warrenspring2011lx

115 WEST MARKET STREET, WARREN, OH (330) 393-4696

from the publisher

Welcome.

Welcome to the premier issue of Lx Mahoning Valley‌ a coffee table magazine.

Lx Mahoning Valley is my fashion and lifestyle magazine designed for both ladies and gentleman.

Within its pages I offer you the experience of visually stunning fashion, artistic photography and informative lifestyle articles. Come along with me as Lx spotlights some of our local hidden treasures and of course, showcases some of our fabulous jewelry and designers.

In this issue I am pleased to give you some tantalizing articles for spring and summer, from enjoying a great glass of Luke Donald wine to picking the perfect jewelry gift. Fall in love in our photo story The One and Only Paris as well as experience the artistry of Marina Danilova.

What can I say about her photography? Let's just say the images speak for themselves. I am also excited to share a story that is very close to my heart, the personal story of how Thom Duma Fine Jewelers came to be and what it has blossomed into. At the age of 20 I started in the business, 31 years later I never could have dreamed of where this business would take me.

I take great pride and pleasure in the friends I've made through the years and I'm honored that you have allowed me to be a part of your lives, your holidays and your celebrations. Be sure to visit us often throughout the year. I love hearing your stories and sharing in your special moments. Ipromise to make you feel welcome, greet you with a smile and make coming to Thom Duma Fine Jewelers a great experience. In thirty-one years I've seen this business grow right before my eyes. I've watched as my twin sons, Cody and Cory grow up and start a multi-media company here in the Mahoning Valley and my daughter Gabriella getting ready to follow her passions. In thirty-one years I've never lost my passion or desire to try new things. I've had a great time putting this first issue together for you, so thank you for joining me on my newest endeavor, the premier issue of Lx Mahoning Valley.

Enjoy, Tom Duma

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The

A symbol of honored heritage and tradition

SCOTTK AY.COM

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inside

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Thom Duma Fine Jewelry: Build It and They Will Come

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Man On A Mission: Tom Duma and Hearts In Action 6

aroque

Features

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Libation 11 Luke Donald & His Hole-In-One Claret Fashion 19 Janice Mack Talcott:

Diamonds Speak To A Woman’s Heart

23 The One and Only Paris 31 Platinum: The Pinnacle of Perfection 35 Baroque 42 The Woodlands

Wealth 52 “ Does Your Investment Portfolio Need a Spring Cleaning?”

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on the cover

Publisher Tom Duma Editor Jon Roberts Fashion & Beauty Editor chelsie ritter

ussian photographer Marina Danilova. She has never R had a photography lesson in her life, and at just 25 years old Danilova has a highly developed level of ability that emulates the work of seasoned masters. Her art has been published in Russia, Europe, Indonesia, Brazil and now for the first time the United States.

Creative Director fran sherman Art Director miguel salgado

Lx: a coffeetable magazine Lx® magazine is published by Luxury Avenue, LLC, 500 N. Michigan Avenue, Ste. 300, Chicago, Illinois 60611. Lx® accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. Lx® reserves the right to edit, rewrite, refuse or reuse material, is not responsible for errors or omissions and may feature the same content on lxmagazine.com, as well as other mediums for any and all purposes.

Copyright © 2011 Luxury Avenue, LLC. All rights reserved. The entire contents of Lx® are protected by copyright © and may not be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the publisher. Reproduction in whole or in part or storage in any data retrieval system or any transmission by any means therefrom without prior written permission is prohibited. Lx® and Lx Magazine are trademarks™ of Luxury Avenue, LLC. 8

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CABER DIAMOND ROSE

115 WEST MARKET STREET, WARREN, OH (330) 393-4696

libation

libations

Professional Golfer & His Hole-in-One Claret Luke Donald

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By Norman Mark

pparently, there is a lot more going on with golf than whacking a tiny ball a couple of hundred yards into a small cup. For one thing, there’s a growing association of golf with wine. Many professional golfers have lent their names to wine labels, possibly figuring that amateur duffers might need a glass of wine after exploring the rough and missing par on most holes.

Pro golfers with their own wine labels include Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Mike Weir and at least three South Africans--David Frost, Ernie Els and Gary Player. Now a topranked young British golfer, Luke Donald, is joining their ranks.

His first attempt at wine creation, the Luke Donald 2005 Napa Valley Collection, a claret, is so good that it’s like beating Tiger Woods during your rookie professional tournament.

This delicious wine offers a perfect, slightly musky aroma. Its amazing taste combines an

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initial smooth blend with a later, larger, more muscular smokiness. It’s a fine sipping wine and an even better wine with food.

Donald prefers to call it a “claret” because that’s the British word for Bordeaux blends.

