Music Friday: Love Is As ‘Warm As the Ruby’ and As ‘Pure As the Pearl’ in Nat King Cole’s 1952 Ballad

Welcome to Music Friday when we often unearth wonderful, but sadly forgotten, treasures with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we present the immortal Nat King Cole singing “The Ruby and the Pearl,” the theme song to the 1952 film, Thunder in the East.

In this ballad written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, Cole uses gemstones and precious metals to describe his love and devotion. He sings, “Can love be as warm as the ruby? / Can love be as pure as the pearl? / Just look in the heart of my love for you. / You'll find the ruby and the pearl.”

In a later verse, he sings, “My love will endure as the diamond / And shine with the shimmer of gold. / It glows like a bright star above for you / A thing of beauty to behold.”

Released on Capitol Records only one year after his iconic hit, “Unforgettable,” “The Ruby and the Pearl” peaked at #23 on the U.S. Billboard chart. One online movie reviewer noted that Cole’s beautiful performance of “The Ruby and the Pearl” was the best thing to come out of Thunder in the East, which he called a routine action film.

In 1954, “The Ruby and the Pearl” was included in a 10-inch LP Nat King Cole compilation album called Eight Top Pops.

Born in 1919 to a Baptist minister and a church organist, Nathanian Adam Coles learned to play the piano at the age of four. He first came to prominence as a jazz pianist, but is most famous for his silky smooth baritone voice. In 1956, he hosted The Nat King Cole Show on NBC, the first variety program to be hosted by an African American.

During his abbreviated career (he died of lung cancer in 1965 at the age of 45), Cole released 29 albums and scored 79 Top 40 singles.

In 1990, he was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2000 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1994, his likeness adorned an official U.S. postage stamp.

We invite you to hear Cole’s beautifully articulated performance of “The Ruby and the Pearl.” The video is below and the lyrics are included if you’d like to sing along.

“The Ruby and the Pearl”
Music written by Jay Livingston. Lyrics written by Ray Evans. Performed by Nat King Cole.

Can love be as warm as the ruby?
Can love be as pure as the pearl?
Just look in the heart of my love for you.
You'll find the ruby and the pearl.

My love will endure as the diamond;
And shine with the shimmer of gold.
It glows like a bright star above for you,
A thing of beauty to behold.

Come close and cling to my kiss;
Come close and share the passion of this.

Yes, love is as warm as the ruby
And love is as pure as the pearl.
Just look in the heart of my love for you.
You'll find the ruby and the pearl.

Come close and cling to my kiss;
Come close and share the passion of this.

Yes, love is as warm as the ruby
And love is as pure as the pearl.
Just look in the heart of my love for you.
You'll find the ruby and the pearl.

Top image: WikiCommons

Tulsa Doctor Is on a Mission to Find Rightful Owner of Diamond Engagement Ring Found in Airport Parking Lot

For the past six weeks, Dr. Kristen Rice has been on a mission to find the rightful owner of a diamond engagement ring she and her husband, Kevin, found in the short-term parking lot of Tulsa International Airport.

Featuring a sizable round center diamond, pavé setting, delicate heart-motif gallery, one bent prong, a slightly flattened side and a custom engraving, the white metal ring has been splashed all over Facebook and Craigslist, and on Tuesday was the subject of a news report by NBC’s Tulsa television affiliate, KJRH.

Despite the huge amount of traditional and social media exposure (Rice’s Facebook post about the ring has been shared 641 times, and the TV station’s post was shared 51 times), nobody has come forward to claim the keepsake.

Rice used a strip of grey duct tape to conceal a custom engraving on the inside of the band. Whoever claims the ring must correctly identify what it says.

Since July 4, the Tulsa-based dermatologist has been scouring the Internet for claims of a lost ring, placed an ad on Craigslist, posted photos of the ring on Facebook, regularly contacted the Tulsa airport’s lost and found, and scored an interview with the NBC affiliate.

Rice has received an outpouring of praise and encouragement from the Facebook users following her story.

“Bless her for trying to locate the owner!” commented Linda Tiffany Cardwell. “I lost a sapphire-and-diamond ring in the ladies’ room at the San Antonio airport 20 years ago... great sentimental value. My heart is still broken over the loss. Wish the person who found it had the same character as this lady!”

Added Facebook user Jo Lynn: “Even rings that aren't expensive can be treasures to someone. Kudos to the finder for being a superb human being.”

“The person who found this ring is the kind of person who walks with God,” wrote Damiris Kennedy.

“It's surprising to me so many people are shocked at me trying to find the rightful owner,” she told KJRH. “It's just the right thing to do. I wouldn't have done it any other way.”

Rice, who graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, is impressed by the power of social media. She reported that several people contacted her saying “don’t give up” and that “25 years ago this happened to me; it took six months or a year, but I finally found the owner through the classifieds.”

“Now with social media it can take 24 to 48 hours,” she said.

Rice hopes there will be a sweet, romantic outcome, although she speculated on circumstances behind the ring ending up slightly flattened in an airport parking lot.

“Maybe she threw it out the window. Maybe she didn't want the ring anymore,” she told KJRH. “I hope that's not the case. Hopefully it's [a couple] who truly lost their ring and they are looking for it, because if they are to find it, it might be a symbol of renewed love.”

