(IDEX Online) - Gemologists from the IGI lab in Thailand spotted their biggest ever impostor stone - a 6.18-carat lab-grown that was being presented as a natural gem.It had been submitted for verification and came with a GIA certificate stating it was a natural diamond, D color, flawless clarity and triple excellent cut.The genuine stone had been fraudulently replaced with a lab-grown that had bee...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa today reported $365m sales of rough and polished for May, down slightly from $401m in April.Monthly sales since the start of the year have been steady, averaging $365m. By way of comparison, De Beers has averaged rough sales of $408m at the four sights completed so far this year.Alrosa says demand remains strong from the Indian midstream and is "robust" in all key regions."D...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The historic Chrysler Diamond has sold for $5.07m at Christie's New York, above its high estimate of $4.5m.The 54.03-carat Type IaB D-color, internally flawless pear-shaped diamond (pictured) takes its name from the socialite Thelma Chrysler Foy.Her father Walter Chrysler started life as locomotive engineer. He went on to found the Chrysler car corporation and personally funde...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales at Signet Jewelers stormed past the company's expectations in the first fiscal quarter as the retailer's new strategy helped it capitalize on resurgent consumer demand.Revenue jumped 98% year on year to $1.68 billion in the 13 weeks that ended May 1 amid buoyant in-store and e-commerce sales, Signet reported Thursday. Same-store sales rose 107%, while group net profit stood...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's diamond sales remained stable in May as manufacturers continued to show demand despite challenges in the Indian market, the miner said Thursday. Revenue from rough and polished goods stood at $365 million, down 9% from $401 million in April but higher than the $40.1 million the company reported during the peak of the coronavirus crisis a year earlier. This reflected stron...Read More
RAPAPORT... A diamond necklace by designer Andrew Clunn smashed its estimate at Sotheby's on Wednesday, selling for $4.1 million at the company's New York auction.The piece, set with 28 graduated, oval-shaped diamonds weighing more than 168 carats combined, achieved a price well above its $3 million high valuation at the June 9 Magnificent Jewels sale, Sotheby's said. This established a new record...Read More
RAPAPORT... The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has discovered a 6.18-carat synthetic diamond that fraudsters had misrepresented as natural by falsely pairing it with a mined-diamond grading report."This is the largest lab-grown diamond ever certified by a leading gemological laboratory where the sole purpose was to pass off a lab-grown stone as natural," Bob Van Es, IGI managing di...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Chow Tai Fook saw net profits more than double to $777m, as it recorded its best performance since 2014 - in spite of the pandemic.China's biggest jeweler by market value says it opened 741 new points of sale across the mainland in the year to 31 March, and was planning a further 700-plus in the coming year. It currently has 4,591.The increased profits exceeded forecasts as th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond exports rose sharply in May as the global industry continued to recover and polished prices climbed, according to government data.Polished shipments after returns more than tripled to $264.2 million from $75 million a year earlier, reflecting a rebound from the 2020 coronavirus crisis, the Ministry of Economy and Industry reported Tuesday.Israel has almost entirel...Read More
RAPAPORT... The 54.03-carat Chrysler Diamond necklace was among the top sellers at the Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in New York, bringing in $5.1 million.The pear-shaped, D-color, internally flawless stone was originally purchased by Harry Winston in 1958 from the estate of Thelma Chrysler Foy, the daughter of railroad and automotive executive Walter Chrysler. The necklace beat its high esti...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's major jewelry trade body has launched a new exhibition in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), expressing optimism that flights between the two countries will resume this summer.The first International Gem & Jewellery Show (IGJS) will take place from August 14 to 16 in Dubai, India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said Wednesday. It will have space for...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mehul Choksi, the fugitive Indian diamond tycoon who claims he was abducted from a Caribbean island, says those responsible were prepared to kill him."I have no doubts that the agents if given enough reason and opportunity, would not have thought twice before killing me," he wrote in a report filed to police and seen by Times of India.Choksi, 62, is wanted by police in India as a s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Russia may release diamonds from its state-controlled stockpiles, allowing Alrosa to replenish dwindling reserves as demand surges.The government holds undisclosed reserves of precious gems and metals in a repository known as Gokhran.It is now reported to be considering the release of some rough reserves through public auctions, according to Bloomberg News, which would Alrosa to re...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The only commercial diamond miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hopes a $5m cash injection will go some way to revive its flagging fortunes.At its peak in 1961 MIBA, the Bakwanga Mining Company, produced 16m carats, but it has been badly hit by two wars, widespread corruption, embezzlement, poor management and infrastructure, crippling debt, unpaid workers' wages a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has unearthed six diamonds over 100 carats from its Karowe mine in Botswana, including a light-brown stone weighing 470 carats.The miner recovered the clivage diamond - one of lower quality, which needs to be cut before processing - from the site's south lobe EM/PK(S) area, known for its large, high-quality rough, it said Tuesday. The stone is Lucara's third over 3...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Rapaport Diamond Podcast looks at Pandora's decision to focus on lab-grown stones instead of mined goods, and whether higher-end brands could go down the synthetics route.With Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron hinting to Forbes that it wouldn't rule out using lab-grown diamonds, could man-made stones have a future at the top jewelry maisons?The team also reflects on the latest deve...Read More
RAPAPORT... In both financial and diamond industry terms, 2017 seems like an eternity ago. Bankers at the Dubai Diamond Conference in October of that year gave a stark warning to the diamond sector: The trade is over-financed, insufficiently transparent, not profitable enough, and altogether too risky. This was their unanimous observation, to the discomfort of the audience. With bank credit a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Group revenue at Chow Tai Fook rose for the full fiscal year amid an expansion of the company's mainland China operations and improved consumer sentiment.Sales jumped 24% to HKD 70.16 billion ($9.04 billion) for the 12 months ending March 31, the company said Tuesday. The increase reflects a favorable comparison with the same period in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced numerou...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports will increase 20% to more than $20 billion this fiscal year as sentiment improves in key retail markets, a credit agency has forecast.China's apparent defeat of Covid-19 and the US's vaccine rollout have lifted consumer confidence in both countries, Mumbai-based Crisil Ratings said last week. Those two markets account for around 75% of India's poli...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is reportedly raising prices of larger stones by as much as 10 per cent at its fifth sight of the year, which opened yesterday in Gabarone.The miner has been increasing prices since the end of 2020 as midstream demand rebounds, but not so dramatically.Rough diamonds over two carats are up by 10 per cent, sources have told Bloomberg News, and the prices of some smaller good...Read More