(IDEX Online) - Sodiam, Angola's national diamond company, is to offer $20m of rough in a two-week online tender that begins tomorrow (15 November).In June it raised over $56.6m in its third and largest rough auction.This latest tender will include six exceptional single stones from its Lulo mine, two of them pinks. There will also be several baskets of single stones from Catoca, the min...Read More
RAPAPORT... The personal luxury-goods industry will bounce back in 2021 amid increased spending from the US and China on shoes, leather items and jewelry, according to Bain & Company.Global sales of personal luxury goods will grow 29% year on year to EUR 283 billion ($324.01 billion), the consultancy company said in its Fall 2021 Luxury Report, released last week in conjunction with Altagamma,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The wife of a jailed bank boss is facing a legal bid to seize her $4.3m jewelry collection.Zamira Hajiyeva, 58, was made the subject of the first Unexplained Wealth Order in Britain in 2018, after an astonishing $21.5m spending spree at the Harrod's department store, in London (pictured).Now the National Crime Agency (NCA) is attempting to seize jewelry she bought there and el...Read More
RAPAPORT... Baselworld will not take place this coming spring, as organizer MCH Group feels it needs "more time" to work out what exhibitors and buyers want.The decision followed a pop-up event in Geneva and extensive discussions with manufacturers and retailers, MCH said in a statement Friday. In addition, the Covid-19 situation and resultant uncertainty among customers make it hard to launc...Read More
RAPAPORT... US shoppers received more than two billion out-of-stock messages while searching for holiday gifts online in October, with many of those coming from the jewelry sector, according to Adobe.Supply-chain constraints have disrupted merchandise availability amid a growth in e-commerce demand, Adobe said last week. The number of out-of-stock messages rose 250% compared to January 2020 and 32...Read More
Polished trading robust; US holiday orders driving demand. Bridal strong ahead of December engagement season, with spike in weddings expected in 2022. Designers using alternative shapes to satisfy consumer interest in unique jewelry. Rough demand steady and prices high during De Beers sight. Alrosa Oct. rough sales -2% to $293M. Lucara 3Q revenue +76% to $73M, profit of $13M vs. loss of $5.4M. Chr...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers increased prices of certain lower-value rough diamonds at its November sight as US consumer demand strengthened ahead of the holidays.Prices in the cheapest categories rose by low-single-digit percentages, customers told Rapaport News. This included stones under 0.75 carats, as well as items in piqu?(C) and other lower-quality categories. De Beers declined to comment.Whil...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has raised its production plan for this year amid buoyant rough demand and a tight supply situation.The miner will recover around 32.5 million carats in 2021, compared with a previous outlook of 31.5 million carats, it said Thursday in its quarterly earnings report. The increase had been under consideration since earlier this year, as rough sales have soared and inventories...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A Cartier aquamarine and diamond brooch that belonged to Princess Margaret is expected to sell for $54,000 to $68,000 at auction.Queen Elizabeth's younger sister received it as 17th birthday gift from her mother, ahead of her first foreign trip, to South Africa.The Art Deco-style oval hoop is set with circular-cut aquamarines, each shoulder with hexagonal-cut aquamarine highli...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 1957 Omega watch shattered all expectations when it sold for $3.4m - 30 times its high estimate.The stainless steel Speedmaster Broad Arrow Ref. 2915-1 (pictured) with chocolate brown "tropical" dial became the most expensive Omega ever sold at auction.It broke a record set Elvis Presley's Tiffany-signed Omega, a gift from RCA Records in 1960, which sold for $1.8 milli...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tributes have been paid Helene Fortunoff, who built a houseware business into a multi-million dollar jewelry empire. She has died aged 88.She established the fine jewelry division of Fortunoff in 1957 with her first husband Alan Fortunoff, building up a network of stores with flagship on Fifth Avenue. She was highly respected as leader in jewelry merchandising and design.She...Read More
RAPAPORT... A collection of Romanov jewels smuggled out of Russia for safekeeping during the 1917 revolution has smashed its high estimate at a recent Sotheby's Geneva sale.The set, which includes a 26.80-carat Ceylon sapphire and diamond brooch and a pair of earrings with step-cut sapphires weighing 6.69 and 9.36 carats, went for $884,972 at Wednesday's Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale, S...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A pair of diamond bracelets that belonged to Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France, sold at auction for $8.2m - more than twice their high estimate.An anonymous phone bidder bought them yesterday at Christie' Geneva.The bracelets, both of 122 diamonds, were smuggled out of France before the Queen was guillotined in 1793. and had remained in her family ever since.Their lin...Read More
RAPAPORT... Watches of Switzerland has acquired six new locations in the US, as well as the Betteridge brand name, as it pushes ahead with its stateside growth plans.The company, which revealed a five-year blueprint for global expansion in June, is intent on becoming the "clear leader in the US market," it said Tuesday. To that end, it has bought the Ben Bridge Jeweler retail store at the Mall of...Read More
(IDEX Online) - One of the world's largest emeralds - weighing 7,525 carats - has been recovered in Zambia. London-based miner Gemfields, which recovered the gemstone, says no official record exists, but finds over 1,000 carats are considered "extremely unusual". The newly-found emerald, named Chipembele, is the largest emerald ever found at the Kagem mine, at 1,505g. It trumps Insofu,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa saw steady sales in October as robust preholiday rough demand coincided with supply shortages.The miner sold $308 million in diamonds during the month, a drop of less than 1% versus a year earlier, the company reported Wednesday. The figure was 3% higher than in September.Rough revenues fell 2% year on year to $293 million, while sales in the polished division jumped 40% to...Read More
RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond trade strengthened in October, buoyed by the sector's extended recovery ahead of the holiday season.Polished exports - after returns of unsold goods - more than tripled to $572.1 million for the month, up from $176.6 million a year earlier, the country's Ministry of Economy and Industry reported Monday. Shipment volume jumped 59% to 157,969 carats, with the averag...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa today reported a slight rise in its monthly sales of rough and polished diamonds, in the face of continuing supply shortages.The Russian miner sold a total of $308m in October, up from a 2021 low of $298m in September, which is traditionally a quiet month. Sales in August were $306m.Alrosa is still struggling to meet unexpectedly high demand globally after the easing of Covi...Read More
RAPAPORT... A pair of diamond bracelets belonging to Marie Antoinette more than doubled their high estimate at a recent Christie's auction in Geneva.The set, made by Boehmer in 1776 and passed down through Marie Antoinette's family for 250 years, fetched $8.2 million at Tuesday's Magnificent Jewels sale, Christie's said. That figure is the second-highest price for a jewel owned by the French queen...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mountain Province saw a jump in sales and a return to profit as the rough market rebounded from last year's pandemic-induced slump.Revenue leaped 99% year on year to CAD 94.2 million ($75.8 million) in the third quarter ending September 30, the miner reported Tuesday. Net profit came to CAD 8.8 million ($7 million), compared with a loss of CAD 6.5 million ($5.3 million) a year ear...Read More