Van Cleef has immortalized the avenue with bejeweled ribbons and bows; as our car zooms past Vuitton and Dior and Ines de La Fressange, it's easy to remember lovely recent afternoons links of london ring sale spent figuring out the exchange rate between euros and dollars, then tossing the calculator and buying anyway. On the sidewalks of the avenue, inlaid plaques note the long-vanished houses founded on the street-Callot Soeurs, Poiret-and for a moment you feel justified: It's not just you! Women have been spending their last sou here for more than 100 years! Then it's off to the Opera Garnier (you know, that big building you have to walk around to get to the Right Bank department stores). This riot of belle-epoque excess has existed since 1874 chiefly as a place to see and be seen, to show off your gown, your cloak, and especially your jewels. (Though when this observation is made within earshot of the official showing us around, he appears less than amused.) In addition to fairly literal chandelier earrings, Van Cleef has riffed on the opera house with a necklace of rubies that manages, through a prongless miracle called the "mystery setting," to mimic the undulating folds of the theater's scarlet velvet curtain links of london on sale. Exhausted, we arrive at our last stop, where generations of Parisians have repaired after similarly full afternoons of gawking and gallivanting: the Bar Vendome at the Ritz. The hotel has enjoyed a warm relationship with Van Cleef & Arpels for decades; Colin, the famous bartender, purportedly invented a drink for Jacques Arpels. We collapse into a circular banquette, order a well-deserved round of Kir Royales, and swap Ritz lore. Everyone from Courtney Love to the queen mum has hung out here: Chanel had a private entrance from her Rue Cambon atelier to the back of the hotel; Proust received guests from his bed; et cetera. And what has Van Cleef created to remind us of the place? It comes as a bit of a shock to hear the description of a slatted leather cuff, almost sinister in its elegance, that has been revved up with flares of diamonds. links of london charm on sale It's rock-star glamorous, but in its own strange, uncompromising way, it's as classic as the verdigris Vendome column glimmering in the twilight just beyond the Ritz's door, as eternal and eternally captivating as a day in Paris itself.

Lev Leviev

SHARP EDGE OF

A POLISHED RIVAL

Lev Leviev avoids the limelight, but over the past decade the Israeli tycoon has become De Beers' bête noir links of london sweetie bracelet.

Leviev, like most diamantaires, was once a sightholder - one of the chosen few hand-picked by De Beers to buy directly from the diamond giant at pre-determined prices. Now he is its major competitor, the world's largest cutter and polisher of precious gems and a significant miner of diamonds.

And finally to prove that he is a force to be reckoned with all along the diamond value chain, he opened his own retail chain of diamond shops last year, including an outlet near De Beers' store on London's Old Bond Street.

Leviev's personal wealth was estimated by Forbes magazine in 2004 to be $2USbn. The Israel-based Leviev Group has other business interests, ranging from property to media, and he also owns the Gottex swimwear brand and a chain of petrol stations Charm Bracelet.

But diamonds are his passion, one that has been fuelled by "intense hatred of De Beers", according to Forbes.

Leviev has taken business away from the Oppenheimers in Russia, Angola and Namibia. He has also inspired others, like UK mining giant Rio Tinto, to bypass De Beers by selling diamonds directly to the cutting and polishing industries.

It started in Russia in the 1990s when Leviev, through close links with Russian politicians, including current president Vladimir Putin, helped set up a joint venture with a state firm, now Alrosa. Alrosa diverted many gems earmarked for De Beers' London offices to Russian factories for polishing and cutting. Not surprisingly, Leviev emerged as the owner of the factories when they were privatised Sweetie Bracelet.

But more worrying for the Oppenheimers is that he is now making moves to challenge them on their home turf in Botswana and SA.

The biggest robbery of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was that of the Reichsbank following Germany's collapse in the spring of 1945 at the end of World War II. Negotiable securities worth $400 million were stolen at that time.

Here is a list of some other large thefts:

 In 1983, more than 3 tons of pure gold worth $37.5 million was stolen from a warehouse outside London was the richest robbery haul in British history discount links of london necklace.

 Robbers got away with a haul estimated between $20 million and $50 million from safe deposit boxes at the British Bank of the Middle East in Beirut in 1976.

 On Jan. 21, 1983, nine certificates of deposit worth $15 million were stolen from the Bank of Sepah-Iran in London. Nearly four months later, on April 4, a 14-member gang made off with $10.5 million in bank notes from Security Express in London

 Rustenburg Platinum Holdings Ltd. in South Africa reported in 1982 that thieves stole $13 million in precious metals from the company discount links of london bracelet.

 On Dec. 12, 1982, two men broke into the Sentry Armored Car Courier Co. office in New York City and robbed it of $11 million. It was the largest cash robbery in U.S. history.

 On Feb. 10, 1983, two masked gunmen stole gold estimated to be worth up to $11 million from Golden Door Jewelry Creations, a large gold smelting firm and jewelry wholesaler in North Miami, Fla.

 On Sept. 12, 1983, a robber made off with $7 million from the Wells Fargo office in Hartford, Conn., after drugging and tying up a driver and office manager.

 The Great Train Robbery of 1963 occurred on Aug. 8, 1963, when a gang ambushed a Glasgow-to-London Post Office train and escaped with 2.6 million pounds, then $7.3 million, most of which has never been recovered discount links of london bangle.

 In July 1976, a sewer gang that raided the strongroom of the Societe Generale bank in Nice, France, got away with at least $6 million and possibly as much as $20 million in cash, jewelry and securities. The following year, $3.54 million in newly minted coins were stolen near the Gare de Lyon train station in France.

 A year ago the world's diamond industry breathed a collective sigh of relief when Russia said it would sign a new contract with the producers' cartel organized by De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. of South Africa. The markets had been nervous at the prospect of the world's second-largest producer falling out with the cartel - discount links of london charm- arguably the most successful organization of its kind and one credited with maintaining a steady rise in the price of rough, or uncut, diamonds over the decades.

 A memorandum of understanding was signed and De Beers and Almazy Rossii-Sakha, Russia's biggest diamond miner, were expected to finalize details of the new contract in a matter of weeks. But by December, the deal had still not been finalized, and on Jan. 1 De Beers cut the formal links between the diamond cartel and Russia.

 Two or three years ago a split between Russia and De Beers would have caused convulsions in the diamond market and sent the De Beers share price into a sharp fall. But none of this happened: most in the industry believe that the Russians have little choice but to sign a new contract -- and soon discount links of london necklace.

 ''In the space of a few weeks the mood in Russia has changed from hostility to the new contract to acceptance that it will be signed,'' says Mark Cockle of CRU International, a London-based mining consultancy.

 For 30 years, since it first began to mine diamonds, Russia has been one of the cornerstones of the cartel. Its support for what De Beers calls ''single channel marketing'' was seen to be essential. Even during the apartheid era, when South Africa and the Soviet Union were at opposite ends of the political spectrum, the links were maintained via a complex chain of intermediaries.

 The mutual benefits were illustrated by the development of the relationship after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1990, De Beers loaned Russia US$1 billion -- more than any country offered at that time to help the Russians deal with their shortage of hard currency.

 In return, De Beers shipped diamonds from the Russian stocks to London as collateral for the loan and signed an exclusive, five-year marketing agreement -- thus ensuring Russia would not be tempted to raise money quickly by dumping diamonds in the West discount links of london bracelet.

 When the 1990 pact expired, De Beers agreed to continue as if it was still in place while negotiating a new one with Almazy Rossii-Sakha. This meant that De Beers' London-based Central Selling Organization continued to be committed to buying Russia's diamonds at a pre-determined price in good or bad times.