Why is it called a Tennis Bracelet?
It’s not because this form of jewellery was specially designed to be worn while playing tennis - although its unintrusive form makes it a lot more convenient to wear during a match than many other items of jewellery.
No, the reason why these thin, inline diamond bracelets came to be called tennis bracelets is because, in 1987, Chris Evert (former world #1 tennis player, and winner of 18 Grand Slam titles) was wearing a very expensive George Bedewi diamond bracelet, which unfortunately came apart while she was playing a US Open match. The match was halted while Chris recovered her diamonds, and during this high-profile holdup, the commentators and reporters started to refer to Chris Evert’s “tennis bracelet”.
The general public immediately picked up on this, and since then these thin, inline, diamond bracelets have been referred to much more succinctly as “tennis bracelets”.
Diamond tennis bracelets can vary greatly in price with the ones featuring a row of small diamonds of uniform size being more expensive than those with different sized stones. However, because of the setting, no matter how much the individual diamonds may differ in size, a tennis bracelet should retain its inline look. They are popular items of jewellery because they are simple and understated in design but display a spectacular lustre and sparkle. You can even wear them while playing tennis - but make sure the safety catch is securely fastened!
If you have a tennis bracelet, and are looking for a loan, you can pledge it - or any other appropriate personal assets such as gold, jewellery, art or antiques - in exchange for an asset loan from Borro.com, ranging from £100 to £100,000 for between 1 and 6 months.
Borro’s valuation team is second to none, and will provide top dollar loan estimates online. Borro frequently advances asset loans within 48 hours of application. So, if you need cash fast, it’s easy at Borro.com.
DID YOU KNOW…?
Our interest rates do not compound –a flat rate means you pay the same amount each month- so beware of pawnbrokers who claim to be cheaper…
Patek Philippe
In 1844, a polish immigrant Antoine Norbert de Patek met the French watchmaker Adrien Philippe. Patek had since 1839 been making watches with another pole François Czapek and a year after Patek and Philippe met, Czapek left the company. The rest is history.
Since its origins, Patek Philippe have made watches created by craftsmen with a style and sophistication in a level of its own. ‘They also held the Geneva seal since 1886, a mark of quality granted by the City of Geneva to watch makers who meet the twelve strict criteria of finishing and decoration which the certification requires’ - as quoted by the Patek Philippe website. They also have a museum located in a restored art deco building in the Plainpalais area of Geneva showcasing the company’s glorious history.
Once patronised by Queen Victoria and now favoured by celebrities and Russian Oligarchs alike, Patek Philippe have recently opened a boutique in the prestigious Dubai Mall shopping centre. The company seems to have defied the economic crisis.
Quality and durability it seems are still in demand even in a recession and with two watches selling at Christies Auctions in Switzerland for over a million pounds a piece, one from as late as 1960, it seems these watches become collector’s items almost as soon as they leave the shop.
Borro.com, the world’s first online asset lender, will always lend on watches of good calibre, especially those of such solid pedigree as Patek Philippe. Asset loans from £100 - £100,000 for 1 - 6 months are always available if you have appropriate collateral to pledge - and after you redeem your loan, your returned asset will still be a good investment.
Contact the Borro team online at Borro.com for a confidential valuation.
Related Links:
DID YOU KNOW…?
Our valuers are based at the same location as the London Silver Vaults which have the same level of security as the crown jewels…
Don’t sell your Rolls Royce right now. Second-hand Rolls Royce prices are plummeting as demand declines
Global demand for luxury and prestige cars has dwindled, with one recent auction selling an immaculate 2 year old Rolls-Royce Phantom worth £265,000 new, for an eye-watering £135,000.
In previous downturns the market for luxury cars was more resilient than the mass market, but not this time. Since the credit crunch, the readily available finance that made buying a fancy car easy has disappeared.
With such big discounts available on new models, people expect to pay even less for second-hand ones, with residual values not expected to improve until the glut of used vehicles subsides.
All the more reason to talk to Borro.com, release equity and have your luxury car stored until the market picks up.
