DESPITE ITS ICONIC PRESENCE on New wow gold York’s famed Fifth Avenue, the House of Cartier was originally founded by Louis-Francois Cartier in Paris in 1847, where it quickly earned a reputation as one of France’s finest jewelers. Among its royal clients were Princess Mathilde of France and Empress Eugenie. The grandson of Louis-Francois, the pioneering Louis Cartier, joined the house in 1898, and under his bold leadership, radical change propelled the company World of Warcraft Gold into the new Century. Starting with a strongly classical Gallic character, the House of Cartier swiftly reached far beyond its French borders, opening itself to exquisite modernism, and embracing a global mystique for its jewelry, starting with an abstract European aesthetic and blossoming into true internationalism. IN THE EARLY 1900s, Cartier visited anjewelry wholesale important exhibit of Islamic art in Paris, after which he began to juxtapose blue and green stones in his jewelry, a combination that rapidly became the hallmark of his designs. Russian popular arts showed up in his jewels shortly after he saw a wildly exotic production of D&G belt Sergei Diaghkilv’s Ballets Russes. Japanese motifs followed, along with the remarkably original use of platinum, a metal rarely used for jewelry at the time. Louis Cartier was not just a jeweler, he essentially loved jewelry in all its many guises and forms. Among other things, he was an avid collector and seller of fine specialty jewelry pieces. —As one trade publication put it, Cartier sold both Marie Antoinette’s earrings and the Hope diamond before they ended up in the Smithsonian Diamonds, Diamonds! Once back in the New World, Cartier lost little time competing for the title of America’s Number One jeweler, recognized and revered by almost everyone. Diamonds have long been its leading product. Right now, Cartier is in the center of a hot wave of interest over diamonds, all kinds of diamonds, used in myriad ways for the most lavish, beautiful, and exclusive jewelry pieces to be found anywhere. It’s all quite dramatic! What’s more, adding to the excitement over diamonds, is the much-advertised and promoted 100th anniversary of America’s fabled Cartier andcar dvd its continued presence in the gorgeous Old World Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The celebration is both momentous and majestic. After all, this is Cartier, and the name alone is thrilling and impressive. In its long-standing location on New York’s exclusive Fifth Avenue, the jeweler stands imperious and undaunted, almost next to its cousin in fame and fortune, Tiffany’s, facing the exclusive, coolly doorman-ed Plaza Hotel, and across the street from Bergdorf Goodman, apparel retailer to the most privileged, even in ritzy New York. Even Rodeo Drive can’t compete with this! Global Reach CARTIER NOW HAS 36 stores in North America and in a bevy of international locations including its flagship on the Rue de la Paix in Paris, where an endless number of historic special orders have been placed over the years. They include Mexican actress Maria Felix’s crocodile necklace and Wallis Simpson’s gorgeous cigarette case that was given to her by her husband, the Duke of Windsor, and engraved with the route of their honeymoon voyage. And, of course, we can’t fail to mention the Duchess of Windsor’s most famous jewelry possession, the “Great Cat” brooch. Done in black enamel-spotted gold, the phenomenal tiger has brilliant, emerald green eyes and is crouched on an emerald cabochon of some 90 carats. It is still copied, world-wide!
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