(IDEX Online) - A TikTok video of a woman who accidentally broiled her topaz and diamond ring in the oven with Brussel sprouts for Thanksgiving Day has had over 2.4m views.Jacki Gansky, 29, was concerned it wouldn't survive 30 minutes in a 415F/215C oven, but she needn't have worried.Diamonds and topaz are both formed at temperatures of around 2,000F/1,050C.Jacki, a US actress received t...Read More
Three U.S. military personnel were tragically killed and at least 34 wounded, some seriously, over the weekend in what the U.S. government claimed was a drone attack in northern Jordan. There’s some doubt about whether it was a drone because 37 casualties is a large number for a drone attack. A larger missile is a possibility. There’s also some doubt about the reported Jordanian locati...Read More
(IDEX Online) - LVMH saw improved performances from its watches and jewelry businesses during 2023, with reported revenue up three per cent to $11.84bn.Organic revenue grew by a "robust" 7 per cent and profit from recurring operations was also up 7 per cent, the company said in its full year results published on 25 January.The French luxury conglomerate, which owns 75 maisons, reported total...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A luxury lab grown startup has won an investment of just over $315,000 on the UK reality TV show Dragons' Den.Sidney Neuhaus and Jessica Warch, friends from Antwerp, established the jewelry brand Kimai in 2018 and found fame a year later when Meghan Markle wore a pair of their earrings. They sent her a cold email.The pair impressed Steven Bartlett, one of the dragons (judges)...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A tourist from France found one of the largest diamonds ever recovered at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, in Arkansas, USA.Julien Navas unearthed a 7.64 carat chocolate brown stone, after days of heavy rain washed away soil at the "dig your own diamond" attraction.Visitors using basic tools search the 37-acre field - the eroded surface of a volcanic crater - for a variety...Read More
As Donald Trump consolidates his election mojo defying the forces arrayed to destroy him and more of the country turns against the creepy apparition in the White House purportedly running against him, you hear evermore chatter that a panicked Democratic Party will insert Michelle Obama in a last-minute convention switcheroo next August.The explications I hear in the chat media all sound lame o...Read More
Donald Trump will certainly get the Republican nomination. With that the issue of truth and honesty about what happened on March 13, 2020, and beyond will likely not be pushed by the executive branch even if Trump wins.No one in his circles wants any talk of this subject, even if just about every bit of the current national crisis (health, economics, cultural, societal) traces to those grim days o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Thieves used a vehicle as a battering ram to smash their way through glass doors into a jewelry store in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.They fled with what police describe as "substantial" amount of jewelry from Griffin Jewellery Designs in a 4am heist at the Tecumseh Mall on Tuesday (23 January).The front of the building was badly damaged and the vehicle used in the ramming was later fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Trans Atlantic Gem Sales (TAGS) sold just over $14m of rough at its latest tender in Dubai, with buyers appearing a little more positive.Bidding was strong across all ranges, the company said, and many prices 3grs to +10cts were up a few per cent on the previous tender in December.However a quarter of the goods offered - 20,000-plus carats valued at over $20m - remained unsold.Nine...Read More
CNBC:"The U.S. economy grew at [a] blistering 3.3% pace in Q4 while inflation pulled back."CNBC cites the latest economic data, issuing this morning from the Department of Commerce.Continues CNBC:The economy grew at a much more rapid pace than expected while inflation eased in the final three months of 2023, as the U.S. easily skirted a recession that many forecasters had thought was inevitable, t...Read More
Some 33% of Americans distrust elections.That is, 33% of Americans distrust the granite beneath democracy the ballot itself.They believe the thing rests upon limestone foundations. Or worse... sand foundations.Thus American democracy is down with a wasting disease.Today we propose a solution. It will restore American democracy to pink and vigorous health, to the highest pristinity.What is it? An...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province Diamonds (MPD) today (24 January) reported FY 2023 sales of $243.7m, down 18 per cent on the previous year.The Toronto-based miner sold 2.7m carats in both 2022 and 2023 from the Gahcho Kue mine it operates as a joint venture with De Beers in Northwest Territories, Canada, but average per carat prices fell from $112 to $90.It said price drops reflected the lower-v...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Six people are reported to have died when a small plane headed for Rio Tinto's Diavik diamond mine, in Canada's remote Northwest Territories, crashed shortly after take-off yesterday (23 January).There has been no official confirmation of the death toll, but AFP (Agence France-Presse) quotes an aviation source as saying six people died and one survived.The tragedy comes l...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Richemont saw revenue from Buccellati, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and its other jewelry brands climb 12 per cent to $4.3bn (at constant exchange rates) during the last three months of 2023.Specialist watchmakers sales rose by 3 per cent, reflecting a retail outperformance, notably at A. Lange & Sohne, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin.The Swiss luxury conglomer...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Kiran Gems has moved staff out of the new Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) just months after it opened, and back to Mumbai's Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB). It's a blow for the brand new $388m SDB - the world's largest office building - which opened last November but has so far failed to attract major tenants aside from Kiran.Kiran Gems is a privately-owned company, desc...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Canada's vast, frozen Nunavut territory has been granted control over its natural resources in a move that could attract prospectors seeking diamonds, gold and other deposits.De Beers is among a small number of miners which already have interests in the sparsely-populated Arctic region. It is seeking approval for the Chidliak Project, a diamond deposit on Baffin Island, Canada...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Australian jeweler Michael Hill has closed six under-performing stores and axed some senior positions amid "challenging" retail conditions.Sales actually rose by 4.1 per cent during the half year ending 31 December 2023, to US$239m (AUS$362.8m), across the 302 outlets in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.Australia and New Zealand saw retail revenue rise by just over 10 per cent. St...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's New York is to sell a collection of 32 watches owned by Sir Elton John, as part of a unique home clearance.The 76-year-old Rocketman singer is auctioning the contents of his home on Peachtree Road, Altanta, USA, (after which he named his 2004 album) in a series of eight sales. John, one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, is a passionate watch collecto...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California and star of The Terminator movies, was ordered to pay a $38,000 fine in cash after failing to declare an Audemars Piguet watch at Customs.He was stopped at Munich airport last Wednesday, en route to a Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative event in Austria, where the specially-made watch wnet on to sell at a charity auction for $295,0...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has introduced a new online "sealed bid" tender for some of its rough diamonds.The Offer, which went live last week, allows buyers to key in the price they're prepared to pay for a lot, unseen by other bidders.It is an additional sales channel rather than a replacement for the online auctions that have been taking place since 2008.Online auctions have accounted for th...Read More