Also, from a golfer’s point of view, the Claret Jug is awarded to the winner of the British Open, something Donald hopes to acquire. Perhaps a jug of his claret could lead to the Claret Jug. Luke Donald’s association with wine began with golf, specifically when he was attending Northwestern University on a golf scholarship.

Bill Terlato, now president and CEO of Terlato Wines International, was taking golf lessons from Luke Donald’s coach. Luke and Bill became golf buddies: Luke helped Bill’s game; Bill conducted impromptu wine seminars for Luke.

Years passed, the conversations and the golf games continued. Meanwhile, Donald turned professional in 2001 and earned more than $1 million that first year. Fresh off his 2011 World Golf Championship, his lifetime earnings are now over $17 million.

Then Bill Terlato took over most management duties from his father, the legendary Tony Terlato, who introduced Pinot Grigio to American consumers. The Terlato Wine Group’s income has been doubling every five years. In America, the company sells one in eight wines costing more than $14. Although it’s a family corporation and exact figures are not revealed, one estimate put annual sales at over $250,000,000 a year.

Although Terlato makes wine with golfer Ernie Els, it was not searching for celebrity wine endorsements. Quality, rather than mere name value, is the company’s most important consideration.

Terlato also wanted to create wines that would appeal to younger sippers. A recent

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survey indicated that the so-called millennial generation (age 21-30) buys the more expensive wines (over $16 a bottle) at a rate of two and a half times the national average. These are the people who grew up wanting $125 sneakers and now some have disposable income.

Luke Donald’s high-end endorsements included Royal Bank of Scotland, Rolex and Polo Ralph Lauren. But he had no relationship with a wine company until he and his agent asked Bill Terlato for advice.

Terlato told me, “We wanted Luke involved in its development. After two days of tasting, we came up with what finally reflected his personal style and taste.”

Luke Donald said, “The tasting was an overwhelming experience. We were blending six different wines. It’s like playing chemistry with 100 glasses in front of you.

“I remember thinking this could take a while.

Then we got it down to two possibilities and we broke for lunch. The wines tasted differently with the risotto and that determined the final choice.”

For Luke Donald, a wine with his name on the bottle will not make him rich, but it does give him satisfaction. He said, “At the moment, this is a nice thing to do away from golf.”

He will be away from golf a lot more than he wants in the next few months. In June, Donald popped a tendon in his left wrist, suffering a “subluxation of the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris (ECU) tendon.” This forced him to withdraw from the PGA tour and from the British Ryder Cup team, which he led to victories in 2004 and 2006. In August, the same New York doctor who cured the wrist problems of baseball player Jason Giambi and professional golfer Jim Furyk successfully operated on Donald, who hopes to return to golf after rehabilitation.

Donald told me, “It’s gratifying to hear that you opened a bottle and enjoyed it.”

I did. The Luke Donald Collection, with only 1100 cases produced this year, is a fine $40 red wine available at www.worldsgreatestwines.com.

Next year, Luke Donald wines will offer more claret and a Chardonnay, while he works his golf game back into championship form.  12

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Fine Jewelry

Build It and They Will Come

By Lyndon Conrad Bell

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triding the fluidly curvaceous interior of the store he named for his father—a name he just happens to share—Tom Duma is a man pleased with his accomplishments. Duma is also man of devout faith. He doesn’t beat you over the head with it—but

spend some time with him and you’ll get it nonetheless. To onlookers, the former Grand National Camel Pro Circuit motorcycle racer has lived his entire adult life taking chances. For Duma though, chance doesn’t play into what he does at all. Duma does what his gut (and darn good research) tells him is the right thing to do. Then, he has faith it will all work out.

Says Duma; “ When we decided to redo the store back in 2002, we knew all the jewelry stores in our market were merchandised equally. No one had a branded business model with product like Rolex, David Yurman, Scott Kay and Tacori—each of them, the biggest names in their respective fields.”

To experience growth, Duma knew he’d have to expand his business to encompass those areas his competition had left untouched. To make it happen, he proceeded to close the store his dad had run since 1957, gutted it and invested $500,000 into renovating a building appraised at only $160,000. Next, he changed a name with nearly 100 years of built-in recognition. All with absolutely no guarantee any of those brands would do business with him.

“Taking a leap of faith, as we built it, we started writing letters. Rolex was the first to come, and then, as they say, the rest is history. Today we have 17 of the top designers in bridal alone. We’re one of only four independent jewelers in the state of Ohio to represent David Yurman, and that includes stores in Columbus, Dayton and Cleveland.” Duma enthuses. www.lxmagazine.com

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“The community supports us, so we need to support the community. We’re doing something along those lines with the store every month. The American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, Hospice House of the Valley, and Trumbull Mobile Meals are the big four we endow with major support. There are smaller charity events we donate product to as well.”

