(IDEX Online) - Has Rihanna started a new trend, with a $700,000 Jacob & Co diamond watch on a neck choker?It certainly provoked a reaction at the Louis Vuitton Fashion Show, in Paris, even if it ignored one very basic requirement for wearing a timepiece.The Barbadian singer, 35, was involved in the design, adapting the Brilliant Flying Tourbillon watch to be worn on a black calfskin choker, s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Russia's finance ministry is to launch an online platform for jewelry sales as it aims to increase exports to Asia and beyond.It's designed to open up new markets for manufacturers, minimize their administrative costs and reduce the number of fakes, according to a report in the Russian newspaper Izvestia.Russia and fellow members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) - Be...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Crypto boss Richard Heart has been accused of defrauding investors to buy The Enigma, the world's largest black natural color diamond - a 555.55-ct carbonado - for $4.3m.The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in Washington, USA, yesterday (31 August) charged Richard Heart (aka Richard Schueler) and his crypto companies Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX, with conducting un...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Yet another month of decline for rounds during July, and of mixed fortunes for fancies. Rounds saw wholesale losses in some sizes in most sizes above 0.80-cts, more so than in previous months.India's polished exports slipped by almost a third in June, and half of all diamond workers there are reportedly on reduced wages. Manufacturers are switching to lower-priced fancies, or...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Firestone reported Q4 revenue of $12.6m from its Liqhobong mine, in Lesotho, down almost 40 per cent on the previous quarter. Operations as the mine resumed in October 2022 after a two-and-a-half year closure, so there is no comparable Q4 figure for last year. The London-based miner said in its quarterly update that it sold 125,556 carats in Q4, down 35 per cent on Q3, and that it...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The owner of a jewelry store in Minnesota, USA, has been jailed for six months after he admitted dodging $147,000 in tax by submitting a false return.Bernard James Benavidez, 62, owner of Master Jewelers, in Rochester, has been sentenced after he pleaded guilty in February to one count of making and subscribing a false tax return.He regularly and intentionally diverted signifi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co is planning to remodel all its 300-plus stores, following the $500m revamp of its flagship, The Landmark, on Fifth Avenue, New York."At the end of the day, what we want is within three, four years max to have redone most of the network of stores at Tiffany," said Jean-Jacques Guiony, chief financial officer of parent company LVMH."That's a significant capital...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Chaumet, the French luxury jeweler, will design the winners' medals for the Paris Olympics next year.It's part of a $166m premium partner sponsorship package announced last week by its parent company, LVMH.Chaumet, the fine jeweler and watchmaker founded in 1780, will design medals for the summer Olympic and Paralympic games at its workshop on the iconic Place Vendome.Moe...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A jewlery store worker has been arrested and accused of stealing goods valued at $125,000 from customers.Laura Bee, aged 59, is alleged to have replaced some mined diamonds with lab growns, at Ever Love Jewelers, in Huntington, New York."She took my engagement ring," one accuser told the News12 channel. "She was resetting it. She took the stone out, gave me a lab diamond back."Dete...Read More
(IDEX Online) - John Lewis, the high-end chain of British department stores, is to boycott rubies, sapphires and other gemstones from Burma, in protest at the military junta's civil war against its people."We remain extremely concerned to learn of developments around the conflicts that have taken place, and that continues to take place in recent years in Burma/Myanmar," the company said in a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - LVMH reported an 11 per cent rise in jewelry and watch revenue to $6bn in the first half of this year, part of an "outstanding" set of results across all sectors.The French luxury conglomerate said there had been "impressive growth" in high jewelry, in particular at its Tiffany, Bulgari, and TAG Heuer maisons.LVMH recorded a total H1 revenue of $47bn in the first half of 2023, an i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The US jewelry sector shrank again in Q2 of this year, with the overall loss of 462 retailers and more than 100 wholesalers and manufacturers. That's lower than the last two quarters, according to statistics and trend data published earlier this week by the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT), which provides commercial credit information.In Q1 of this year, total listings dropp...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A gold, ruby and diamond ring that belonged to US rapper Tupac Shakur sold for $1.02m - more than three times its high estimate - at Sotheby's New York.It is now reported to be the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold at auction.Shakur wore the ring at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 1996.Three days later he was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 7.105-carat pigeon blood ruby and diamond ring sold for $3.26m - almost 12 times its high estimate - at auction in Monaco.The Burmese gemstone was set by Paris jeweler Guillemin & Soulaine in an 18k yellow gold bague marguerite (daisy ring), surrounded by 10 old-cut diamonds, each weighing between 0.4 carats and 0.5 carats The ruby was described by SSEF (Swiss Gemmologic...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today announced a further steep drop in rough sales, down almost 36 per cent year-on-year for cycle 6 to $410m, amid ongoing midstream caution.It's the lowest figure for any De Beers cycle since May 2021, when it recorded sales of $380m. Prices of stones over 2-cts were reportedly reduced by as much as 20 per cent at the sight in Gaborone earlier this month.De Be...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Swiss watch exports enjoyed another surge during June, buoyed in part by a 46 per cent increase in sales to Hong Kong, its third biggest market. Overall foreign sales for the month were up by 14 per cent year-on-year, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry to $2.81bn (CHF2.44bn). That's an increase of almost 10 per cent on exports in May, when C...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A Brinks security guard was sleeping in the front of his truck as raiders broke a padlock and stole million of dollars worth of jewelry, according to newly-obtained bodycam footage.The vehicle was on its way from the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, to an event at the Pasadena Convention Center, northeast of Los Angeles. Guards who had...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Bonhams says its jewelry sales during the first half of this year were up 40 per cent on the same period in 2022.The UK-based auctioneer announced a 32 per cent increase in global sales across all departments to a record $550m for the six-month period. It did not provide a breakdown for all jewelry sales.Bonhams held 40 dedicated jewelry sales (12 live, 28 online) across its global...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today announced the delivery of first production from the new underground operation at its Venetia mine, in South Africa.The $2.2bn underground expansion began in 2012, is expected to extend the life of the mine to the mid-2040s and is expected to produce an average of 4.5m carats a year.De Beers describes it as "the biggest single investment in the country's diamond...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's gem and jewelry exports could fall by as much as 15 per cent this year as demand from key markets remains slow."We expect that overall we should see a 10 to 15 per cent decline in the gems and jewellery exports," Vipul Shah (pictured), chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) told reporters last week."For gems and jewellery, the major contrib...Read More