foreign-born felons, U.S. policy prevents the deportation of Cubans.

South Florida groups identified by law enforcement as Cuban Drug Trafficking Organizations control hundreds of growhouses that have sprung up from Miami to Atlanta since 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, court records and interviews with local and federal drug agents. “This takes me back to the old days of the mob,” said Sgt. Julio Lima, of the Polk County Sheriff’s Organized Crime Squad. “This is organized crime at its best.”

Statewide records do not specify the nationalities of those who run growhouses. However,bangles authorities say that Cuban influence has risen rapidly.

Supervisors for the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area estimate that 85 percent to 90 percent of the suspects arrested in Florida on grow-house-related charges were Cubans who arrived in the United States within the past five years. They base their estimate on arrests in South Florida and two statewide busts in 2008 and 2009 known as “D-Day” and “Eagle Claw.” The trend is especially apparent in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Statistics from those two statewide busts show that in Palm Beach, out of 36 arrests, 90-95 percent were Cuban. In Miami-Dade, out of 92 arrests, 95% arrested were Cubans.

While Palm Beach County doesn’t track place of birth on people arrested in growhouse busts, “anecdotally the overwhelming majority of people we find operating growhouses are of Cuban descent,” said spokeswoman Teri Barbera, of the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office. The rise of Cuban growers has been taking place over the past decade with increasingly sophisticated methods of operations, she added.

For example, one way growhouses can be detected is by the large amount of electricity used. rings Now growhouses employ electricians who move from house to house to find ways to get power directly and bypass the meters.

The data paints a different picture in Broward County, where out of 18 arrests in the two statewide busts in 2008 and 2009, only two, or 11 percent, involved Cubans.

“The Cuban grow-house angle is not an issue here in Broward,” said Mike Jachles, a spokesman for the Broward Sheriff’s Office. “We have not seen that.”

Sgt. Bill Cunneen, of the Broward Sheriff’s Office, says geography plays a role.

“Broward, historically, has never been a big indoor grow-operation place,” Cunneen said. “We don’t have these big rural areas where these guys can really spread out and not worry about their neighbors watching them. That’s what really stops them from going into the smaller, bedroom communities.”

And of the growers nabbed in Broward, few are Cubans, he said. “There’s no type of group that dominates the marijuana growing here.”

Still, the trend shows up in many areas of the state. Some of the best data in the state on this little-known aspect of the drug trade are kept by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. A spreadsheet on every grow-house bust in Polk County since 2005 shows that 142 of 172 suspects — 84 percent — caught tending marijuana growhouses have identified their place of birth as Cuba.

The topic is sensitive in a state where Cuban refugee status was a badge of honor until it was tainted by a few thousand criminals in the 1980s Mariel boatlift.

“The last thing we want to do in law enforcement is crucify the Cuban-American community as a whole — they have made South Florida what it is today,” said Capt. Joe Mendez, a Cuban-American member of the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force. “That’s why we are saying these are Cuban refugees, recent arrivals. . . . They arrive here on a raft, and drug dealers give them a place to live and promise them they’ll own the (grow) house in a year or two.”

Cuban-American National Council President Guarione M. Diaz in Miami was unaware of the high bracelets percentage of young Cuban-born suspects arrested statewide in the pot trade.

Told of the 348 growhouse-related arrests last year in Miami-Dade County, Diaz said, “Twenty thousand Cubans arrive in South Florida every year, so numerically 300 arrests would be a relatively small number. But I think even one is too many.” In the United States last year, 49,500 Cubans were granted legal permanent residency status, according to the Congressional Research Service.

While Florida cops have learned Cuban drug rings sometimes run a half-dozen growhouses or more at once, there still is much about the organizations they don’t know. The reason: There is no central database for sharing information about the illegal business.

And, while drug agents know a suspect’s nationality, they don’t always learn whether a growhouse worker was recruited from his home country or was lured into the trade after getting to the United States.

Raiding a marijuana patch hardly ever leads to the arrests of any ring members more important than low-level workers.

“None of them know each other, and that’s for a reason,” Lt. Steven Ward of Polk County Sheriff’s Special Investigations Unit said. “If any one of them gets busted, they can’t point the finger at each other, and they can’t point the finger at the boss.”