Headpiece Encrusted With Color-Change Swarovski Spinel Is a Contemporary Take on the 1970's Mood Ring

A leather headpiece mounted with 4,000 lab-grown Swarovski spinel stones has the ability to change color in response to brain activity, delivering a high-tech and grown-up version of one of the memorable fads of all time — the mood ring.

Children of the 1970s like to reminisce about their mood rings, the inexpensive baubles featuring a “gem” that changed color in response to the body’s temperature. The inventors cleverly bonded what was essentially a thin liquid crystal thermometer to the back of a clear quartz stone, enabling the surprising color-change effect to be seen through the faux gem.

Now, nearly 40 years later, Lauren Bowker of the London-based fashion house The Unseen has created a gem-emblazoned head covering that absorbs the energy loss from the head. The stones start as black spinel, but have the ability to change from black to orange to red to green to blue to purple based on the part of the brain in use. The headpiece actually covers the wearer’s forehead, temples, ear tops and back of the neck.

“When worn, the headpiece becomes a reflection of the inner human thought,” Bowker told Cnet.com.

The Swarovski black spinel stones are coated in Bowker’s signature color-changing ink, which is sensitive to temperature changes. The stones serve as heat conductors.

Bowker claims that excitement, nervousness and fear all produce different colors. Shifting emotions result in a brilliant, colorful display.

The designer explained to Dezeen.com that mornings generally produce orange color patterns at the front of the brain, while evening patterns tend to be bluer and in the back right of the brain.

Attendees of London Fashion Week in September will be able to get a first-hand look at Bowker’s gem headpiece at The Unseen’s emporium in Somerset House.

(Headpiece photos: The Unseen)

Flawless 8.41-Carat Purple-Pink Diamond Could Set a Price-Per-Carat Record at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels Sale in October

An extraordinarily rare internally flawless purple-pink diamond could set a record when it hits the auction block at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Autumn Sale on October 7.

The auction house tagged the 8.41-carat pear-shaped diamond with a pre-sale estimate between $12.8 million and $15.4 million, or approximately $1.83 million per carat.

A Sotheby's official claimed the fancy vivid purple-pink diamond displays the most beautiful and concentrated shades of pink that he has ever seen. The Gemological Institute of America supported that assessment by bestowing the stone with its highest color rating.

"Together with its exceptional clarity, it is not surprising that it would command the highest per-carat pre-sale estimate for any pink diamond to date," said Quek Chin Yeow, the chairman of Sotheby’s international jewelry business in Asia. He added that the sale's top lot is arguably “the most desirable pink diamond to appear at auction in recent years.”

The 8.41-carat purple-pink sparkler was expertly cut in New York City from a De Beers-mined rough diamond weighing 19.54 carats. It is not unusual for a world-class diamond such as this one to lose half of its weight or more during the cutting process.

The Sotheby’s October headliner is expected to come within striking distance of the highest price ever paid per carat for a fancy vivid pink diamond. That record is held by a 5-carat stone that sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in January 2009 for $10.8 million ($2.16 million per carat).

The record for the highest price ever paid for any jewel at auction is held by the 24.67-carat Graff Pink, which sold in 2010 for $46.2 million ($1.86 million per carat).

The 8.41-carat purple-pink diamond will be touring Singapore, Taipei, New York, London, Geneva and Hong Kong prior to what promises to be an exciting auction on October 7.

(Photo: Sotheby's)

Israeli Student Creates Stylish, But Invasive, Jewelry That Transforms the Body Into a Renewable Energy Source (Ouch!)

Imagine being able to power your electronic devices with the energy harnessed from your eyes blinking, the blood flowing through your veins, or the electric pulses coursing through your spine.

Well, Israeli industrial design student Naomi Kizhner has developed a line of fashionable, yet invasive, jewelry called “Energy Addicts” that transforms the body into a renewable energy source.

Fabricated in karat gold and 3D-printed biopolymer, the jewelry designs are intended to be worn on three different parts of the body.

The least invasive of the three is called the Blinker, which sits on the bridge of the nose and across the eyelids. The device transforms the energy generated with every blink of the eye into electricity.

Not for the faint-hearted, the Blood Bridge requires two needles to be placed into a vein in the lower arm. The jewelry redirects blood flow past a wheel within the casing. As the wheel turns, the device converts the kinetic energy into electricity.

Another seemingly painful device is called the E-pulse Conductor. Inserted into the upper spine, the jewelry collects the electric pulses generated by the wearer’s neurological system.

So far, the Energy Addicts jewelry is not commercially viable. Kizhner designed the products for a senior project at Hadassah College in Jerusalem. Her project addresses what she believes is an impending worldwide energy crisis.

"I wanted to explore the post-humanistic approach that sees the human body as a resource," she told Dezeen.com. "It interested me to imagine what would the world be like once it has experienced a steep decline in energy resources and how we will feed our energy addiction."

Kizhner believes her concepts are not far fetched. "Technologically, we are not too far away from these ideas becoming a reality," she said. "But practically speaking, will we be willing to sacrifice our bodies in order to produce more energy? My intention is to provoke a discussion."

(Photos: Naomi Kizhner/Shahar Tamir)