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Colibri Brands Find New Homes

Filed under: Jewelry, Timepieces / Watches

The Colibri brands will live on. Colibri went into receivership with the State of Rhode Island in January and immediately closed its doors and laid off all workers. The Colibri Group is most well-known for their lighters but the brand also manufactured and marketed other brands including Seth Thomas, Dolan Bullock and Krementz. The company sold its assets at auction on March 19 and found two main buyers.

Watch distributor Alliance Time picked up the Colibri, Seth Thomas and Linden Clocks brands for $2.3 million. Alliance is asking former Colibri employees to contact them about potential work.

National Jeweler reports that online jewelry auction site Bidz.com paid $6 million for jewelry lines manufactured by Colibri, including the Krementz, Princess Pride, Darling Diamonds and Dolan Bullock brands.

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Tags: alliance, bidz, colibri

Bid on Madonna's $3 Million Diamond Versace Tiara

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions, Charity

On March 23rd, online jewelry retailer Bidz.com will auction off a gold and diamond tiara designed by the late Gianni Versace to benefit the Aid for AIDS charity. The one-of-a-kind tiara, which contains over 1,200 diamonds and is worth an estimated $3 million, has been worn by celebrities including Madonna, Amber Valletta and Donatella Versace. The opening bid for the precious piece is $699,000. The Versace Tiara won the famous De Beers Diamonds International Award in 1995 due to the meticulous detail and craftsmanship Gianni Versace put into creating the piece.

The tiara, the star of Versace's famous Atelier Collection, has previously been held only by private collectors. This is the first time in the history of the piece that it is being made available to the public for purchase. A substantial amount of the funds raised from the online auction will go to Aid for AIDS, a non-profit premier service provider for Los Angeles County whose mission is to provide direct financial assistance and critical support for the necessities of life to those impoverished and disabled by HIV/AIDS. Click here for more info.

Gallery: The Versace Tiara