With few or no ringleader arrests, investigators are prevented from drawing a complete diagram of Cuban marijuana grow organizations. The few busts of bosses have come in much larger federal cases after months of surveillance.

For instance, in September, Jose Diaz and Herman Torres, both of Naples, were arrested and charged as ringleaders of eight growhouses from Sarasota to Miami. An investigation by federal drug enforcers and eight local police agencies confiscated more than 1,600 plants — and took 18 months.

This much authorities know: Whoever is calling the shots in the Cuban indoor-grow groups is reading U.S. and Florida statutes about drug crimes and penalties cufflinks. They know to keep the number of plants under 100, the number that would expose them to tough federal sentences.

Last year, Florida led the nation in growhouse shutdowns, raiding 1,022 of them, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center. The average number of plants seized in those houses: 76.

Most busts stay in state court, where conviction as a first-time offender typically means probation, according to court records and drug agents across Florida.

Until the early 1980s, Florida’s marijuana trade thrived on pot smuggled from Jamaica, Mexico and South America. There was little competition from home-grown “weed.” Back then, agents say, most growers were white males who worked independently and raised marijuana outdoors on both public land and private property. Growhouses were rare.

Domestic pot production began to change around 2000. Interviews and court records indicate that Miami became the center of a cottage industry raising the highest-quality, most-expensive pot in Florida. The city continues to be a hub where many growers buy supplies, find bail bondsmen and call home after arrests in Central and North Florida, court records show.

“In 2000 we had 14 indoor grows, and by last year there were 348,” South Florida HIDTA Director Tim Wagner said of Miami-Dade County. “About five years ago, we started to realize there was indeed a problem and we needed to do something about it.”

It’s a burgeoning problem: Growing 1 pound of marketable marijuana per plant every three months, a single house can produce about $1 million a year, drug agents say. And the yield is five to 10 times stronger than it was 20 years ago, say drug agents who have had the pot tested.

Drug agents across the state said they think growhouses ship about 100 pounds each every three months to Miami for earrings distribution in the Northeastern United States, at up to $8,000 a pound.

The value of indoor-grown pot far tops marijuana from Mexico, once a major source, which sells for about $1,000 a pound, Cunneen, of the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

“It’s big business,” Cunneen said of indoor-grown pot. “It’s big bucks.”

Tiffany spokesman Mark Aaron declined to provide the terms of the deal and said it was too early to talk about the number of bags and other accessories the designers would produce or the prices or brand names those products might carry. Under terms of the deal, Tiffany didn’t purchase the Lambertson Truex boutique in New York or its existing inventory of products, he said. Co-designers Richard Lambertson and John Truex were Tiffany employees as of Friday, he said.

Known for its blue boxes, the 172-year-old Tiffany earrings in recent years has explored the idea of following broader luxury brands, such as Hermes, by expanding the product line to include items like high-end purses, ties and scarves. The New York company suffered a precipitous decline in sales recently. In its quarter ended Jan. 31, its U.S. comparable-store sales plunged 33%.

Product diversification is “an idea that we always look long and hard at,” said Tiffany key rings CEO Michael Kowalski, in an April 10 interview. But he said the appeal of high-end purses had waned sharply in the recession.

Lambertson Truex, whose bags are sold at upscale department stores, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. News of the acquisition was reported earlier by Women’s Wear Daily.

Take her fashion sense, for instance. Unlike a lot of high schoolers, she doesn’t have any desire to wear what everyone else is wearing. While all of her classmates are buying their clothes from American Eagle (“They all shop there. And everyone looks the same,” she said), she’s hitting vintage stores in New York City or scouring the Internet for European labels.

This way of thinking also extends to her hobbies, particularly her first love — designing handcrafted tiffany jewelry.

“It’s boring to make the same thing over and over,” Kelsey said.

Clearly, this young artisan is on to something. Just 15, the Old Forge resident is already the proprietor of her own business, Kelsey’s Creations.

On Friday, Kelsey unveiled more than 20 of those creations at Outrageous, 515 Center St., during the monthly First Friday artwalk in downtown Scranton.