His leap of faith has paid huge dividends. Tom senior literally welled up with tears as he witnessed his son ripping the heart out of the store he’d occupied since 1957. When they reopened it, sales skyrocketed. They surpassed the best year of Tom senior’s long history and were better than anything Tom junior had seen in his many years besides. Today, Tom senior’s tears are tears of pride.

Indeed, to be in Duma’s presence is to be infected with his enthusiasm. In a clear reflection of his personality, the store is designed so everything is right out front. “A goal of the redesign was to make the store bright, inviting and nonintimidating.” he says proudly. “We positioned workstations for the employees along the wall from front to back. There is no back office. Employees work their daily tasks right on the sales floor, making them readily available to take care of our guests.” continues Duma.

Those workstations are cutting edge, state of the art too. Recognizing the value of technology, Duma has harnessed it in a way that benefits both his customers and his business model. High definition flat screen displays show jewelry in the most exquisite detail imaginable. Apple iPads dot the counters, enabling his sales team to instantly find any piece a customer is looking for, even if they don’t have it in inventory.

Another aspect of Duma’s business model, one contributing heavily to his success, is his targeted advertising strategy. Duma maintains strong radio, television, direct mail, Internet, and social media presences.

Of his marketing strategy, Duma says, “We make sure we hit our demos. If you are in them, you may hear our message on the radio while driving home from work and pass by one of our billboards. When you get home and open your mail, you’ll see our direct mail piece. That night, when you’re kicking back at 10 p.m. watching TV, you’ll see our spot. The goal is to hit our market with various forms of advertising three or four times a day.”

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For the 18 to 30 bridal demographic, Duma places ads on cable channels where young people are most likely to tune in. Adult Swim, MTV, Comedy Central, and sporting events are his preferred mix for that customer. To attract higher-end clientele for his Rolex and David Yurman product, Duma uses CNN, FOX, CNBC, and the Bloomberg Report.

And while Duma is understandably pleased with his strong TV mix, if you want to see him smile, ask him about his billboards. Duma has “ownership” of both Warren and Youngstown’s main intersections. “It took five years, but I finally got it,” Duma boasts. “These are the highest traffic areas in each city and I have them all locked up on one-year renewable contracts.”

By all accounts, Duma was destined to become a jeweler. Racing motorcycles is a sport that will carry the average rider until about the age of 30. As much as he loved riding, Duma knew he’d need a second career and decided early on jewelry was it. In fact, both parents were affiliated with the industry. Duma’s mother owned and operated a ladies bridal store called Helen’s Bridal. His dad bought the jewelry store (previously called Klivan’s Jewelers) in 1957. With both parents in business in downtown Warren, the shopping district became Duma’s after school playground.

With so much history there, his deep love for the city is obvious. This, Duma expresses with a great deal of civic involvement. With his characteristic verve, he says, “The community supports us, so we need to support the community. We’re doing something along those lines with the store every month. The American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, Hospice House of the Valley, and Trumbull Mobile Meals are the big four we endow with major support.

There are smaller charity events we donate product to as well.”

By all accounts, Thom Duma Fine Jewelers is indeed a “jewel” in the crown of Warren, Ohio.

By transforming the store into a regional destination, Duma’s faith is responsible for more than just a sound business for his family. Duma’s faith has incurred blessings for the city of Warren as a whole.  www.lxmagazine.com

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Janice Mack Talcott

Diamonds Speak To A Woman’s Heart

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By Lyndon Conrad Bell

f diamonds are a woman’s best friends, Janice Mack Talcott is a man’s best friend when it comes to understanding the unique relationship between women and the coveted gem.

Born into a family retail jewelry business, Talcott has been involved with gemstones since she was a little girl. A Gemological Institute of America Graduate Gemologist, Talcott also served as director of education for the GIA.

Possessing an infectious effervescence, her enthusiasm for the human aspect of the jewelry business is positively radiant. Well known for innovative, inspirational and effective training messages, today Talcott routinely travels the globe under the banners of her company Janice Mack & Associates and The Edge Retail Academy, sharing her expertise with jewelers on nearly every continent of the world.

We caught up with her via Skype in the midst of her recent circumnavigation of Australia for this conversation on helping men understand the dynamics between women and diamond jewelry.

LX Magazine: When it comes to women and diamond jewelry, what is the psychology at work there Janice, and why is so much sentimentality attached to it?

Janice Mack Talcott: Different types of jewelry communicate different things.

Today, women can and will buy their own fashion jewelry and may, or may not, attach meaning to it. Some things they buy simply because they like them or because they go with a specific outfit. These are statements of their personalities.

