RAPAPORT... Sotheby's will offer two diamonds weighing more than 100 carats at its upcoming jewelry sale, with one expected to fetch in excess of $10 million.The Juno diamond, a pear-shaped, 101.41-carat, D-color, internally flawless, type IIa stone, will lead the June 16 New York Magnificent Jewels sale, the auction house said last week. Only 11 D-color diamonds over 100 carats have ever bee...Read More
Next Tech Talk report is to be released on Monday May 30th despite the U.S. holidayPre-opening Comments for Friday May 27thU.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 12 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures moved slightly higher following release of April Personal income and April Personal Spending at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for April Personal Income was an...Read More
News: Polished trading sluggish but suppliers to large jewelry retail brands doing well. Expectations rising for June 8-13 Las Vegas shows with dealers relying on US market to stimulate growth. Chinese buyers cautious amid slow retail sales. High inflation, Russia supply constraints and Chinese Covid-19 restrictions fueling uncertainty. Melee hot as lack of Alrosa supply creating shortages. India...Read More
RAPAPORT... Macy's reported strong sales of luxury products and raised its profit forecast as the US retail sector weathered the challenges facing the market.Revenue rose 14% year on year to $5.35 billion in the first fiscal quarter, which ended April 30, the department-store chain said Thursday. Comparable-store sales - at branches open for a least a year - rose 13% at Macy's-owned shops and...Read More
RAPAPORT... An Art Deco Cartier bracelet set with 101 carats of Colombian emeralds sold for nearly three times its presale estimate at the New York Jewels Sale at Bonhams, garnering $3.2 million.The piece, designed in 1926, came from the collection of American heiress H?(C)l??ne Irwin Crocker Fagan, daughter of sugar baron William Irwin, Bonhams said Wednesday. It was originally expected to fetch...Read More
RAPAPORT... A jadeite necklace was the top seller at the most recent Christie's sale in Hong Kong, achieving nearly $9 million.The piece features 33 jadeite beads and a clasp set with an 11-carat Burmese ruby surrounded by oval-cut diamonds. It fetched $8.8 million, within its estimate, following spirited competition at Wednesday's Magnificent Jewels auction, the company said. In total, the sale b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two diamonds over 100-carats lead a Sotheby's New York auction next month - a 101.41-carat Type IIa pear-shaped D-color IF stone, which is expected to sell for over $10m.And a 111.59-carat pear-shaped fancy deep orange-brown diamond, on the market for the first time in nearly 40 years, with an estimate of $1.5m to $2.5m.Sotheby's says it is "pleased to present not one, bu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A robber convicted of an $800,000 raid on a US jewelry store has been jailed for 10 years, and ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution.Kenneth Jones, 41, stole an estimated 700 pieces of vintage and designer jewelry, valued at $800,000, from Pretty in Patina, in Omaha, Nebraska, in February 2018.Fingerprints found on a garbage bag he left behind at the scene led detectives to his la...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry retailers in the US are insisting on declarations from manufacturers in India that they will not use rough stones from Russia."A number of units have received mails from the US buyers. They are worried over the matter," Dinesh Navadiya, regional chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Gujarat, told India's Economic Times.An estimated 250,000 dia...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly weaker on the morning of Thursday May 26 amid a lack of direction.• More central banks are tightening monetary policy; South Korea is the latest• Japan’s services producer price index climbed 1.7% in April, after a 1.3% rise in MarchBase metalsThree-month base metals prices on the LME - wit...Read More
U.S. equity index futures at 7:30 AM EDT were higher. S&P 500 futures were up 30 points in pre-opening trade.Canada's March Retail Sales report is released at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus is an increase of 1.4% versus a gain of 0.1% in February.NVIDIA dropped $12.75 to $157.00 after the company offered second quarter guidance below consensus.Snowflake plunged $17.77 to $115.00 after reporting lower...Read More
RAPAPORT... US polished-diamond imports rose 41% to $6.34 billion in the first three months of the year, according to recent data from the US Department of Commerce. The figure did not yet reflect the impact of the Ukraine war, which led to Western restrictions on imports of Russian goods.The US prohibited the import of Russian-origin diamonds during March and placed further restrictions on t...Read More
RAPAPORT... The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has graded a 27.27-carat lab-grown stone that it claims is the world's largest polished synthetic diamond.Indian lab-grown company Greenlab created the marquise step-cut diamond, named Om, IGI said Wednesday. The stone, which has no color enhancement, was grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD).Along with Om, the IGI graded two addition...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Belgian tech firm iTraceiT says it has completed the pilot phase of its new traceability solution and is now rolling it out to customers.The company says its combination of QR-code and blockchain technology can handle all sizes of diamonds, even melee (under 0.2-cts) - unlike other solutions.It also claims to offer a "genuine industry-wide solution" because it's an indep...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Wealthy investors in Qatar are rushing to put their money into rare and extremely valuable fancy color diamonds. The minimum investment is $1m.The Amma Group, jointly founded in 2008 by jewelry veterans Mahyar Makhzani and Philip Baldwin (pictured), says it is the only fund specializing in color diamond investment.It is seeking $100m of investment for its fifth fund, Colour Fund V,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Indian company has produced what's being hailed as the world's biggest polished lab grown diamond.The marquise step cut 27.27-carat diamond (pictured) was made by Greenlab, in Surat, and certified by the IGI.It is significantly larger than the previous record holder, a 16.41-carat princess-cut diamond (G/VVS2) produced by Shanghai Zhengshi Technology, in China.The new...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 20 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the April Durable Goods Orders report at 8:30 EDT. Consensus was an increase of 0.7% versus a gain of 0.8% in March. Actual was an increase of 0.6%. Excluding transportation orders, consensus for April Durable Goods Orders was a...Read More
RAPAPORT... A 17.62-carat diamond ring is set to go up for auction at an upcoming Phillips jewelry sale, where it is expected to fetch up to $1.3 million.The emerald-cut, D-color, VVS1-clarity, type IIa diamond is the star of the June 2 New York Jewels sale, Phillips said last week. The stone is one of a number of special diamonds to be featured.The auction house will also sell an old European bri...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has recovered a 129-carat rough from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho, the miner's first stone over 100 carats this year.The high-quality, white diamond was recovered at the site over the weekend, Gem Diamonds said Monday. The company, which had been known for its recovery of large, high-quality stones, has seen output of those diamonds become more sluggish in the past year.In...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jeweler Stephanie Gottlieb has created a one-off popcorn-shaped diamond engagement ring. The 3.66-carat VVS-clarity natural stone was specially cut from an 11-carat rough diamond and set in simple yellow gold "bathtub bezel".It is designed to intensify the hue of the stone, which has been graded as Y-Z - near to fancy yellow on the official GIA color scale."The idea was...Read More