Related Links:
The Contemporary Art of Investment
With a tally of $93,734,500 and 49 of the 54 lots offered being sold, Christies Postwar and Contemporary Art evening sale held in New York on Wednesday achieved a seemingly impossible result set against the gloomy media coverage of the auction industry. Closer examination of the works sold explains this seemingly impossible total.
The top lot of the sale: David Hockney’s Painting ‘Beverley Hills Housewife’ which sold for $7.9 million - a record for the artist - is a perfect example. This large diptych was entirely fresh to the market as it had been in the collection of art patron Betty Friedman since it was bought in 1967 from a New York gallery, where it was first shown.
The cast iron provenance of the work coupled with its immaculate condition made it irresistible to both collectors and investors alike. The results of this auction shows that, in today’s recession, quality artworks can still be a solid investment. With banks, corporations and even the government holding collections of contemporary art, this type of asset is now on par with other more traditional commodities such as jewellery, diamonds and gold bullion, which are increasingly considered to be solid investments in the current financial climate.
If you need to service a short term cash requirement, there is no need to sell your prized possessions. The Borro team is keen to lend against works of contemporary art by established artists, and if your pledged artwork appreciates in market value during the term of your loan, it will be even more valuable when you settle the loan, and get your artwork back.
Borro.com is regulated by the UK Government, and all Borro contracts are approved by the Office of Fair Trading. For loans ranging from £100 - £100,000 for 1 to 6 months, contact Samantha Lilley, Head of Valuation, Borro.com, for a confidential valuation.
The Rolex Story
Rolex, the number one brand in luxury watches in the world, has always been collected by the rich and famous. It featured in eleven Bond movies, premiering in Dr No in 1962, which featured Sean Connery sporting a Rolex submariner.
Rolex was established in 1905, trading under the name Wilsdorf and Davis - after the founders, Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred James Davis - but they were soon trading under the Rolex brand, which was first registered in Geneva in 1908. It wasn’t until the late 1920s, when Rolex’s competitor ‘Harwood’ went bankrupt, that Rolex entered the automatic wristwatch market, developing the oyster case in 1927.
According to one leading specialist, “They virtually invented the modern day wristwatch, the water resistant case, and the self-winding mechanism among other innovations and contributions”. They also produce more COSC certified watches then any other watch maker, and have done so for many years.
COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) is the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute responsible for certifying the accuracy and precision of wristwatches in Switzerland. To earn chronometer certification, a movement must not only be made from the highest quality components, but also be the object of special care on the part of the finest watchmakers and timers during assembly.
Over a million official chronometer certificates are delivered each year, representing only 3% of the Swiss watch production, a proportion that underscores the exceptional nature of a chronometer. Among the top end of luxury watch brands, the watches that are awarded most of the COSC certificates feature the Rolex 3135 movement and its successors.
Rolex has always produced the best automatic and waterproof watches, including the Submariner, first introduced in 1953, and then the Sea Dweller ranges which are all highly collectable today.
We should, however, state a fair warning to Rolex aficionados. The high levels of desirability generated by the Rolex brand attract armies of illegal copyists. There are many fakes around, ranging from very crude copies to highly elaborate and convincing replicas. However, none of these imitations can compare to the accurate time keeping and immaculate quality of the genuine article.
All Rolex watches, vintage and modern, hold their value on the open market, and are a safe bet as an investment. They can also be ideal as collateral for a secured loan. Borro.com provides the best possible rates for secured loans against such assets. For further details please contact the Borro team on 0800 7569877 or get online to Borro.com.
Related Links:
How do you value a Henry Moore sculpture?
You go to someone who knows the art market! For example, a knowledgeable and reputable art dealer will know that:-
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 - 31 August 1986), was an English artist and sculptor. He is best known for his abstract monumental bronze sculptures which have been distributed around the world, frequently as public works of art. His work often takes the form of abstractions of the human figure, typically depicting mother-and-child.