Her jewelry will remain on display at the boutique throughout December.

An old hand

Kelsey, a sophomore at Wyoming Seminary, is already an old hand in the money clips jewelry business, having made her first bracelet around the age of 10. Today, she’s got hundreds of pieces of inventory. In addition to bracelets, she makes earrings (for the holidays, she does snowmen and Santa), watches and, most extensively, necklaces made of multicolored beads, pearls, hand-blown glass and gem stones — jade, quartz, marble, amazonite, lava rocks and turquoise are just a few of her favorites — she purchases from Internet wholesalers.

Some have wooden pendants. Others contrast the shiny with the dull (i.e. jade combined with quartz). One of her favorites features a distinctive-looking sea shell she found in Seaside Heights, N.J.

Lately, she’s been making extensive use of chain links and wrapping the stones with wire. And her bracelets now include lots of Swarovski crystal.

“They really just catch the light right. They’re really pretty,” Kelsey said.

And, of course, no two pieces are ever the same.

“She says, ‘I don’t want anything you can buy in the store,’” Mrs. Gosselin said. “The more unique, the more she likes them.”

“I think that pendants jewelry gives people that individuality. It separates them from eveyone else,” said Kelsey, who charges between $15 and $32 for her merchandise.

Given her heavy course load at Sem, Kelsey does the majority of her work on weekends. She doesn’t have any real set-in-stone regimen. Basically, she sits down on the floor of her cluttered workroom, boxes upon boxes of beads surrounding her, quickly picks out a few combinations she thinks would work well together, and gets busy. Most of the time, it takes her no longer than 45 minutes to finish a piece.

“It just kind of happens,” Kelsey said.

“It’s like an innate gift,” Mrs. Gosselin said. “A gift from God, that’s how we phrase it. It’s a talent.”

Sold bracelets

That talent first presented itself about five years ago, when Kelsey’s cousin gave her a box of beads. With them, she made little stretch bracelets that she’d sell to friends at school.

At first, she was buying most of her beads from a local craft store. Then, during her first trip to New York City, she, her mom and her aunt spent the majority of their time going “from bead store to bead store to bead store.” As she progressed into necklaces, she discovered online jewelry supply wholesalers like Fire Mountain.

Eventually, Kelsey started selling her items to family friends (“One of my best friends, she won’t buy any other jewelry than Kelsey’s,” Mrs. Gosselin said.) and at places like Sugerman’s and Abington Heights High School. Before long, she was making enough money to pay her way for a family trip to Hawaii.

Today, she and Mrs. Gosselin regularly take the jewelry to craft shows, local colleges and special functions like the annual Scranton Jazz Festival. Last Thursday, Mrs. Gosselin was to staff a table at the University of Scranton’s holiday craft fair in the campus’ Patrick and Margaret DeNaples Center. On Wednesday, she’ll be at Marywood University’s Nazareth Hall.

The majority of Kelsey’s earnings go into her college fund. After graduating from Sem, where she’s on the dean’s list and is a member of the swimming and softball teams, chorale (she’s an avid singer) and student activities committee, the science-loving, eco-conscious teen plans to study oceanography, possibly at the University of Hawaii.

“I want to go to college for something I can get a real job in,” Kelsey said.

Practical as she is, Kelsey admits to harboring dreams of one day becoming a big-time fashion and jewelry designer, “like Michael Kors or Vera Wang.”

“I kind of know what’s going to come into style before it does,” said Kelsey, who next summer might attend a special program at New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Gosselin and her husband, Robert, have discussed the possibility of opening a shop where they can sell Kelsey’s earrings jewelry, but haven’t yet figured out a way to make it amenable to their respective schedules.

The fact that they’re considering it at all says a lot about what they think of their daughter’s talent and commitment. As Mrs. Gosselin put it, “this is her passion.”

Contact the writer: jmcauliffe@timesshamrock.comMeet Kelsey Gosselin

Age: 15

Residence: Old Forge

Family: Parents, Sharon and Robert Gosselin; brother, Matthew; paternal grandmother, Lucy Gosselin

Education: Sophomore at Wyoming Seminary, where she’s on the dean’s list and a member of the softball and swimming teams, chorale and student activities committee.