Still, although sentimentality isn’t associated with all jewelry, different types of jewelry do communicate different messages. Significant jewelry is a form of communication. Gold means more than silver. Diamonds mean more than gold, and special diamonds, given at special times, mean more than casual diamonds.

LX: There are special diamonds and casual diamonds?

JMT: Aside from what women buy for themselves, when it comes to the truly significant/symbolic diamond pieces in their lives, those are most often gifted.

A woman will think nothing of putting together a $1000 bracelet for herself.

Walk her across the store to the diamond counter for a purchase of exactly the same amount and the response is most often, “”I’ll have to tell my husband

“Significant jewelry is a form of communication.

Gold means more than silver. Diamonds mean more than gold, and special diamonds, given at special times, mean more than casual diamonds.” about that.” But it’s not about the money—it’s about the fact that diamonds mean something different. Significant gifts are a form of communication and diamonds have come to symbolize recognition and appreciation. Thus, a diamond gifted to a woman in connection with a significant event is most assuredly a special diamond.

LX: Why are women seemingly given more to these thoughts and feelings than men?

JMT: Simply put, it’s a Mars-Venus thing. Women attach considerably more significance to many things most men take for granted. Additionally, women occupy a lot of roles in life. I refer to this as the six P’s of a woman’s person—as remarkably, all of these roles begin with the letter P. As an individual, a woman is a Person, but in her intimate relationship with her mate she is a Partner. When her children are born she becomes a Parent.

Meanwhile, at work, she’s a Professional. As the population is graying, in addition to caring for her children, she quite often looks after elderly parents too—making her a Provider. Women routinely engage in Philanthropy as well, whether it’s volunteering at her children’s school or involvement in community activities.

When it comes to gifts from their significant others, women most often want to be recognized for Partnering and Parenting. Where a man might look at childbirth as simply the birth of a child, a woman considers it bringing a life into this world. When it comes to a woman’s role in Partnering, she considers her efforts to establish the home as creating a warm, comfortable and nurturing place for her family. Nesting, if you will. The takeaway here is women attach significant emotion to these actions, so anything done in recognition of them is by extension infused with significant emotion as well.

And again, a gift of diamond jewelry is a form of communication. Women read deeply into communications. They dissect what men did say and try to figure out what they didn’t say. In other words, they look for meaning between the words. Because diamonds have come to symbolize recognition, appreciation, and by extension—love, they articulate these feelings in a way that words cannot.

“A poorly thought out gift is worse than no gift at all.

Meanwhile, a simple, relatively inexpensive pair of diamond earrings can beautifully and succinctly symbolize a couple’s first year together.”

LX: OK, so a guy’s in a jewelry store trying to find something to communicate his feelings, how can he figure out what to go with?

JMT: The first thing to do is try to give her something she likes. Next, remember cheap sends a message in itself. Now I’m not saying the gift has to be expensive, but beyond thinking about what the item is, be aware of what it says. A poorly thought out gift is worse than no gift at all. Meanwhile, a simple, relatively inexpensive pair of diamond earrings can beautifully and succinctly symbolize a couple’s first year together.

This is where a real professional jeweler, (not just a salesperson looking to bulk up their monthly commission) comes into play. A good jewelry consultant will ask him questions about her. What does she like? Where does she go?

What does she do? What kinds of things are important to her? This way, the consultant can make recommendations based on whom the man perceives the woman in his life to be. This goes a long way toward making the gift more personal.

It’s also beneficial to remember the place the jewelry comes from sends a message too. Every gift has a story that accompanies it. When a woman is telling her friends the story of the lovely pendant, it’s going to be diminished if, when they ask where he got it, she has to respond, “The Internet.” If it's an important gift, it should come from a fine jeweler.

LX: What do you say to a man who says all of this is just marketing hype?

JMT: I would suggest he’s probably never experienced the joy of giving a piece of jewelry, nor seen the reaction of a woman who knew it came from his heart. 

Fashion

The one and Only Paris Interview by Chelsie Ritter

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Husband and wife photography duo Audrey (French) & Anthony (American) of The One and Only Paris Photography give us some insight to love in Paris and what it is like to have the city as their backdrop. Their photos are beautifully orchestrated images that combine couples in love with exquisite architecture, transcending time in a city that is both modern and nostalgic.

Chelsie: How did the two of you meet?

Anthony: In neutral territory; Spain. I was living in Madrid. Audrey came from France for a week to visit a mutual friend. Unfortunately my subtle charms take a bit more time than a week to cast their spell, so I lured her back to Madrid with a college internship at a movie and television production company there. I had a connection at that studio with some writers who shamelessly stole everything they could from the Conan O’Brian show for their own talk show. Since I was their go-to guy for English assistance in their pilfering of Conan, they went all out to impress Audrey for me. They got her an internship at the studio and even wrote her into an on-camera skit. That gave me a whole semester for a second chance.

Chelsie: How do your styles differ, and what creative forces merge to create your finished product?

Audrey: My style continues to gravitate toward the timeless. Through the countless hours we’ve spent pouring over our work editing, we’ve discovered that what we should have avoided shooting in the frame is just as important as what we shot in the frame. We’ spend more time styling a shoot as opposed to capturing the stark reality of what we come across.

Anthony: The influence we have on each other’s style of shooting comes more from the editing room than from interaction with each other while shooting together on location. When we’re in front of a monitor together scrolling through images of the previous day’s shoot, we point out what could have been in many images. I’m constantly trying to take credit for the photographer Audrey has become. So when I realize how right she is when she points out a missed opportunity in one of my photos, I feel physical pain. I think my ego has nerve endings. This helps me the next time I’m out shooting and I’m about to miss out on that same opportunity. My ego feels a little jolt like those horrible electric dog-training collars and I adjust my shot.

Chelsie: What are your other creative outlets?

Anthony: Super 8mm cinematography. We love home movie film. Over thirty years ago, magnetic tape video cameras killed off the manufacturing of home movie film cameras and projectors overnight. Kodak still makes this small gauge movie film for people like me who continue shoot with the old film cameras they collect. It delivers a look that takes us back to a different era. Paris calls out for anything vintage and nothing can achieve this look better than the imperfections of super 8mm movie film. All the faults of the medium that led to its death are what people today find so charming.

People love the flicker, scratches, dust specks, light leaks, and film grain that remind them of a sentimentalized past. I crack up at the amount of new software there is to do these things artificially now. www.lxmagazine.com

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Chelsie: Do you have a hero that inspired you to become the artists that you are today?

Anthony: I’ve got a story about how a French photographer named Robert Doisneau played an enormous role in where I’ve ended up in photography. I loved and hung his photo, “Kiss by the Hotel de Ville” before I was a photographer or ever dreamt of living in Paris. Fifteen years later I’m living in New York when, out of nowhere, Audrey got homesick and whisked me off to Paris to live and marry. I had the girl but no idea of how I would survive professionally when I suddenly moved to Paris just three days before my wedding. Every marriage in Paris requires a civil ceremony in one of 21 different city halls (“Hotel de Ville” in French).

By chance, the city hall designated for our wedding, was the same Hotel de Ville in Doisneau’s photo. On my third day in Paris I got married inside the same building that’s in the background of the Doisneau photo I had loved since my youth. Afterwards with a few friends, we had fun out in the street trying to recreate his famous photo. Our playing around didn’t stop during the long walk to our restaurant. We kept stopping to set up shots of each other surrounded by incredible Parisian settings that caught our eye. By the time we made it to our restaurant, I had a much clearer idea of the direction my photography would take in France.

Audrey: For me, it’s Richard Avedon. I love his blending of portraiture, glamor, and fashion. He believed Paris was the perfect place for this mix. So do I. Chelsie: Beyond that, what is the inspiration and motivation behind your work?

Anthony: With the exception of Doisneau, I’m inspired more by Paris itself rather than other photography. This city’s a dream for visual types. My motivation comes from the people who’ve singled me out to capture memories them in this city they’ve come to for some very important times in their lives. I love to prove them right for doing so.

Audrey: I agree. People who come to us are already convinced by our work that they find online. I love the way they’re happy when they come to us and I want to make sure they’re just as happy when they see what we can do for them. But a little less heart touching answer is I love to see my work published; vain, but motivating.

Chelsie: With the amount of work that you have done I imagine you have met many types of people. Who is your most memorable subject?

Anthony: It was a woman from the States who made her first trip to Paris after years of planning. She was an enthusiast of everything vintage about the city. She had knowledge and memorabilia from a Paris of an earlier era and fantasized for years about the day she could return to their origin. I asked her how let down she was by being in a modern city that couldn’t live up to her fantasies of Paris. She wasn’t disappointed at all. She explained that her Paris was still recognizable under the veil of a modern city. Everywhere you look in the city center you can catch glimpses of the romanticized version of Paris in both the surroundings and people. She spoke of how easy it was for those who viewed Paris through rose colored glasses to recognize and connect with each other. Her words reminded me of a famous quote of my photography hero Doisneau who said, “I don’t photograph life as it is, but life as I would like it to be.” That day for that woman, I didn’t try to shoot Paris exactly as it is, but rather, Paris as she would like it to be. • www.lxmagazine.com

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Recreation

libation

Platinum: The Pinnacle of Perfection

By Lyndon Conrad Bell

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referred by history’s most renowned jewelers, including Cartier and Faberge, platinum’s reign at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of precious metals is as much a function of its purity and rarity as its longevity and beauty. Thus, when it comes to bridal sets or heirloom pieces that need to stand the test of time, platinum is a top choice.

Platinum used in jewelry is 95 percent pure. Gold, because it is so soft, is alloyed with other metals for jewelry. Base metals comprise twenty-five percent of eighteen karat gold, while fourteen karat gold is only 58.5 percent pure. Aside from the sheer desirability of that purity, it also means platinum is hypoallergenic, making it an ideal choice for people with sensitive skin.

More than thirty times more rare than gold, there are only three significant sources of platinum on Earth. Additionally, to get one pure ounce of platinum, it is necessary to mine ten tons of raw platinum ore. It has been estimated that if all the gold ever mined were melted down and poured into swimming pools, it would fill three Olympic-sized pools. Do the same with platinum; the highly coveted material would barely cover your ankles in one pool.

The heaviest and densest of the precious metals, platinum wears exceptionally well and further, is not subject to tarnishing. So dense is platinum; a six-inch cube of the white metal amazingly weighs 165 pounds. Because of this density, platinum is remarkably robust. So much so, a platinum ring presented to a prospective bride on the day of her engagement—and worn daily thereafter—will weigh practically the same and look essentially the same…on her fiftieth anniversary with minimal maintenance. Additionally, as platinum does not change shape or wear away, it is the ideal setting for precious gemstones. The durability of platinum enables it to hold stones both firmly and securely for many, many years.

For all of these reasons and many others, platinum jewelry has long been preferred by truly knowledgeable connoisseurs of refinement, good taste and wealth. Royalty, dating all the way back to the Egyptian and Incan civilizations cherished the precious metal. In the 1780’s, King Louis XVI declared platinum to be the only metal fit for kings. In 1936, when George VI was coronated King of England, his wife Elizabeth (the late Queen Mother) was adorned with a crown of platinum containing the fabulous 108-carat Kohinoor diamond.

Peter Carl Faberge, jeweler to the Russian Tsars, most noted for his extraordinarily bejeweled Easter eggs, routinely incorporated platinum into his designs. Louis Cartier, the first jeweler to successfully create platinum jewelry, was thoroughly infatuated with platinum because of its ability to enhance the brilliance of diamonds. Owing to the purity of platinum’s coloring, the metal does not impart a color cast to gemstones.

Owing in no small amount to Cartier’s work with platinum, King Edward VII of England declared him, “the jeweler of kings and the king of jewelers”.

Cementing the perception of platinum in the American imagination is the way America’s royalty—the Hollywood elite—has embraced platinum. Seen on

More than thirty times more rare than gold, there are only three significant sources of platinum on Earth.

Additionally, to get one pure ounce of platinum, it is necessary to mine ten tons of raw platinum ore.

red carpets at every premiere, platinum has become the precious metal of choice. Contemporary actresses such as Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, Halle Berry, and Helen Mirren are routinely adorned in platinum. Indeed, if an event calls for tuxedoes and evening gowns, you can rest assured platinum will be represented there too.

Famously, when Elvis Presley proposed to Priscilla Beaulieu, he presented her with an engagement ring of diamonds and platinum. On the day she became Priscilla Presley, the couple exchanged platinum wedding rings. Small wonder then in a recent survey it was found that eight out of ten soon to be engaged women cited platinum as their precious metal of choice for their wedding and engagement sets Just as diamonds have come to symbolize the significance of the marital relationship, so too, has platinum come to represent the purity and eternity of love. Platinum’s beauty, versatility and elegance are enhanced by its strength and resilience. These traits make it the ideal means by which to symbolically reflect the most significant and meaningful relationship life has to offer.

When shopping for platinum jewelry, people need to consider several key factors. The first of these is the purity content. Ideally, your platinum will be 95 percent pure platinum. This can be determined by examining the hallmark on the inside of the ring. If it reads PT 95, Plat, or .95 Plat, the ring is considered pure platinum.

If you’re considering the creation of a custom one of a kind work, you should always workwith a master platinumsmith. Owing to the unique qualities of the metal, working in platinum is a complicated

“Platinum’s beauty, versatility and elegance are enhanced by its strength and resilience. These traits make it the ideal means by which to symbolically reflect the most significant and meaningful relationship life has to offer.” proposition. The tooling required for platinum is significantly different from that needed for gold.

Additionally, platinum has an extremely high melting point. Unlike gold, which melts at 1,700 degrees, platinum remains a solid until exposed to temperatures approaching 3,223 degrees. These factors make platinumsmithing a highly specialized occupation. Like the metal itself, master craftspeople adept at working with platinum are quite rare.

Similarly, should repair or resizing ever be required, make sure you also take it to a master platinumsmith. Any attempt to repair your precious jewelry with the improper tools, or the wrong alloy, could well ruin the piece.

Equally coveted by ancient royalty and contemporary celebrities, nothing is more precious than finely crafted platinum jewelry. An investment in platinum creates a thing of beauty readily enjoyable today, as well as an heirloom capable of retaining its unique desirability when passed down to succeeding generations in years to come. 

Baroque photographed by MARINA DANILOVA

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the Woodlands photographer Marina Danilova assistant Denis Vasil’ev models Olya Dosenko, Viktoria Los & Elena Logvinenko makeup Yury Ananov Hair Alexandr Sukonshikov Wedding dress collection by Papilio

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wealth

“ Does Your Investment Portfolio Need a Spring Cleaning?”

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ot long ago, a friend of mine named Janet revealed to me that her closet was a total mess.

“I just throw everything in a few drawers,” Janet confessed. “My closet is totally disorganized and I can’t find anything!”

Unfortunately, Janet was not talking about her clothes closet; it was her office closet that was in such disarray.

“I am so disorganized that I don’t even know what I own,” Janet confided, adding that her files and financial statements had been untouched for several years, “I bought some mutual funds and stocks several years ago but I don’t even know if they are any good anymore.”

In my career as a financial advisor, I’ve had numerous people admit to me that they ignore their investments, so Janet’s admission was not all that surprising. Regrettably, her concerns about the quality of her funds were correct. Her investments had lost value, partly because of the decline in the overall markets, but there were several funds that should have been cleaned out of her portfolio for other reasons.

In any economic environment it is important to have your investments organized, but in challenging economic times it is more essential than ever. Your investments need to be monitored and evaluated just as your clothes closet needs a regular spring-cleaning.

Your portfolio is like your closet.

Janet loves fashion. She has a fantastic wardrobe that she has painstakingly built over the years. She has a distinct style, which mixes timeless sophistication with a flair for unique but tasteful accessories. She can spend hours shopping for the perfect pair of shoes to match a particular outfit.

But Janet hates dealing with her finances. As I listened to her worry about her investments, I was struck by the similarities between a well-stocked closet and a well-diversified investment portfolio.

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By Suzanna de Baca

In many ways, your investment portfolio is much like your closet. You need to create a well-diversified wardrobe with a mix of classic and trendy pieces and you must engage in regular spring cleanings in order to keep your closet in good order and up to date. When I mentioned this analogy to Janet, a light bulb went off in her head.

You need many pieces of clothing to create a diversified wardrobe.

Janet wouldn’t be caught dead with the wrong shoes for a particular outfit and has saved for months to buy classic purses and jewelry. Unfortunately, she hasn’t taken the same care in building and maintaining a portfolio that serves her well. After looking at her investments, it was clear that she was taking enormous risk with her money without realizing it. She had several equity mutual funds which gave her the potential for growth in good times, but which exposed her to significant risk in market downturns. Most of her investments were in risky asset classes. While Janet still has more than twenty years until retirement, her investment portfolio could actually sabotage her financial goals for the future.

A well-diversified portfolio is like a first-class closet. In order to be able to build appropriate outfits for multiple occasions, you need an organized and well-stocked closet with a wide variety of clothing items. You need basics in a variety of categories: tops, bottoms, shoes, accessories, underwear, and outerwear.

You need all of these types of clothing for different occasions, including work clothing, casual wear, evening wear, various sports, or other events. Similarly, a good wardrobe should cover you for multiple seasons and should provide protection for various types of inclement weather. If you have an expensive suit but no raincoat, you can end up ruining your investment.

Your portfolio needs diversification, too.

Similarly, most people need portfolios with various www.lxmagazine.com

asset classes, including cash, stocks and bonds. Various subcategories of these asset classes may also be necessary, such as large, medium or small cap stocks; U.S., international or domestic stocks; growth and value styles of investing; as well as various types and maturities of bonds. Your own particular portfolio makeup depends on a variety of factors: your age, years to retirement, your tax situation, your income needs in the future, and your tolerance for risk, among other things. Your portfolio is unique to your needs, your style, and your circumstances.

Selecting the right wardrobe pieces to create stylish outfits to fit all these circumstances and which reflect your personal style can take some time. Many of us spend more time shopping, trying on outfits, and agonizing over a specific pair of pants or shoes than we do researching and shopping for investments which will have an impact on our lives for a much longer period of time.

Spring-cleaning for your closet.

Janet likes having new clothes each season. Her closets are fairly full, so in order to buy some new things, she also has to get rid of some old clothing from time to time. She does a regular spring-cleaning, in which she takes a hard look at her wardrobe in an effort to purge some items.

As Janet looks through her closet, evaluating various pieces, she asks herself several questions: Does this piece of clothing still fit? Will it ever realistically fit again? Is it out of style? Will it come back into style? Is it causing me too much discomfort? Does it work with the other pieces in my wardrobe? Did I feel like an idiot the last time I wore this? Am I hanging on to these shoes out of nostalgia for the 1980s?

It can be tough to throw out clothing items that you once loved and enjoyed, but sometimes it is necessary.

It they don’t fit, they’re just taking up room in your www.lxmagazine.com

closet and not really doing you any good.

Evaluating your portfolio.

I told Janet that portfolio evaluation is much the same as spring-cleaning in her closet. Every investor should know what they are trying to accomplish with their portfolio, much as you know that you need to cover your wardrobe bases for many occasions and seasons with the items in your closet. What kind of goals do you have for your investments and what type of risk are you willing to take to achieve those goals?

Once you’ve clearly identified what you want your portfolio to do, you can better evaluate whether it is, in fact, performing well in relation to your expectations and in relation to the markets.

In good times and in challenging times, it is critical to monitor your portfolio on a regular basis. Look at the portfolio as a whole and then evaluate each holding. Just as you would do when cleaning out your closet, look at your individual securities, mutual funds or other investments, and ask yourself some critical questions.

Some of the questions you may want to ask include: How has this investment performed over 1, 3, 5, or more years? Is it beating its peer group or benchmark?

Has it been more volatile than projected? Is the style in favor or out of favor relative to the markets? Have there been material changes to the fund or to the individual security? Does this investment still fit into my overall portfolio? Am I hanging on to this investment because it performed well in the past and I am emotionally attached to it? Or is it time to simply sell and move on?

Of course, before you decide to sell a holding, you must also consider the tax consequences.

Investment ignorance is not bliss.

After looking through her investments, Janet became conscious that ignoring her portfolio was actually jeopardizing her financial future. She had not built a suitable portfolio and she had not taken the time to clean it out and keep it organized. She now realizes that she needs a variety of different kinds of investments and that those holdings will likely change over time.

Monitoring and adjusting her portfolio is as important as finding good investments in the first place.

Do you need a spring-cleaning in your portfolio?  53

Tom with homeless children at a jungle orphange

Man On A Mission

Tom Duma and Hearts In Action

By Lyndon Conrad Bell

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E

very jeweler serious about the industry can tell you what Hearts On Fire is. However, only a select few can tell you about Hearts In Action.

Tom Duma Jr. is one of them. In the previous article, we alluded to Duma’s faith. Turns out, this is true in all aspects of his life.

Proactive in his faith, Duma is a veritable fixture at Grace Fellowship Church in Warren. Grace Fellowship takes missionary duties quite seriously.

So Tom, found himself on an airliner, winging south to the Peten jungle in Guatemala on his first missionary trip with Hearts In Action International (HIA).

We chatted briefly with Duma about his work with HIA

Food giveaway at a garbage dump in the jungle;

LX Magazine: What attracted you to HIA Tom? Tom Duma Jr.: At church one Sunday I learned we were helping this organization in South America. Volunteers were asked to join the church’s mission there. It sounded like something worthwhile to me. I looked into it, liked what I saw and made my first trip back in 2004.

LX: Your first trip? How many times have you been down there?

TD: To date, I have been on 12 mission trips. I stayed the first time at a compound in the middle of the jungle, helping to educate children.

LX: What is HIA’s overall mission?

TD: Reading directly from their mission statement; Hearts In Action is dedicated to providing www.lxmagazine.com

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1. School house; 2. Single room school house under construction; 3. Completed school house; 4. Jungle house; 5. Another jungle house;

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spiritual support to strengthen families and churches worldwide. The organization has bases in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and the USA. In each location, HIA creates and sustains a range of programs directly improving education, health and living conditions for children.

LX: So why HIA over the thousands of other organizations you could support?

TD: After my first experience, witnessing the work of the organization first hand, getting to know the missionaries running the day to day operation, seeing their hearts and their willingness to set aside the comforts of home to live in the jungle for a cause greater than self moved me. Also, seeing how the people live down there, where simple things like the fresh water we take for granted are desperately needed, I realized this was something I could do and make a measurable difference.

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LX: A measurable difference?

TD: Sure, it’s very easy to write a check to a charity and move on, feeling you’ve done your part. It’s another thing altogether to get in there, roll up your sleeves and give of yourself physically to make a difference in someone’s life.

Now, while I do the work I do with HIA out of a greater calling, I’d be remiss if I said I didn’t also get a tangible feeling of accomplishment from doing something like helping build a school from scratch. With this work, at the end of the day, I can see what my efforts have done to improve the lives of those children—as well as the generations that will come behind them.

You’ll find Hearts In Action International on the Web at www.HeartsInAction.org.  www.lxmagazine.com

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