Moore was born in Castleford, the son of a mining engineer. He became well known through his abstract, large-scale bronze castings and carved marble sculptures, and was instrumental in introducing his own particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom. In later life, his widely acknowledged talent for large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy, yet he lived frugally, donating most of his income to the Henry Moore Foundation, which, to this day, is devoted to art education and the promotion of the arts.
At a Christie’s auction in New York in 2003, a 15-foot (4.7 metre) bronze, described in the catalogue as “Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped” fetched $6.2m (£3.7m), making it the most expensive British sculpture ever sold.
Whatever you are trading, you will get the best prices from the most knowledgeable and reputable dealers, and although Art & Antiques are traded in a more exotic market, they are no exception to the rule.
The valuation team at Borro.com is second to none. So, you will get the most accurate valuations, and therefore the best loan offers from Borro. Borro is the world’s first and leading online pawnbroker. You can arrange everything at home, on your pc, making Borro’s personal loans discreet, convenient and fast! Borro often transfers loans within 48 hours of application.
Check out Borro.com today!
Related Links:
What’s the Point in Diamonds
Most people know that diamonds are measured by weight in carats. But did you know that there are 100 points to a carat? So, if you see a diamond marked as “50 points”, it could also be described as ½ carat.
So, the point is that the world’s biggest diamond, the Golden Jubilee, weighs 545.67 carats - which is the same as 54,567 points! This diamond is the largest faceted diamond in the world. The rough stone weighed 755 carats, and was discovered in the Premier Mine in South Africa in 1985.
The Golden Jubilee was presented to the King of Thailand in 1997 on the 50th anniversary of his coronation – his Golden Jubilee. Up until then, the stone went by the more prosaic title of the Unnamed Brown. The estimated value of the Golden Jubilee ranges up to $12 million.
You don’t have to own the Golden Jubilee to get a discreet, convenient and fast pawn loan from Borro.com. Borro often advances loans within 48 hours of application against jewellery, watches, art, antiques and many other kinds of personal valuables.
Borro.com is easy to deal with because everything is done online, at home, on your pc. Borro.com is licenced by the UK government, and all Borro’s pawn contracts are licenced by the Office of Fair Trading. So borrowers have every possible legal protection.
Unlike many other so-called short term lenders, you only pay Borro interest during the time you actually use your loan, and there are no heavy early settlement penalties if you want to pay the loan off early.
If you need a quick, short term loan, from £100 - £100,000 for 1 - 6 months, get online to Borro.com.
Related Links:
Hallmarks - A Guarantee of Quality
A hallmark is a tiny, permanent stamp, usually punched into the inside or the back of every piece of jewellery made from precious metal, and is a guarantee of the quality of the precious metal from which the piece is made.
Anyone who sells gold is obliged by law to display the Hallmark Act of 1973, and is forbidden by law to sell an item as “Gold” if it is not hallmarked. If an item made of yellow metal is not hallmarked, it would have to be sold as “yellow gold”.
The hallmark will tell you the quality of the gold (i.e. 9, 18 or 22 carats), and sometimes it can tell you where the item was made, and who it was made by.
High quality jewellery is invariably set in high quality gold, so if the hallmark on a piece of jewellery says it is 9 carat gold, then there is a very good chance that the jewels that have been set into the gold will not be of a particularly high quality. However, even 9 carat pieces can be worth something, if they are heavy enough, and are made from a large amount of gold.
If you want to sell or pawn gold, it is best to go to a reputable and professional dealer or pawnbroker, who knows their stuff. If the person you are dealing with is knowledgeable, they will give an accurate and fair valuation. Those who are not so knowledgeable tend to be conservative in their valuations, and will often offer low and unfair purchase prices or loans against gold and jewellery.
If you are thinking of selling a piece that is precious to you, why not pawn it instead? Later, when you’ve paid back your loan, you will get your piece back, and, given the rate at which precious metals are appreciating these days, there is a good chance that when you get it back, it will be worth more than when you pawned it.