Extracurricular activity: A jewelry artisan, Kelsey has her own business, Kelsey’s Creations, through which she sells her own line of handcrafted jewelry, including necklaces, bracelets, earrings and watches. She is currently the featured artist for December at Outrageous, 515 Center St., where more than 20 of her pieces will be on display through the end of the month. In addition, on Dec. 10, Ms. Gosselin will be at Marywood University’s Nazareth Hall from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. displaying her jewelry as part of a holiday craft fair.

OPARC’s capable staff of over 200 employees is located in Montclair, within minutes of Psalm 23 pendant Jewelry’s offices in Rancho Cucamonga. “We were able to find this Inland Empire organization only after we searched nationwide. Sometimes local resources are overlooked and the transition to OPARC has been a real blessing for us both to manufacture locally and to help out these hard-working people,” says Gerhard Kramer, Marketing Director. He continued, “They assemble and package each piece with a fast turnaround. We provide them with Sterling silver and Swarovski crystals, and they turn them into our Psalm 23 Jewelry designs.” Original plans to outsource to foreign countries and outlying areas were scrapped with the discovery of OPARC’s ability to locally produce the Sterling Silver and Swarovski crystal jewelry and the corporation’s dedication to be able to give back to this local community.

Keywords: Psalm 23 earrings Jewelry.

Diamonds being the world’s major natural resource is used in both jewelry and industrial applications. The growth in demand for diamond-studded jewelry has been due to the strong economic growth in key diamond jewelry consuming nations and marketing efforts of diamond companies.

Traditionally, gold has held the leading position in most of the jewelry markets across the world because of its value as well as tradability factor. In 2008, although the total gold consumed as plain gold jewelry decreased in volume terms, the sales recorded gain in value terms. Demand for platinum jewelry has gained ground in the last few years, in not only the developed markets of the US and Europe but also in emerging markets like China and India, due to the ‘elite’ tag and ‘high-end’ value attached to the metal.

Geographically, the US continues to be the largest consumer for gems and jewellery, followed by bracelets China/ India, the Middle East and Japan. In Europe, the UK and Italy are the largest consumers, and Italy is also one of the world’s largest jewelry fabrication centers. The emerging markets, like China, India which are traditional jewelry centers of consumption, are expected to develop as the largest consumption markets for both traditional as well as branded jewellery.

The report analyzes the trends and challenges of the gem and jewelry and also outlines the opportunities driving the present as well as future industry growth. The report focuses on the retail jewelry sales, different jewelry segments and future potential of the four large consumers of jewelry – the US, China, India and the UK. The report analyzes the sales trends, demand patterns and future outlook of the three major segments of the jewelry industry, i.e. platinum, gold and diamond. Further, the report profiles and assesses the performance of the major gems and jewelry companies (retail) – Gitanjali Gems Limited, Signet Jewelers Limited and Tsutsumi.

The report also talks about the future outlook of the industry and its growth. By combining SPSS Inc.’s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings, we have predicted the future growth of the industry. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests.

