RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds has recovered a blue diamond weighing 39.34 carats at its Cullinan mine in South Africa, noting the stone's "exceptional quality in terms of both its color and clarity."The company will likely offer the type IIb diamond via a special tender, it said Thursday.The discovery follows Petra's sale of five blue diamonds to De Beers and Diacore for $40.4 million last year....Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong-based retail sales of jewelry and other hard luxury soared in February, but the government remained cautious considering the continued impact of the pandemic."The retail trade will continue to face a difficult business environment in the near term as inbound tourism remains frozen," a government spokesperson said last week. "It is thus pivotal to put the epidemic under c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra has recovered a huge Type IIb blue diamond from its Cullinan mine, in south Africa.The 39.34 carat gem (pictured) is significantly larger than any of the five that formed the Letlapa Tala Collection, from the same deposit, which fetched $40.36m last November.They ranged from 27.75-cts to 9.61-cts and were bought jointly by De Beers and the South African wholesaler and manufac...Read More
Year-on-year diamond prices for March were up 3.9 per cent, the biggest increase for over two years. They have been climbing constantly since the low point of April 2020 when they were 4.8 per cent down. The March increase was more than double the February rise of 1.9 per cent.Month-on-month prices recovered slightly, up by 0.2 per cent in March, after a slight drop in February. It follows January...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co fooled some of its Instagram followers when it revealed it was introducing a bright shade of yellow as its new house color, to replace the iconic robin-egg blue.The 1 April post, simply showing a yellow box (pictured) and the message "tiffanyandco Introducing our new House color. #TiffanyYellow #TiffanyAndCo", attracted over 420,000 likes. It was, of course,...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) has reelected Ann Arnold to serve a second term as chairman of its board of directors. Arnold, the chief strategy officer for Buyers Intelligence Group (BIG), was first appointed to the board last year, the organization said last week. She has volunteered with the JBT for nearly 13 years.In addition to Arnold, several other officers and directors were...Read More
Diamond market quiet during Passover, Easter and India's Holi festival. Dealers expecting stable 2Q trading. Some concern that rising inventory levels may impact prices during slower season. More polished becoming available due to increase in manufacturing since beginning of the year, as evidenced by GIA backlog. Rough demand expected to drop after robust 1Q buying. 1 ct. RAPI +1.5% in March. Inde...Read More
RAPAPORT... An advertising watchdog has urged Diamond Foundry to amend its marketing, claiming that some of its language could mislead consumers about the origins of its lab-grown stones.The San Francisco-based synthetics producer should stop using potentially confusing terms, disclose more prominently the man-made provenance of its diamonds, and change some of the claims it makes on social m...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has pushed back its April contract sale by a week to support the diamond industry's inventory balance, it said.The next trading session will begin on April 19 instead of April 12, the Russian miner announced Wednesday."We are glad to see the continuing recovery of the industry, with our clients expressing sustainable interest in purchasing our goods," said Alrosa deputy CEO...Read More
(IDEX Online) - One of the world's rarest and most sought-after watches, a Patek Philippe Reference 2523 with Eurasian Dial, is to be auctioned. It is valued at over $3.7m.The newly-discovered timepiece (pictured) is being offered for sale by Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo, at the Geneva Watch Auction: XIII on 8-9 May. It was recently discovered in an important European collec...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Lulo mine, in Angola, has yielded three more stones over 100 carats, bringing the total since it opened in five years ago to 22.Lucapa Diamond Company says it recovered a 131-carat is a Type IIa D-color diamond, a 118-carat brown diamond and a lower quality 133-carat grey diamond.All three were found at the highly prolific Mining Block 46 of its alluvial mine downstream of the...Read More
IDEX Online) - The more dominant movement was upwards for both rounds and fancies in March. There was little activity among fancies, but smaller goods reversed many of the losses suffered in February.RoundsThere was mixed activity in goods of most sizes during March, with little movement among smaller stones, notably 0.18-0.29 cts and 0.50-0.69 cts. One carats (1.00-1.24 cts) saw a smattering...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa is delaying its April trading session by a week to avoid excess stock accumulation.The Russian state-owned miner sold $372m of rough and polished in February, a modest seven per cent increase on last year.By contrast De Beers, its biggest rival, saw comparative sales rise more than 50 per cent.Earlier this month Alrosa announced a second extension to its existing three-year...Read More
RAPAPORT... Security guards at a Petra Diamonds mine in Tanzania swapped rubber projectiles with metal in their weapons, resulting in increased injury and death to local residents, according to new allegations by a nonprofit organization.The information contradicts Petra's claims that guards at the Williamson deposit were authorized to use only rubber bullets, UK-based Rights and Accountabili...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has become a member of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), the organizations announced this week. The move highlights the converging interests of the watch, jewelry and gemstone industries, and emphasizes the need to work together to protect consumer confidence, said CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri.The federation represents appro...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond Foundry says it will no longer describe its lab-gown diamonds simply as "real" on social media, without providing a fuller explanation for consumers. The US-based company, which boasts actor Leonardo di Caprio among its high-profile investors, has agreed to comply with new recommendations made by the National Advertising Division (NAD) watchdog.Brand messages for the c...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's will sell a 55.19-carat Kashmir sapphire at its Geneva sale -the largest gem of its kind ever to appear at auction.The oval-cut stone, set in a brooch with a cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire weighing 25.97 carats, surrounded by circular-cut and baguette diamonds, is from the 1930s, Sotheby's said Monday. Previously in the collection of Maureen Constance Guinness, marchioness o...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields recorded a loss in 2020 as it was forced to cancel the bulk of its regular auctions for the year due to coronavirus restrictions.The miner reported a net loss of $93.2 million for the year, compared with a profit of $39.1 million in 2019, it estimated in a trading update last week. The company was unable to hold any of its traditional gem auctions since February. "[The] 2020...Read More
RAPAPORT... A purple-pink diamond weighing nearly 16 carats will take center stage at the Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in Hong Kong, the largest of its kind ever to be offered at an auction.The 15.81-carat, fancy-vivid-purple-pink, internally flawless, type IIa stone, known as the Sakura Diamond, is set in a ring and bracketed by white diamonds. The piece is expected to sell for $25 million...Read More
RAPAPORT... HRD Antwerp has unveiled a report identifying the natural origin of uncut diamonds used to create polki jewelry.The Authenticity Jewellery Report will verify traditional Indian polki jewelry, which has become more popular in international markets, the Antwerp lab said last week. HRD already has a report that covers polished diamonds, but polki jewelry contains mounted, uncut stones, wh...Read More