(IDEX Online) - Seven out of 10 US jewelers reported sales in February were the same or better than the same month last year. That's according to a sample of 177 retailers who were asked to assess sales for the month by the Instore magazine. Fourteen per cent said they'd enjoyed an increase of more than a quarter.Another 28 per cent said they'd seen some increase, and 27 per ce...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The buyer of the world's most valuable necklace - a $55m creation including a flawless 407-carat yellow diamond - has been revealed as Indian billionaire Nita Ambani.She's the wife of Mukesh Ambani, who is heir to the Mumbai-based multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries, and whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $84.7bn.The necklace, known as L'Incomparable,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers yesterday reported $540m of rough sales during Cycle 3, boosted by "encouraging positive trends" in consumer demand, especially in China.The provisional figure is 8.5 per cent higher than Cycle 2, but 4.5 per cent lower than Cycle 3 of 2022.Last month De Beers announced a drop of 24 per cent in its Cycle 2 sales, as uncertainty persisted and many sightholders delayed purch...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Amazon and De Beers are collaborating to develop lab grown diamonds for use in super-secure quantum communications.They will allow computer networks to transmit vast amounts of data over long distances, far outperforming current fiber-optic systems.Element Six, the De Beers subsidiary that specializes in industrial applications of lab grown diamonds, is working with Amazon Web Serv...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's Geneva is to auction the largest ever collection of creations by JAR, the fine jewelers founded by Joel Arthur Rosenthal.Twenty-five pieces, produced over 40 years, will be offered for sale at the Magnificent Jewels auction on 17 May.JAR's trademark is to pair unusual gemstones with non-traditional materials, drawing on nature for inspiration and pushing the bo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The future for BlueRock Diamonds, the British miner that operates the Kareevlei mine, in Kimberley, South Africa, looks bleaker than ever.The company says it is unlikely that it will continue as a going concern. In February it suspended trading in its shares after its debt-ridden subsidiary Kareevlei Mining. which operates the mine, was placed in business rescue."The board has expl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Three people have been arrested over the death of a diamond polisher at a factory in India.They are alleged to have tied him up the man, named as Haresh Bhaliya, and to have beaten him after five diamonds disappeared at a factory in Thakkarbapanagar, in Gujurat state.Police say the owner and two managers were arrested and that cases of murder and wrongful confinement have bee...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A masked raider calmly removed a gun from his bag and fired five shots at workers in a booth selling jewelry at a swap meet in Utah, USA.He then used a hammer to smash open glass display cabinets and steal what police describe as a "large quantity" of merchandise.One employee was grazed by a bullet but did not require medical treatment, said West Valley City Police in a statement a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two Rolex Daytona watches owned by Paul Newman are expected to fetch at least $1m each when they're auctioned in June by Sotheby's New York. They're among 300 lots from his estate and that of his actress wife Joanne Woodward.Newman, best known for The Hustler, died in 2008. He was well known as a keen car racer and watch collector. The watches were f...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The tailings dam that burst at the former Jagersfontein diamond mine, in South Africa, last September, "deviates from best engineering practice," according to a study of satellite images by civil engineering academics. Based on their three-dimensional reconstruction of the failed dam, the authors estimate four to six million cubic meters of diamond mining waste were...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz has lost an appeal against a conviction in a Swiss court for bribery, over an iron ore deal in Guinea.Three judges did, however, reduce the five-year prison sentence, handed down two years ago, to three years of which he must serve 18 months, according to a Reuters report.They also upheld the $52m fine, which was imposed at the same time, but acqu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamcor announced a 60 per cent drop in carats sold during its fourth fiscal quarter, as it battled ongoing power supply issues at the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project in South Africa.Total revenue was also down, from $2,054,248 in Q3 to $1,579,728 in Q4, although the price per carat rose steeply from $246 to $477. The Canadian junior miner said it sold 3,310 carats in Q4, incl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A ruby described as "the largest and most valuable" ever to be auctioned is expected break the world record when it is sold by Sotheby's New York in June.The 55.22-carat Estrela de Fura ((Star of Fura in Portuguese), is "the world's largest gem-quality ruby in existence," and is "expected to achieve in excess of $30m," the auction house said.The highest price ever paid fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - GIA has bowed to pressure and says it will re-introduce paper certificates, at no extra cost, as of Sunday (9 April). The move to digital-only Diamond Dossiers, for stones up to 1.99-cts, provoked widespread criticism from retailers, who said some customers were refusing to buy a diamond without one. In a message to clients, GIA (Gemological Institute of America) said it "did not a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has announced the discovery of an astonishingly rare diamond-within-a-diamond.The 0.329 carat D-color Type IaAB diamond, named the Beating Heart has an internal cavity enclosing a smaller diamond that is trapped yet able to move freely.There are only two other known examples of such a Matryoshka or Russian Doll diamond.In 2019, Alrosa recovered a 0.62 carat diamond at its...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The GIA is facing criticism over the new digital-only reports it introduced in January.Dealers say retail customers still expect a paper certificate and are, in some cases, refusing to buy a diamond without one.The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) says its paperless Diamond Dossiers, for stones up to 1.99-cts, are the first step towards phasing out all printed reports with th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A brazen raider is believed to have struck twice in six weeks at the same jewelry store in New York. The owner said he told staff: "Hi, I'm back".Police say he grabbed a worker at Melissa Joy Manning Jewelry, in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, in the latest attack and ordered her to open the display cabinets.Owner Melissa Joy Manning says merchandise worth $200,000 was stolen in the fi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Watch and jewelry sales in the US were down for a fifth consecutive month in February, amid ongoing fears of a recession and financial crisis. They fell 3.0 per cent year-on-year, according to the US Department of Commerce. In January sales dropped by just 0.3 per cent, a figure that was originally reported as 2.1 per cent but which has now been revised up based on actual rather th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jaeger LeCoultre has reworked its iconic Reverso "secret watch" design into a high jewelry necklace set with 3,000 diamonds.The pink gold Art Deco piece was unveiled last week at the Watches & Wonders 2023 salon in Geneva.It has the swivelling Reverso movement that has featured in watches, bracelets, brooches, handbag clips pendants since 1931.That was the year watchmaker Jacqu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Edward Asscher, outgoing president of the World Diamond Council, defended the Kimberley Process and addressed the "white elephant" of Russian sanctions at the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) Congress in Israel."Today, through the KP and the work that we all do, I am convinced that 99.9 percent of all diamonds in the global marketplace are conflict free," he said."Is the...Read More