1. Global Gems & Jewelry Market

1.1 Introduction to Gems & Jewellery

1.2 Supply Chain Analysis – Gem & Jewelry Market

1.3 Market Overview rings

2. Gem & Jewelry Industry: Product Segmentation

2.1 Diamonds

2.1.1 Demand & Supply

2.1.2 Outlook

2.2 Gold

2.2.1 Global Gold Demand

2.2.2 Outlook

2.3 Platinum

2.3.1 Platinum Demand bracelets

2.3.2 Outlook

3. Global Gem & Jewelry Market: Geographical Segmentation

3.1 The US Gem & Jewelry Market

3.2 The UK Gem & Jewelry Market

4. Market Trends

4.1 E-Retailing

4.2 Changing Consumer Preference

4.3 Decrease in Dominance of Centralized Distribution

4.4 Emergence of New Jewelry Fabrication Centers

4.5 Jewelry – Part of Women’s Fashion Statement

4.6 Celebrities, Fashion and Media – Setting the trends

5. Market Opportunities cufflinks

5.1 Increasing Demand for Palladium

5.2 Rising Consumerism in Emerging Economies

5.2.1 Indian Gem & Jewelry Market

5.2.2 Gem & Jewelry Market of China

6. Market Challenges

6.1 Luxury Goods as Competition

6.1.1 Emerging Markets – Consumers of Luxury Goods

6.1.2 Technology

6.1.3 Fine Art

6.1.4 Automobile

6.2 Other Lifestyle Goods and Services

7. Company Profiles

7.1 Gitanjali Gems Limited Money Clip

7.1.1 Company Overview

7.1.2 Business Strategies

7.2 Signet Jewelers Limited

7.2.1 Company Overview

7.2.2 Business Strategies

7.3 Tsutsumi

7.3.1 Company Overview

7.3.2 Business Strategies

8. Industry Outlook

8.1 Market Forecast

8.2 Forecast Methodology

8.2.1 Dependent and Independent Variables pendants

8.2.2 Correlation Analysis

8.2.3 Regression Analysis

List of Figures

Figure 1.1 Gem & Jewelry Industry Supply Chain

Figure 1.2 Global Jewelry Sales: (2000 – 2008E)

Figure 2.1 World Rough Diamond Production Volume: (2000 – 2008E)

Figure 2.2 World Rough Diamond Production Value: (2000 – 2008E)

Figure 2.3 Market Share of Major Diamond Producing Nations – Volume (2007)

Figure 2.4 Market Share of Major Diamond Producing Nations – Value (2007)

Figure 2.5 Worldwide Diamond Jewelry Sales: (2000 – 2008E)

Figure 2.6 Value of Diamonds in Jewelry (2007)

Figure 2.7 Growth Forecast of Global Diamond Jewelry Sales

Figure 2.8 Share of Diamond Processing Centers, by Value

Figure 2.9 Diamond Supply by Countries: (2010E – 2015E)

Figure 2.10 World’s Total Supply of Gold: (2001 – 2008) earrings

Figure 2.11 Global Gold Supply by Source: 2008

Figure 2.12 Global Supply of Gold (Mines): 2000 – 2008E

Figure 2.13 Global Gold Demand Usage: 2008E

Figure 2.14 Global Plain Gold Jewelry Retail Sales: 2000 – 2008

Figure 2.15 Global Gold Demand by Region: 2008E

Figure 2.16 Projected Growth in Global Plain Gold Jewelry Sales

Figure 2.17 Platinum Supply by Country: 2008

Figure 2.18 Global Demand for Platinum: 2000 – 2008

Figure 2.19 Global Demand of Platinum by Application: (2001 – 2004 – 2008)

Figure 2.20 Global Plain Platinum Jewelry Sales: 2000 – 2008

Figure 2.21 Projected Growth in Global Plain Platinum Jewelry Sales: (2005A – 2010E – 2015E)

Figure 3.1 Global Jewelry Consumption: Geographical Share (2005 & 2015)

Figure 3.2 Global Jewelry Consumption: Geographical Share (2015F)

Figure 3.3 Retail Sale of Jewelry in the US (2000 – 2008E) key ring

Figure 3.4 US Jewelry Market Sales Mix: 2007

Figure 3.5 Survey Estimates of Jewelry Purchases in the US Around the Year

Figure 3.6 Projected US Jewelry Sales: (2005A – 2010E – 2015E)

Figure 3.7 Retail Sale of Jewelry in the UK (2000 – 2008)

Figure 3.8 Projected UK Jewelry Sales: (2005A – 2010E – 2015E)

Figure 5.1 Global Demand for Palladium: 2000 – 2008

Figure 5.2 Palladium Demand: Regional segmentation: 2008

Figure 5.3 Share of Global Jewelry Sales: 2005

Figure 5.4 Share of Global Jewelry Sales: 2015E

Figure 5.5 Retail Sales of Jewelry in India (2000 – 2008)

Figure 5.6 Indian Jewelry Market: Segment Mix (2005 & 2015E)

Figure 5.7 Indian Jewelry Market: Segment Mix (2015E) frank gehry

Figure 5.8 Indian Jewelry Sector: Organized Vs. Un-organized (2005)

