Music Friday: The Trews Believe There Is No Finer Thing Than 'The Pearl'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, in honor of June's official birthstone, we feature Canadian rock band The Trews singing their 2005 tune, "The Pearl (More Than Everything)."

In the song, lead singer Colin MacDonald refers to his love interest as "the pearl" and likens her beauty to a diamond ring.

He sings, "Though the pearl eludes me while I'm sinkin' still there's no finer thing / Diamonds do you justice only 'cause your beauty shines like a ring / I want you more than everything."

By the end of the song, MacDonald is even more determined to win her heart, singing, "Fighting through the winter tempest I can hear the sea sirens sing / Now I can find the gold and silver that I prayed tomorrow would bring."

Written by band members Colin MacDonald, John-Angus MacDonald and producer Gordie Johnson, "The Pearl" appeared as the eighth track of The Trews' Den of Thieves album. It was their second studio album and peaked at #6 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

The Trews were founded in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, in the late 1990s. They got their big break in the summer of 2002 when they won a contest sponsored by Ontario rock station CHTZ-FM. The victory led to a recording contract with Bumstead Productions.

The band was nominated as New Group of the Year at Canada's 2004 Juno Awards, and their tune "Not Ready to Go" was nominated as the Canadian Single of the Year in 2005. In November 2010, the band performed the Canadian National anthem at the 98th Grey Cup in Edmonton, which is equivalent to the Super Bowl in the US.

The Trews are currently appearing in venues throughout Ontario. Check out the video of their 2009 live performance of "The Pearl" at Glen Gould Studio in Toronto. The lyrics are here if you'd like to sing along...

"The Pearl (More Than Everything)"
Written by Colin MacDonald, John-Angus MacDonald and Gordie Johnson. Performed by The Trews.

The search of one true heart deep within you
The ocean will part the clearness of blue
Though the pearl eludes me while I'm sinkin' still there's no finer thing
Diamonds do you justice only cause your beauty shines like a ring

I want you more than everything
I want you more than everything

The four winds on high of virtue they sing
It sharpens my eye determines these things... determination
Though the pearl eludes me while I'm sinkin' still there's no finer thing
Diamonds do you justice only 'cause your beauty shines like a ring
Fighting through the winter tempest I can hear the sea sirens sing

I want you more than everything
I want you more than everything
I want you more than everything
I want you more than everything

I feel your heart fades into view
The mist pulls apart and reveals the...
Pearl eludes me while I'm sinkin' still there's no finer thing
Diamonds do you justice only 'cause your beauty shines like a ring
Fighting through the winter tempest I can hear the sea sirens sing
Now I can find the gold and silver that I prayed tomorrow would bring

I want you more than everything

More than everything
Ohhhhhhhhhh

More than everything
Ohhhhhhhh

More than everything
Ohhh ohhhhh

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Antwerp Diamond Industry Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Tolkowsky's 'Brilliant Cut'

Exactly 100 years ago, a 19-year-old Antwerp engineer named Marcel Tolkowsky perfected a mathematical formula for the 57-facet "brilliant-cut" diamond. Tolkowsky's accomplishment prevails as the most iconic and successful cut in history due to its ability to maximize a diamond's fire, brilliance and sparkle.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre recently held a street fair and ceremonial diamond cutting to honor Tolkowsky and the 100th anniversary.

"In 1919, my uncle Marcel unlocked the secret of light within a diamond," said Gabi Tolkowsky, one of the world's most renowned diamond cutters. "He figured out how to get the greatest amount of light to shine out of a diamond, calculating the number and arrangement of facets to maximize the light return. This was Marcel’s gift to the world, perfecting the journey of light, giving all those who came after him the knowledge of how to turn a diamond into a unique beauty."

Marcel Tolkowsky proved that if a diamond was cut too deep or too shallow, the light coming down from the top would escape out the sides or bottom, resulting in a loss of brilliance. His solution: 57 precisely placed facets cut to exacting proportions so the light coming into a diamond is refracted up through the table and crown to the viewer's eye.

During the celebration, the AWDC launched its unique “100 Years Brilliant” project, during which 57 well-know (and lesser known) Antwerp residents were invited to polish a single diamond — one person for each facet of a brilliant.

"In this way, ‘t Steentje – which is how the diamond industry is referred to in the local vernacular – will represent the multicultural character and diversity of the Antwerp diamond industry," explained AWDC CEO Ari Epstein.

Once the stone is finished, it will be exhibited in Antwerp's DIVA diamond museum.

The first facet was polished by guest of honor Gabi Tolkowsky, who famously spent three years cutting the 273.85-carat Centenary Diamond.

The second facet of the stone was polished by Constantinus ‘Stan’ Hunselmans, who shares his birth year with the brilliant.

“I celebrated my 100th birthday on January 14, and it is an honor that I was chosen," Hunselmans said. "It went really well. If I were a little bit younger, I might have considered a career switch.”

Since 1447, Antwerp has laid claim to the title of the "World's Diamond Capital." It should come as no surprise that Tolkowsky's brilliant cut was developed in this city.

Credit: Image courtesy of Petragems [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Diamond proportions graphics by Jasper Paulsen CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Men's Apparel Company Finds Engagement Ring in Pocket of Returned Jeans

An engagement ring that was thought to be lost forever was returned to a Hueytown, Ala., woman by honest employees at a Kentucky distribution center of rugged men's apparel.

Jacky Crick, a receiver for Carhartt's return center in Hopkinsville, Ky., found the black and white diamond engagement ring in the pocket of a pair of jeans that had been sent to the facility by Andrea Speer.

Speer explained that she didn't feel the ring slip off as she prepared the return for her husband.

