(IDEX Online) - British actress Lily James is again promoting the beauty of natural diamonds in a new global ad campaign.She features in the second instalment of To Treasure Now and Forever, by the New York-based Natural Diamond Council, at a time when gap between natural and lab grown prices is widening almost daily.The 34-year-old Emmy-nominated star, known for roles in Pam and Tommy and Downton...Read More
(IDEX Online) - This is the moment when Taylor Swift realized the diamond had fallen out of a borrowed $12,000 vintage yellow gold and onyx Van Cleef & Arpels ring. The American singer-songwriter, aged 33, was at the VMAs (MTV Video Music Awards) in Newark, New Jersey, USA, where she won nine awards, including Song of the Year and Video of the Year.The ring had been booked by a stylist fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa has halted all rough sales until November, as prices continue to fall.The sanctioned Russian miner told buyers in a memo that it was striving "to reverse the existing trend of diminishing demand," according to Bloomberg News, and would not be selling any goods during September and October.Prices of smaller goods - an area where Alrosa dominates - have been hit in recent week...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is again reviving the iconic "A Diamond is Forever" tagline in a $20m campaign to promote natural diamonds.A series of ads will incorporate the slogan, coined by young copywriter Frances Gerety in 1947, as the British miner sought to reverse a downward trend in diamond sales.De Beers says it's re-introducing the line to support consumer demand in natural diamonds for...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Shree Ramkrishna Exports (SRK), one of the world's largest diamond manufacturers, has hit back after Ukraine claimed it had bought $330m of sanctioned Russian diamonds and listed it as an international war sponsor.Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) says the Mumbai-based company "continues to cooperate with the aggressor, purchasing diamonds in Russi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's Geneva today (18 September) announced it will be selling the largest internally flawless fancy vivid blue gem ever to appear at auction history, with an estimate of $35m to $50m.The 17.61-carat diamond, named Bleu Royal, is set in a ring and has been part of a private collection for the last 50 years. It will be sold on 7 November as part of the Magnificent Jewels a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Russia's AGD Diamonds and its Belgian subsidiary Grib Diamonds have both been sanctioned by the US.The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated them in an attempt to limit Russia's revenue for its war effort from mining industries.Almost 100 other sanctions were imposed at the same time on Russian elites and its industrial b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The G7 nations are on the brink of announcing a ban on Russian diamonds, to take effect from 1 January 2024.Belgian officials say they expect confirmation of the move within the next three weeks, according to reports by Reuters and the Financial Times (FT).G7 members - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the US (and the EU) account, between them, for 70 per c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A new high jewelry fair, billed as a first for collectors and enthusiasts, is to take place at an exclusive venue near the Eiffel Tower, in Paris.ArtVendome borrows its name from the iconic Place Vendome, home to Cartier, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels and Chaumet and many other maisons.Richard Steeve Giraud, founder and CEO of ArtVendome, real estate investor and avid art colle...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Twin nieces of the late Princess Diana have been appointed as brand ambassadors to Boodles, the luxury British jeweler.Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia Spencer, aged 31, are daughters of Princess Diana's younger brother, Charles Spencer, and his first wife, Victoria Lockwood.The royal pair, brought up in South Africa and now living in London, will represent Boodles, a privately-held...Read More
(In association with Bharat Diamond Bourse) The fifth edition of Bharat Diamond Week (BDW) will give India's smaller manufacturers a chance to connect with big buyers from abroad.Organizers say they already have delegations confirmed from China, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Brazil, Latin America, Japan and UAE for the three-day event.They're expecting more international buying t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Organizers of a two-day trade show for UK jewelers were forced to abandon the event part way through the first day - after what they described as a "serious security breach".The Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ) told 80 exhibitors and their guests that the threat was "too severe to ignore". Its Autumn Trade Event was reportedly put in lockdown on Sunday 10 September after atte...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A new TV drama, Everybody Loves Diamonds, is inspired by the infamous 2003 Antwerp Diamond Heist, and will stream next month.It follows a team of small-time Italian thieves led by Leonardo Notarbartolo (Kim Rossi Stuart), as they beat top-level security to steal $100m-plus of loose diamonds, gold and jewelry from the Antwerp Diamond Centre.The heist remains the biggest diamon...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Israel is to host its second annual Diamond Conference next April, together with a three-day Diamond Exhibition.Both events are part of the International Diamond Week, hosted by the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE), in Ramat Gan.The inaugural Israel Diamond Conference, which took place in March, was the country's first international event since the Covid pandemic.It brought toget...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today said it will no longer sell lab grown engagement rings, after a three-month trial reinforced its belief that they are "unsustainable" as a commercial proposition."Retailers already need to double the number of LGD carats sold every two years just to maintain a flat absolute gross profit," the company said.Lightbox, the De Beers lab grown division, dipped its toe into...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Greenland's only ruby mine has closed, after reportedly running up $74m of debts.Greenland Ruby, which started production of rubies and pink sapphire mining in 2017, has laid off its remaining staff and put the mine, at Aappaluttoq, in the southwest of the country, on care and maintenance.The company, owned by Norway-based LNS Group, originally predicted a 10-year life for the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Five men have been charged with using companies based in New York City's Diamond District to process over $600m in illegal money transfers.They are accused of using numerous diamond, gold, and jewelry companies as fronts to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal financial transactions for customers - including converting cash to checks or wire transfers - in exchan...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Almost two thirds (63 per cent) of high-income African-Americans prefer to buy jewelry from brands that reflect or promote their cultural heritage. They are also likely to overlook price for a quality shopping experience, according to a new report by market research firm The MVEye and Stephanie Coleman, publisher of Tre Magazine.Their decisions to buy luxury jewelry pieces are...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mining and diamond magnate Beny Steinmetz is due to re-appear before a court in Cyprus on Thursday (14 September) after he was detained on an arrest warrant issued by Romania.He was convicted, in his absence, of a $152m land deal fraud by a court there and sentenced to a five-year jail term in December 2020.Steinmetz, 65, (pictured) a French-Israeli citizen, was detained at Larnaca...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A co-founder of HB Antwerp says he's taking legal action after he was forced out over what the company says was a "sharp difference in strategic vision and approaches to business".Managing partner Oded Mansori was part of the team that established HB in 2020 as a technology-driven startup aimed at disrupting diamond cutting and forging innovative deals.He said, in a press rele...Read More