Figure 5.9 Projected India Jewelry Sales: (2005A – 2010E – 2015E)

Figure 5.10 Retail Sales of Jewelry in China (2000 – 2008)

Figure 5.11 Projected China Jewelry Sales: (2005A – 2010E – 2015E)

Figure 6.1 Global Sales of Mobile Phones: (2001 – 2009F)

Figure 6.2 Share of Global Fine Art Auction Sales: Geographical Segmentation (2008)

Figure 7.1 Gitanjali Gems: Revenue Growth (2005 – 2008)

Figure 7.2 Signet Jewelers: Revenue Growth (2004 – 2008)

Figure 7.3 Tsutsumi: Revenue Growth (2004 – 2008)

Figure 8.1 Projected Global Jewelry Sales: (2008A – 2012F)

List of tables

Table 2.1 Platinum Demand: Jewelry (‘000 oz)

Table 5.1 Palladium Demand: Jewelry (‘000 oz)

Table 5.2 Changing Trends in the Indian Retail Market for Jewellery necklaces

Table 8.1 Dependent & Independent Variables (2000 – 2008)

Table 8.2 Correlation Matrix

Table 8.3 Model Summary – Coefficient of Determination

Table 8.4 Regression Coefficients Output

To order this report:

Global Gem & Jewelry Market: Emerging Markets Driving Growth

The bracelet was Mr. Cipullo’s first design upon joining Cartier in 1969. He had previously designed jewelry for Tiffany earrings and the David Webb jewelry concern. The bracelet is made of gold and is decorated with tiny screws that join the top and bottom halves. The buyer receives a small screwdriver that is used to connect the halves.

Mr. Cipullo said in a recent interview that the bracelet combined two tenets of his work – design and function. ”Design has to be part of function,” he said. ”That’s the secret of success. When you have function and design, married together, you always have a successful item.”

Mr. Cipullo, who was born in Rome, was introduced to jewelry design by his father, Giuseppe, a costume-jewelry manufacturer. He came to the United States in 1961.

In the early 1970’s, Mr. Cipullo started his own design company, Aldo Cipullo Ltd., and in 1974 he won the prestigious Coty American Fashion Critics Award for key rings jewelry.

The American Gem Society, an organization of 1,500 American jewelers, commissioned Mr. Cipullo in 1978 to design a collection of 31 pieces, for men and women, that used only American gemstones and metals. The collection is now on tour in the United States.

Mr. Cipullo is survived by his parents; a sister, Maria, of Rome, and two brothers, Edoardo, of Rome, and Renato, of New York.

A requiem mass will be offered at 10 A.M. tomorrow at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

”We’re really starting to see some good growth there,” said Shawn Milne, an analyst with Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. ”Customers are getting over any issues they might have had with buying something of that price online.”

The idea of selling pendants jewelry online always sounded enticing since it involved high-margin goods that could be stored in small warehouses and be shipped more easily than a couch, say, or a cantaloupe. Mr. Milne said shipping costs for online jewelers could be as low as 5 percent of sales, compared with 10 percent on average for Web sites that sell other goods.

Even so, Jewelry.com, Miadora.com and many other failed online jewelers found that no matter how much they spent on marketing, consumers were simply not ready to trust them with a $5,000 sale.

That tide is starting to turn, as ComScore’s statistics show. Analysts said that more experienced online shoppers were growing bolder about high-priced purchases as they graduated from buying books and CD’s to computers and other electronics items, and that they were now making the next step, to cars and diamond bracelets. Online retailers deserve some credit as well: online jewelers that did not spend their way to oblivion during the Internet boom years are creating a track record of trustworthiness.

Take Blue Nile, which rolled out in 1999, and which analysts agree is the market leader. The company, privately held, is on pace to reach about $70 million in sales this year, according to its chief executive, Mark Vadon. The company achieved outright profitability in the third quarter, he said, after 12 straight quarters of operating profits.

Unlike some other online jewelers and luxury goods sites, Blue Nile caters mostly to men — the bulk of its sales come from custom-made engagement rings. And since, as Mr. Vadon said, ”there’s a large segment of men who really don’t understand what they’re buying when it comes to engagement rings,” the site puts a premium on education, with extensive tutorials on evaluating diamonds and designing rings.