“The ring was loose," Speer told Birmingham TV station WBRC, "and I guess when I stuck my hand inside the pocket it just came off, and I didn’t notice it 'cause I still had the wedding band on.”

Speer was devastated by the loss.

“I went into panic mode and I cried myself to sleep that night and several nights after that because I was just heartbroken," she told WBRC. "You know it has sentimental value. I mean that’s the ring he put on my finger the day he proposed."

Speer was convinced, at first, that the ring came off during a shopping trip to a local Dollar store.

“Went back to the store three times, three times!" she exclaimed. "Looking in the store, looking in the parking lot, and it was nowhere to be found. And then after a couple of weeks we realized it’s probably just gone. I would never see it again.”

Little did she know, that 275 miles and two states away, an honest receiver was alerting her Carhartt's supervisor that she found the ring. That supervisor promptly shipped the ring back to Speer, along with a handwritten note on Carhartt stationery explaining how it was discovered.

Speer told the WBRC reporter how elated she and her husband were when the ring miraculously turned up in the mail...

“I cried, I was happy," she said. "I was just totally amazed and just totally relieved. [My husband] cried! He actually got back down on one knee and put it back on my finger. It was a very sweet moment, it was!”

Speer's stepdaughter, Brittany Scoggins, summarized the details of the unexpected ring return on her Facebook page.

"People need to know that [Carhartt] is a good, honest company and that real people work there and real people want to do the right thing,” Scoggins told WBRC.

Speer said she'd like nothing more than to get up to Hopkinsville to give Crick a big hug.

Credits: Screen captures via wbrc.com.

Flawless 'Bubble Gum Pink' Diamond Fetches $7.5 Million at Christie's Hong Kong

An internally flawless bubble gum pink diamond weighing 3.44 carats was the colorful star of Christie's Hong Kong auction on Tuesday as it sold for $7.5 million, or $2.2 million per carat.

The cushion modified brilliant-cut diamond — aptly dubbed "The Bubble Gum Pink" — is set in a ring by luxury jeweler Moussaieff. The fancy vivid purplish-pink diamond is framed by small pear-shaped pink diamonds on the corners and larger marquise-cut white diamonds on the sides.

Celebrated for its superb color, The Bubble Gum Pink was classified by Christie's Chairman Francois Curiel as "probably the strongest pink I have ever seen in my 50-year life of jewelry specialty at Christie’s."

The hammer price for the auction's top lot was on the high end of Christie's pre-sale estimate of $6 million to $8 million.

Other top lots at the Magnificent Jewels event include the following:

• A pair of emerald earrings called The Grand Muzos fetched $4.5 million. The Colombian-sourced emeralds weigh 23.34 carats and 23.18 carats, respectively, and are accented by white diamonds and pearls. Each of the diamonds weighs exactly 3.01 carats and share identical F-color and VS2 clarity gradings. Christie's had estimated the pair would sell in the range of $3.8 million to $6.5 million.

• A necklace featuring 47 jadeite beads ranging in size from 9.8mm to 13.3mm and accented with a ruby and diamond clasp yielded $1.9 million, slightly below the pre-sale estimate of $2 million to $3 million. The necklace measures 22.24 inches (56.5cm) in length.

• An elaborate diamond necklace by Bulgari — highlighted by a rare 1.02-carat vivid green-blue modified brilliant-cut diamond and a modified pear brilliant-cut diamond of 11.69 carats — sold for $1.57 million. The large center diamond is internally flawless. The hammer price was just below the pre-sale estimate, which Christie's set at $1.6 million to $2.3 million.

The Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in Hong Kong presented more than 260 lots and netted $44.4 million.

Credits: Images courtesy of Christie's.

'We're Closer Than Ever to Finding the Mother Lode' at Lulo Mine: Lucapa Chairman

The chairman of Lucapa Diamond Company told stockholders Monday that his exploration team is closer than ever to striking the mother lode at the flagship Lulo site in Angola.

While Lulo already has a reputation for turning out large, high-quality diamonds at its alluvial deposit, chairman Miles Kennedy believes the prospect of "huge wealth" is well within reach.

“There are no silver bullets in the kimberlite exploration game...” Kennedy said. “But the patient and methodical approach adopted by our exploration team is narrowing down and confining the search areas of our quest. It may take us another couple of years, but I am more confident than ever that we can indeed find the diamond source at Lulo.”

“And while kimberlite exploration can by nature be painstakingly slow," he added, "I am equally of the view that we are closer than ever to finding the mother lode...”

The Lulo mining area, which comprises 1,100 square miles along the length of the 31-mile Cacuilo River, has already generated a series of high-quality, impressive finds. The largest to date was discovered in 2016 and named "4 de Fevereiro." The 404.20-carat rough gem was eventually sold for $16 million to luxury jeweler De Grisogono, which cut it into a flawless 163.41-carat emerald-cut diamond.

To identify and protect sizable diamonds that might otherwise be damaged in the sorting process, Lucapa installed a $3.5 million state-of-the-art XRT large-diamond recovery system in 2017. The system uses advanced X-ray transmission technology (XRT) and larger screens (55mm) so diamonds up to 1,100 carats can be cherry picked. XRT technology is also more efficient at recovering low-luminescing, ultra-pure Type IIa diamonds. Diamonds from the Lulo site typically sell for $2,000 per carat.

Lucapa has a 40% stake in the Lulo mine and holds an exploration license that runs until April 2023. The mining firm maintains two partners in the project — Empresa Nacional de Diamantes EP and Rosas & Petales.

Credits: Rough diamond images courtesy of Lucapa Diamond Company. Emerald-cut "4 de Fevereiro" image via PRNewsfoto/de GRISOGONO.