(IDEX Online) - One in five diamond workers have quit their jobs in Surat because of low wages, says a union boss.Factory owners are also accused of failing to pay artisans' wages during India's Covid lockdowns, or of reducing them by as much as 25 per cent. That's despite a spike in demand from consumers in the USA and China.The Diamond Workers Union is demanding a 20 per cent pay...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelers of America (JA) has elected Robert Moeller, a second-generation jeweler, to head its board of directors.Moeller, the president and director of sales of R.F. Moeller Jeweler in Minnesota, will succeed outgoing chair Holly Wesche, the organization said Tuesday. A Gemological Institute of America (GIA) graduate gemologist and an American Gem Society (AGS) certified gemologist app...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, August 3, 2021, Las Vegas... Diamond market sentiment was upbeat in July despite a seasonal slowdown and high rough prices. Robust retail sales and supply shortages supported prices for polished.The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds rose 3.1% during the month. RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) Read More
RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers will rebrand its Piercing Pagoda banner in an effort to connect with a larger customer base and highlight its innovations.The company chose the name Banter by Piercing Pagoda to reflect its relationship with both new and long-standing customers, it said Monday. Signet is already testing the new name in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. The jeweler plans to rol...Read More
RAPAPORT... Grib Diamonds noted solid demand and competitive bidding for rough at its latest tender in Antwerp, with a purple diamond setting a new record.The Belgian company, which sells production from AGD Diamonds' Grib mine in Russia, brought in $65 million from the sale of 650,000 carats, Grib head of sales Antony Dear told Rapaport News Monday. While high demand for rough persisted amid scar...Read More
RAPAPORT... SCS Global Services has hired Brandee Dallow as vice president of sustainability for luxury goods. In her new position, Dallow will help support the international expansion of SCS's certification program for fine jewelry, accessories and apparel, SCS said Monday.Dallow is the founder of Fine Girl Luxury Brand Building and Communications. She was most recently the regional membersh...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Prices of fancy color diamonds kept rising in Q2, albeit at a slightly slower pace than the previous quarter.Overall they gained 0.2 per cent, the New York-based Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) said today, compared with 0.3 per cent in Q1. No figures were produced for Q1 and Q2 of 2020 because business was too slow during the Covid pandemic to provide sufficient data, b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara has recovered its seventh +300-carat diamond this year from its Karowe mine, in Botswana.The Canadian miner says the 393.5-carat top white Type IIa gem quality diamond (pictured) was recovered from direct milling of ore from the M/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe - from which it has already recovered two +300-carats stones this year.In June, Karowe yielded a 1,174.76 carat...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Surat's vast but long-delayed diamond bourse is now reported be on target for opening next year.It was originally supposed to open in January 2020, according to the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) website. That was put back by September 2021, and now to some time in 2022, according to the BusinessToday.In website.The $355m bourse (pictured) will be the world's largest office b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Year-on-year prices were up 10.1 per cent in July, the highest figure for at least eight years, according to IDEX Online's research. Prices have been showing positive growth since January, and bigger increases with every successive month. The last peak, in July 2018, was 5.7 per cent. That was followed by nine months of slowdown and 18 months of...Read More
RAPAPORT... Prices of fancy-color diamonds increased in the second quarter amid supply shortages, according to the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF).The group's Fancy Color Diamond Index gained 0.2% compared with the previous three months, the organization reported Monday. Prices of blue fancy-color diamonds jumped 0.4%, while pinks increased 0.3%, and yellows rose 0.1%."As retail in the US,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong's hard-luxury market saw only a partial rebound in June as the lack of tourism kept retail sales well below pre-pandemic levels.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts grew 32% year on year to HKD 3.31 billion ($452.7 million) but was still 42% lower than in the same month of 2019, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Monday. The incre...Read More
(IDEX Online) - French police foiled an audacious bid by thieves to blow up glass cases at the city's Museum of Natural History (pictured) and steal a 217-ct necklace made for the Queen of Egypt.The $5.8m piece is among than 500 items in the Gems exhibition, which includes minerals, gemstones and objets d'art from the museum's collection, together with over 200 jewels by Van Cleef &...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Young couples are dispensing with engagement rings - and having a diamond pierced straight into their finger. It's called finger dermal. A small circle of flesh is removed from the finger, an anchor is inserted under the skin and the surrounding area has to be stitched to keep the gem in place. The process is, apparently, no more painful than piercing other parts o...Read More
RAPAPORT... Chow Sang Sang's profit soared in the first half of the year amid a recovery in the mainland China market, the company estimated.Profit increased between 145% and 155% year on year for the six months ending June 30, the Hong Kong jeweler said in a preliminary announcement last week. The figure ranged from HKD 518 million ($66.6 million) to HKD 539 million ($69.3 million), com...Read More
RAPAPORT... Two specialists in source verification have teamed up to provide consumers with precise origin information for natural and lab-grown diamonds.Australian science organization Source Certain International will provide the technology for SCS Global Services' Certification Standard for Sustainable Diamonds, it said Monday. That technology will enable SCS to state the mine of origin on...Read More
(IDEX Online) - LVMH sales of watches and jewelry more than trebled in the first half of 2021, the company said - up to $4.75bn.The French luxury conglomerate said Tiffany & Co, which it acquired earlier this year for $16.2bn after prolonged negotiations, had performed extremely well."The first half saw the integration for the first time of iconic jewelry maison Tiffany, which has benefited fr...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has unearthed a 393.5-carat diamond from its Karowe mine in Botswana, the seventh over 300 carats this year.The miner recovered the gem-quality, white, type IIa diamond from the site's south lobe M/PK(S) area, known for its large, valuable rough, it said last week. The company also found a 156.2-carat, high-quality rough from the same production run. Of the se...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Diamond Dealers Club of South Africa has elected Molefi Letsiki to serve a three-year term as chairman.Letsiki, the owner of Molefi Letsiki Diamonds, was elected at the diamond exchange's 18th annual general meeting, which took place virtually on July 22, Letsiki told Rapaport News last week. Prior to taking over from Lionel Noach, Letsiki served as deputy chairman to both Noach an...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A lawyer in Pakistan is urging the government to retrieve the iconic Koh-i-Noor diamond from Britain.It's the latest of many twists in the history of the 105.6-ct Type IIa D-color gem, which has been the center-piece of Queen Elizabeth's crown since her coronation in 1953.Ownership of the stone is a matter of bitter debate, with India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan all...Read More