Such guidance is paying off, Mr. Vadon said, with rings selling for an average price of $5,200, versus the national average of about $2,200, and carrying an operating profit margin of about 8 percent. Blue Nile’s customers do have their limits. Most will order online even for more expensive rings, Mr. Vadon said, ”but once they get above $20,000 or $30,000, they’ll call in” to complete the sale. A human voice on the phone still makes a difference during life’s crucial moments, apparently.

Mr. Vadon said Blue Nile could sell rings for at least 20 percent less than retail stores largely because it is the exclusive Internet retailer for 11 of the world’s largest diamond manufacturers. ”So while they’re out trying to sell to all the retailers out there, we’re selling their diamonds directly to consumers,” he said. ”Since we’re their largest customer, we get compensated with lower prices.”

If Blue Nile finds continued success with its engagement ring strategy, it can also thank the forbearance of Tiffany earrings, the largest marketer of premium-price diamonds. For now, at least, Tiffany is not an online competitor to Blue Nile. According to Mark Aaron, a Tiffany spokesman, the Tiffany.com Web site sells more than 2,400 products, but it will not sell diamond engagement rings.

Rather, Tiffany.com introduces customers to several different ring styles and lists a range of prices. If users are interested in buying, the site encourages them to visit a Tiffany retail location, of which there are 47 in the United States. Mr. Aaron said that strategy was meant both to protect Tiffany’s brand reputation and to ensure that Tiffany attracted customers to its stores, where, he said, they spent more money over time.

At the core of Tiffany’s brand, Mr. Aaron said, is the notion that the company provides better service than its peers in the jewelry industry. The level of service an engagement ring customer can receive in a Tiffany store cannot be matched online, he said. ”And if they come to the store,” he said, ”hopefully we can establish a long-term relationship with that customer.”

Mr. Aaron said that Web sales of any sort accounted for only ”a few percent” of Tiffany’s key rings overall revenue of $366 million last quarter. ”There are people who spend many thousands on jewelry on the site, but they come to the store and spend hundreds of thousands,” he said.

For so-called pure-play online jewelry merchants other than Blue Nile, business is also becoming more steady. Ice.com, which was formerly part of the free-spending Internet incubator Idealab, is now independently owned and has achieved net profits for the last year and expects total sales of about $15 million in 2002, said Shmuel Gniwisch, the site’s chief executive. Mr. Gniwisch, who founded the company, said November’s sales were triple those of a year earlier, ”and expenses haven’t gone up more than 10 percent.”

Money was apparently less of an object in 2000, when Idealab merged Ice with another of its Internet properties, the online cosmetics site Eve.com. Mr. Gniwisch said Idealab had planned to roll out the combined sites under the Big.com domain name, for which it paid $3 million.

”Then they did a poll and found that 80 percent of the women thought Big.com was a porno site,” Mr. Gniwisch said. ”I told them to open a porno site. At least you’ll have one business that makes money. Coming from a rabbi, they didn’t think it was a great idea.”

Now out from the Idealab umbrella, Ice.com is in expansion mode, but with more modest ambitions. Earlier this year the site acquired the inventory and name of Service Merchandise, the failed combination store-catalog operation that had been in business for 41 years. Ice.com opened ServiceMerchandise.com last week. It will rely mostly on inventory from Ice.com, which will continue to operate as a separate site.

Mr. Gniwisch said he originally thought Service Merchandise would be valuable only for its customer list. ”But we looked into it deeper and knew we could do something more with it,” he said. ”Everybody I’ve ever spoken to has been a shopper at Service Merchandise, and jewelry was more than half of their business.”

Mr. Milne, the Soundview analyst, said that he was not sure how much value could be squeezed from the Service Merchandise brand but that the emerging success of the online necklaces jewelry category in general showed that consumer e-commerce had staying power.

”The old Internet models are long gone, but those who are left, and have found niche businesses that don’t compete with Amazon or eBay, are working well,” Mr. Milne said. ”We continue to sift through the rubble to see if there are any interesting names because the consumer Internet trends are very strong.”