(IDEX Online) - US jewelry sales enjoyed a "spike" during February, driven in part by Valentine's Day, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, along with other gifting sectors.But it didn't provide an actual percentage increase, as it generally does.It did, however, say that apparel and department store sales - also classed as gifting sectors - saw growth of 3.9 per cent and 5.6 per cent...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pharrell Williams, the US singer/songwriter best known for "Happy" tomorrow (17 March) launches a high jewelry sale on his digital-first auction house.A Journey Through Gems will feature a 50-carat D Flawless Type IIa heart-shaped loose diamond and a pair of 18k white gold 4-panel diamond shape earrings with natural purple sapphire, as worn by Taylor Swift at the 2023 Grammy Awards...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds yesterday reported sales of $72.1m at its fourth tender of FY2023, down 49 per cent year-on-year but up 71 per cent on its third tender, in December.Like-for-like prices - excluding revenue from single and exceptional stones while normalizing for the product mix impact - were up 12.5 per cent on Tender 3.That reflects a post-Covid recovery in China, boosted by t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine, is to be sold to Burgundy Diamond Mines in the latest ownership twist. Current owner Arctic Canadian Diamond Company (ACDC) announced yesterday that it was selling the deposit, 200 km south of the Arctic Circle, for $136m.ACDC acquired the mine from Dominion Diamonds in February 2021 after it filed for insolvency, and had been planning...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dubai's diamond trade with Israel increased by more than two-and-a-half times in 2022, up from $665.5m in 2021 to $1.75bn."These numbers highlight the blossoming and deepening relationship between the two countries and the diamond industry," said the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC), home to the Dubai Diamond Exchange.Israeli diamond companies have been operating in the c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The New York-based GCAL (Gem Certification and Assurance Lab) grading lab says its 8X Cut Grades certificates - with the added attributes of brilliance, fire, scintillation, and optical symmetry analysis - can now be customized for clients.Their brand and logo can be added to the certificates, which were launched in 2021 to provide consumers with "a higher level of transparency" fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A regular visitor to the "sift your own diamond" park in Arkansas, USA, unearthed a a 3.29-carat brown gem, the biggest find there in 18 months.David Anderson is no stranger at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, where day-trippers pay $10 to sift soil at the disused mine for gems, and get to keep whatever they find.He says he's found more than 400 diamonds o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Owners of a family-run jewelry store watched in horror on a smartphone app as raiders emptied display cabinets of goods valued at $1.2m.The break-in at Queens Jewelers was the latest in a string of burglaries at WestGate Mall, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.Four raiders escaped with Cartier and Rolex watches, 35 diamond necklaces, more than 50 diamond bracelets, and men's...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Belgium's imports of Russian diamonds in January rose by 36 per cent year-on-year, according to the government-run Belgian Foreign Trade Agency (BFTA).Rough imports were 132m ($141m) in January 2023, compared with 97m ($104m) in January 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.The US imposed sanctions on Russian diamonds but the 27 EU nations did not, and Belgium has repeate...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Former billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi can't afford the legal bill for his failed appeal against extradition.He appeared via videolink at a court in London last week over non-payment of $180,000 for his legal representation.Last November, Modi, 51, (pictured) lost his last-ditch appeal against extradition to India, where he is accused of fraudulently using letters of undert...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A student has been charged over a $500,000 credit card scam at the jewelry store where she worked in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.Police allege Ariel Foster, 19, spent over $35,000 on a Tesla car, almost $6,000 with Delta Airlines, more than $20,000 on an hotel in Maui, Hawaii, and almost $5,000 in Louis Vuitton purchases.Their investigation found items scanned at the register ha...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dubai is to host its first LGD Symposium in a bid to drive the sector's long-term success.Global leaders in the lab-grown and technology space, including industry, retailers, financial institutions, governmental stakeholders, growers and manufacturers will converge on 10 July.Organizers DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) says it is a "critical moment to address unique chall...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gold sovereigns with fake hallmarks have been seized in Kochi, in the south-west Indian state of Kerala.Officials from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) said the 118 gold coins, weighing 948 grams, were worth over $58,000.They were being sold without hallmarking and with spurious use of the hallmark, the BIS said, and were seized form Thiru-Kochi Gold and Diamonds, Elamkunnapuzh...Read More
(IDEX Online) - HRD Antwerp is under investigation by a court in Belgium over allegations that it routinely upgraded diamonds, according to the De Tijd newspaper.It says it obtained e-mails, internal procedures, slides, audit reports and filmed board meetings and other material revealing a long-standing practice, described by one former senior staff member as "a way to commit market fraud".It alle...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi said it was "only logical" that his country should want more and get more from its deal with De Beers.He ramped up the rhetoric in his latest comments on the 54-year-old joint venture agreement, under which three quarters of its rough is currently sold by De Beers."Besides the fact that the diamonds are ours, it doesn't make sense fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's cut and polished diamond exports surged during February, up by almost 20 per cent to 2.37bn.In rupee terms the increase was even bigger, at just under 32 per cent, according to new figures from GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council).Vipul Shah, the council's chairman, pointed to the recovery in China after Covid restrictions, the lunar New Year, and a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 35-carat Leviev diamond ring beat its $2.5m high estimate yesterday when it sold for $2.7m at Bonham's New York.The type IIa emerald-cut, D-color, VVS1-clarity diamond was accented by a round brilliant-cut diamond-set gallery and shank with a total weight of 1.90 carats. The platinum, ring was signed Leviev.Bonhams said it was a "white glove sale" - with buyers found for eac...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro is being investigated over claims he failed to declare diamond jewelry valued at $3.2m.The items, including a Chopard diamond necklace, earrings and watch, were a gift from the Saudi government to him and his wife Michelle.Customs officials seized them from an aide's luggage at Sao Paulo international airport after a presidential v...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Izzy Itzkowitz, who co-invented the princess cut in 1979, has passed away at the age of 68, his son said in a Facebook post.During a lifelong career in diamonds he also developed iconic private label designs for De Beers, Tiffany & Co, and Graff, as well as the "invisible set".Itzkowitz, born and bred in Tel Aviv, he also invented the Asscher Cut Princess and the Asscher Queen....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Four defendants in the 2103 diamond heist at Brussels Airport were yesterday acquitted on appeal. It follows the acquittal of 18 other defendants in a 2018 trial and means just one person has been convicted and jailed over the theft of diamonds valued at the time at $50m. The appeals court in Brussels ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict the four. The shipment of...Read More