(IDEX Online) - A security guard at a jewelry store was shot dead yesterday during a heist at a shopping mall in Illinois, USA.Surveillance video shows three raiders step round the 57-year-old man as he laying bleeding on the floor.Police officers who happened to be on a training exercise at the mall property gave him CPR but he died hours later in hospital.The crime happened at River Oaks Center...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara has extended its "groundbreaking partnership" with HB Antwerp to sell its specials (+10.8-cts) for the next 10 years.The Canadian miner first joined forces with HB in July 2020 to sell the high-value rough from its Karowe mine, in Botswana (pictured).Under the agreement, Lucara's +10.8 carat production is sold at prices based on the estimated polished outcome of each di...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's is to auction another huge pink diamond, this time a 13.15-carat gem with a high estimate of $35m.It's just a week since it sold the 18.18-carat pear-shaped Fortune Pink for $28.8m (Estimate $25m to $35m) in Geneva.Next month the "magnificently" fancy vivid diamond, described as "VVS1 clarity, potentially internally flawless", will be offered for sale in New Yo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jeans company Wrangler is to auction a $40,000 one-off diamond-encrusted cowboy belt buckle for good causes.It was created with 75 diamonds - total weight 6.34 carats - to mark its 75th anniversary, together with yellow gold, blue topaz and sterling silver accents. All proceeds will go to the independent non-profit organizations Western Sports Foundation and Lead Changes...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The 170.2-carat Lulo Rose, believed to be the largest pink diamond found in the last 300 years, has been sold at tender.The price paid for the stone, named after the alluvial mine in Angola where it was recovered, was not disclosed.But it was among seven specials from the same mine that realized a total of $20.4m, according to Sodiam, Angola's national diamond trading company....Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today reported sales of $450m at its latest cycle, in line with an expected lull due to Diwali. That figure, for Cycle 9, is down from $508m at Cycle 8 and $638m at Cycle 7, but is broadly in line with the same sales period last year ($438m).CEO Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: "We saw good demand for our rough diamonds during Cycle 9 with sales reflect...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lab grown manufacturers in Surat are to get a tax break after the state government announced they would no longer have to pay duty of up to 15 per cent on their electricity bills.It represents a significant saving in a sector where energy accounts for almost 70 per cent of expenditure.The move follows an announcement by the State Bank of India (SBI) in August that it would start le...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Prices of fancy color diamonds rose by one per cent in the last quarter - compared with a 6.7 per cent slide for white diamonds in the same period.The Fancy Color Research Foundation (FRCF) today said average prices across all color categories had risen, although there were some price drops among particular size and intensity combinations.Yellows were up 1.4 per cent in Q3 2022, fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two cases of attempted frauds involving synthetic moissanite are highlighted in the GIA's latest quarterly journal Gems & Gemology.In one case a 7.42-ct rough stone, presented to its New York lab, had been carved into an octahedron, with stepped edges and coarse textures deliberately chosen to imitate the appearance of a natural diamond.In the other, what appeared to be a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A couple celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary found a 1.9-carat brown diamond.Seth and Jessica Erickson were visiting the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, in Arkansas, USA, which charges day trippers $10 a day to sift the soil - and lets them keep any gems they find.They found the diamond after an hour of "wet sifting" - using a pair of meshed screens to chec...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A teenager collected a jacket from his school's clothing donation program . . . and found two diamond rings, two Gucci watches and an emerald bracelet inside a pocket.Luke Coelho, 17, from Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, set about tracing the rightful owner. Thankfully the jacket bore the name Dave and the logo of a uniform services company.They were the clues that allowed Luke...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The first of eight stones from the De Beers Exceptional Blue Collection to be offered at auction remains unsold after it failed to reach its minimum.The 5.53-carat cushion brilliant-cut fancy vivid blue carried an estimate of $11m to $15m and was the headline lot at Sotheby's Geneva Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction.It is part of a collection of just over 32 carats r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sarine reports a quarterly increase in revenue and profit, largely driven by the rollout of its improved Meteorite Plus technology, for high-speed automated processing of small rough diamonds.The Israel-based tech company said overall sales of capital equipment were up 53 per cent in Q3 2022, compared with the same period last year.Revenue for the quarter rose 20 per cent to $14.5m...Read More
RAPAPORT... US shoppers shelled out cash heartily online for holiday gifts in October as retailers offered deals to get customers spending early.Total e-commerce sales for the month rose 11% over September's figure to $72.2 billion and were on par with the $72.4 billion spent in October 2021, even as inflation grew, Adobe said Friday."Despite inflationary pressures and the rising cost of borrowing...Read More
RAPAPORT... Brilliant Earth lowered its outlook ahead of the crucial fourth quarter, noting that consumers were hesitant about making purchases.The online-focused jeweler expects full-year sales of $436 million to $446 million, down from an earlier forecast of $450 million to $470 million, it said Thursday. Fourth-quarter revenue will be between $116 million and $126 million, compared with ac...Read More
RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds has halted production at its Williamson mine in Tanzania for at least three months following a wall breach.The pause will give the company time to build a new tailings storage facility that was already under construction before last week's incident at the site. The new facility shares a wall with the old one; this adjoining wall collapsed. "[Williamson]'s technical...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from Richemont's jewelry brands was solid in the first fiscal half as demand grew in all regions and the Asia-Pacific market recovered.Sales from the company's jewelry maisons - Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Buccellati - rose 24% year on year to EUR 6.34 billion ($6.58 billion) for the six months ending September 30, the luxury giant reported Friday.Europe and Japan prov...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Blue Nile is, for the first time, moving into lab grown bridal jewelry.The new direction follows the $360m all-cash buyout by Signet in August.Blue Nile, an online-only retailer, announced a deal in November 2020 to sell fashion jewelry produced by Lightbox, De Beers' lab grown division.But this marks its first foray into the world of engagement rings and loose diamonds.The "d...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds says it will suspend operations for up to three months following the breach of its tailings dam at the Williamson mine, in Tanzania.The UK-based miner also reported three minor injuries and damage to 13 homes after the breach caused widespread flooding.A team of experts from Tanzania's National Environment Management Council (NEMC) is currently assessing the dam...Read More
Dear Friends, The world is changing, and so is Rapaport. We are revolutionizing our information services. Rapaport is now going super-digital.Rapaport digital news and editorial will now be free at Rapaport.com. Our new website launches this Tuesday, November 15, 2022. Rapaport.com will be our new digital home and information center, with real-time news, articles, analysis, data, videos, podcasts,...Read More