Borro.com is the world’s first online pawnbroker. You can arrange everything from valuation to loan transfer at home, on your pc. So, the whole process is totally discreet, convenient, easy and fast! Personal loans against gold, jewellery, watches, art, antiques and other personal valuables are often transferred within 48 hours of application.
As Borro.com is UK government regulated, Borro contracts are approved by the Office of Fair Trading, so borrowers have every possible legal protection.
If you need a loan, and you have personal assets to pledge, Borro.com has money to lend. Get online to Borro.com.
Luxury Watches - Interesting Facts
When luxury watch manufacturers use the word “chronograph” in their descriptions, they are usually referring to the more demanding timekeeping and stopwatch functions.
“Perpetual Motion” refers to a self-winding function. The watch uses the energy generated as the wearer moves around to wind the watch, giving the impression that the watch never needs winding, and therefore appears to be in perpetual motion.
“Sapphire Crystal” - is a high quality transparent cover that protects the watch face. Transparent covers can be made of plexiglass (a clear, lightweight type of plastic), ordinary glass (usually referred to in the watch business as “mineral glass“) or synthetic sapphire.
“Synthetic sapphire” is the most expensive watch crystal material and the most scratch resistant. Because it is so hard, it is also brittle, and shatters more easily than mineral glass or plexiglass.
Note that, coincidentally, the word “crystal” is also used to denote the tiny piece of quartz that serves as an oscillator in a quartz watch. These two types of crystals have nothing to do with each other. The latter is usually called a “quartz crystal” to prevent confusion.
The most expensive watch ever sold was in 1999 through Sotheby’s for $11,003,500. It was a Patek Philippe timepiece that took three years to design and five years to produce. When completed in 1933, the watch had a different horological function for each hour of the day and included a chart of the nighttime sky over the home of Henry Graves Jr, who originally commissioned and purchased the watch.
Luxury watches are among the most popular items used to raise short term loans from pawnbrokers. If you need to raise a loan, try online pawnbroker, Borro.com. You can arrange everything at home on your pc, which makes Borro.com the most discreet and convenient loan provider, and personal loans from Borro.com are fast - often being transferred within 48 hours of application.
Gold and Carats
If you wish to buy or sell gold, you need to understand carats. A carat is defined as 200 mg - or 0.007055 ounces - or 3.086 grains - depending on which units you prefer.
The carat is also used to express the purity of gold. The higher the carat, the purer the gold - for example, 24 carat gold is 99.9% pure, whereas 12 carat gold is 50% pure.
The higher the carat, the more yellow and soft the gold is. 10 and 14 carat gold is used more in the US, whereas Indian gold tends to be 24 carat gold and therefore extremely yellow in colour. In England gold standards vary in purity, the more common variations being 9, 18 and 22 carat.
Gold is fashioned into many different forms of jewellery, but some of the more common standards for trading in the raw material are:
- Sovereign - a 22 carat coin weighing 0.235 troy ounces
- Krugerrand - a 22 carat coin weighing 1 ounce
- Bar - bars vary in size - for example 100 grams / 24 carats or 1 Kilo / 24 carats
- Biscuits and Wafers - are similar to bars but thinner and flatter
- Bullion - is another word often applied to a standard unit for storage and trading, such as a bar, biscuit or wafer. The key valuation factors when trading in gold bullion of any shape or size are the weight and the purity (expressed in carats).
Leading pawnbroker, Borro.com, is the world’s first online pawnbroker. A personal loan against gold is always available from Borro.com in the form of a secured loan. With Borro, you can use gold to secure fast cash at low rates of interest.
If you compare the cost of a short term loan from collateral loan provider, Borro.com, with other short term loan providers such as pay day loan companies and doorstep lenders, you will see that a low interest rate loan from Borro.com is not only affordable, but no risk.
There is no risk of hidden penalties, asset seizures or repossession with an easy cash loan from online pawn shop, Borro.com. Even if you fail to pay off your cheap loan from Borro, the worst that can happen is that your pledge is sold to pay off the loan, and any money left over will be returned to you straight away.
Related Links:
