 | It is a lofty and exclusive world, where prices start in the tens of thousands and easily exceed one million. If you are on a budget it had better be a very large one. |  |
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 | The romance between the Cannes Film Festival and Chopard has blossomed since 1998 – the year Chopard became the Official Partner to what is perhaps the world’s most renowned film festival. Since the Cannes Film Festival’s 60th anniversary in 2007, Chopard has annually created commemorative Haute Joaillerie collections. The Red Carpet Collection 2014 once again testifies to Chopard’s considerable talents. |  |
 | This year’s collection features 67 unique creations. The pieces are inspired by the glamour and voluptuous beauty of the actresses who lit up the heyday of Italian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. |  |
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 El Tocado, the largest and most ornate pre-Columbian headdress that has ever been discovered. | Rich natural resources in ancient Peru gave rise to the earliest Andean civilizations. Building on that wealth, skilled artisans crafted extraordinary objects, including gold ceremonial and funerary masks, beakers, and jewelry, rivaling anything made by the ancient Egyptians. From April 10, 2014 through September 14, 2014 the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC is featuring ancient Peruvian Gold. |  |
 | The exhibition will journey through civilizations from 1250 B.C. to A.D. 1450, through the ceremonial gold, silver, ceramics, and textiles created by these sophisticated peoples. |  |
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 | The kingdom of Colchis lay in what is today the Republic of Georgia. Situated east of the Greek world, north of the Persian Empire, and southeast of the Scythians, the region was at a crossroads of cultures. Known in myth as the destination of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece, Colchis was renowned as a region rich in gold. The Colchian settlement of Vani is situated inland from the eastern shore of the Black Sea, on a 200-meter-high hilltop flanked by deep ravines. The settlement is spread across three terraces and overlooks the fertile region between the Sulori and Rioni rivers. |   |
 | The earliest signs of human activity at Vani date to 700 B.C., but it is during the fifth century (500–400 B.C.) that the city's wealth becomes prominent. Vani appears to have served as the administrative center for the local Colchian elite, who would have overseen the agricultural economy. The series of graves for which Vani is renowned date to about 450–250 B.C. Thereafter, rich burials appear to cease. |  |
 | In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-hair winged ram, which was held in Colchis. The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. It figures in the tale of the hero Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest for the fleece by order of King Pelias, in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. Some believe that the legend of the Golden Fleece was based on a practice of the Black Sea tribes; they would place a lamb's fleece at the bottom of a stream to entrap gold dust being washed down from upstream. This practice is still in use, particularly in the Svaneti region of Georgia. |  |
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