(IDEX Online) - As many as one in 10 luxury watches are fakes, says Arjen van de Vall, CEO of Watchfinder, the UK's largest seller of second-hand timepieces.He says it's getting harder and harder, even for his experts, to tell the difference."We have a check list when our watchmakers see a watch. In the old days, around 20 per cent of watches would require further inspection to und...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The government of Namibia could seek an increased share in its sales agreement with De Beers, after the mining giant agreed a phased move to a 50/50 split with Botswana.Namdia, the state-owned diamond company currently receives 15 per cent of the diamonds produced by Namdeb, the 50/50 joint venture between the government and De Beers.The 10-year agreement expires in May 2026. Namib...Read More
(IDEX Online) - New technology will calculate the carbon footprint of each individual natural diamond, from mine to polisher, and certify that figure on a blockchain.CarbonVero will provide an exact measure of the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption of any stone over 0.25 carats that can be passed to the end consumer.The groundbreaking new system is a collaboration between diamond tech...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Vladimir Malakhov, editor-in-chief of the Rough & Polished website, has died aged 76 after battling cancer.He soldiered on to until the end, posting diamond news stories on a platform that appeared in Russian, English, Chinese and Portuguese.The website went offline shortly after his death, on 17 June."I had a special relationship with Vladimir, and he was one of my close confi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - US watch and jewelry sales picked up a little during May. They were still down year-on-year - but showed some improvement on April, which was in turn better than March, which suffered the biggest fall since the pandemic.Sales during May were down 4.8 per cent on the same month last year, compared with a year-on-year drop of 7.2 per cent in April (revised from last month's 7.1...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Polished diamond prices were down yet again during June, as the Index suffered its biggest monthly loss - 3.04 per cent - since the current decline began last March.That's significantly worse than last month, when the Index fell by 1.27 per cent. It was down 1.47 per cent in April and 0.98 per cent in March. The slide during June was marked by a steep decline in the middle of...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds has recovered its second +100-ct diamond of the year at its Letseng mine, in Lesotho.The UK-based miner described it as "an impressive 163.91-carat yellow diamond".But it will be hoping for more. Recoveries of large diamonds last year were below average - four +100-cts compared with an average since 2008 of eight per year.So far it has recovered two this year. In March...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Thousand of tonnes of diamonds are literally raining down on Saturn and Jupiter, say scientists.They believe frequent lightning strikes turn methane around the two planets into soot - carbon - which hardens as it falls and eventually becomes diamonds.Researchers Dr Kevin Baines, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Mona Delitsky, fro...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A "unique" 29.52-carat pink diamond, recovered from the banks of the middle Orange River, in South Africa, has sold on tender for $8m. The Johannesburg-based Pioneer Diamond Tender House says it's the highest price paid for any stone they've sold. The Type II rough diamond, named Protea Pink, after South Africa's national flower, sold for $271,307 per c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Firefighters in New York tackled an electrical blaze at Tiffany & Co's new $500m flagship store, on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan.Fourteen fire appliances and 80 firefighters were involved at the height of the blaze, according to the New York City Fire Department.The fire broke out on Thursday morning (29 June) before the store had opened to customers in a basement utility vault...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Botswana government is to see its share of De Beers diamonds double from 25 per cent to 50 per cent over the next 10 years, after both sides reached a last-minute agreement on Friday (30 June).Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi had repeatedly threatened to walk away from the deal unless De Beers agree to more favorable terms - reportedly the 50 per cent figure.In a pre...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Round prices maintained their long-term decline during June, but fancies fared significantly better, with price rises dominating in some sizes. Prices overall have been falling since hitting their peak last February. Rounds are being badly hit by the global recession and an increasing price differential between lab growns and mined diamonds. Lab growns are becoming an increasi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The deadline is now only hours away for De Beers and the Botswana government to renew the long-standing deal that now covers the sale of 25m carats a year.The government's minerals and energy minister Lefoko Moagi told reporters yesterday (Thursday 29 June) that no agreement had yet been reached, but that both sides were working around the clock towards today's deadline."...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A diamond and pearl necklace and earrings owned by the late Princess Diana were withdrawn from auction in New York, after they were sold to a "prominent museum". The Swan Lake Suite - named after a London ballet performance she attended while wearing them in June 1997 - was due to be sold with a $5m to $15m estimate on Tuesday (27 June). But auctioneer Guernsey&#...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds says it expects production to fall this year, as it closes the loss-making Koffiefontein mine, in South Africa, and works towards re-opening the Williamson mine, in Tanzania, after the breach of a tailings dam.The UK-based miner is forecasting a total output of 2.75Mcts to 2.85Mcts for 2023, down from 3.35Mcts in 2022.But it forecasts an increase in 2024 to 3.00cts t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A "once in a lifetime" 29.52-carat pink diamond, recovered from the banks of the middle Orange River, in South Africa, is being sold tomorrow (30 June).The Type II rough diamond, said to have an "unusual depth of color and exceptional clarity" and has been named Protea Pink, after South Africa's national flower.It is believed to have originated in the Lesotho kimberlites 90m y...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mexican rapper Peso Pluma is wearing his diamonds on his teeth.The 24-year-old, who shot to fame with his first single on TikTok last February, has spent $50,000 on custom-made grills made of 10-karat gold and encrusted with 200 diamonds and six red hearts.The removable accessories were designed by celebrity jeweler Braggao, who posted pictures on his Instagram account. He did not...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The US yesterday (Tuesday 27 June) announced new sanctions on gold and diamond companies which, it says, fund Russia's Wagner Group of mercenaries.The Wagner Group, which has been fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, was behind the failed mutiny against President Vladimir Putin over the weekend.The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OF...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Malabar, the Indian jewelry retailer with over 300 outlets, has opened its first European store, in London.The company, founded in 1993, has expanded to the Middle East, the Far East, and the United States. It now has an annual revenue of $5.2bn and is the world's sixth-largest jewelry retailer.The company's chairman M.P Ahammed, said: "We are one step closer to our...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive Indian diamond merchant Jatin Mehta and his family are allowed to spend over $30,000 a week on living expenses, despite a worldwide freezing order (WFO) on their $932m assets.Details of the spending limits set by the British court are revealed in an investigation by the Indian news and economy website Moneycontrol. It says a court order in March of this year, allows J...Read More