(IDEX Online) - A lab grown company in Ukraine has produced "unique" two-colored diamonds - in the blue and yellow of the country's flag. Meylor Global grew the diamonds using the High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) method, by incorporating nitrogen and boron as metal catalysts. "Precise color zoning is the result of years of research and experiments where chemicals and cyclin...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds today said it had postponed its June tender of 380,000 carats, in a further indication of a midstream slowdown.The UK-based miner reported a sharp drop in sales at its May tender - down 42 per cent on its March sale - and withdrew almost 76,000 predominantly high-value carats because of weak demand.Petra says it now plans to offer both the goods from its June t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Malabar Gold & Diamonds has won its legal case against a businessman who was trading under its brand name in Islamabad, Pakistan. Muhammad Faizan had the Malabar name and logo above his showroom. He also managed social media pages using its brand name, its brand ambassadors, and its product images.The Mumbai-based company has 317 stores the Middle East, the Far East, the U...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A huge sapphire cluster that was originally valued at a record-breaking $100m has now been dismissed as nothing more than a museum piece. The monster gemstone - weighing 310 kg (1,550,000 carats) - was found by workers digging a well in a gem trader's back garden in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka in July 2021. But officials from the country's National Gem and Jewellery Autho...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Botswana remains "confident" of reaching a new sales agreement with De Beers, despite repeated threats by President Mokgweetsi Masisi to walk away from negotiations.Government spokesperson William Sentshebeng said last week that talks were "ongoing, and we are confident that they will result in a deal that will benefit both parties".Botswana is seeking an increase its share of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gemfields say it set a record with sales totaling $43.7m from its Kagem mine, in Zambia.The UK-based colored gems miner says it sold all 35 lots offered, comprising 264,000 carats of higher quality rough, at a series of five auctions, with viewings in Bangkok and bids made online by sealed bids.The June auctions were the highest grossing since the Kagem mine opened in 2009 and narr...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An amateur diver was astonished to learn that the Rolex he bought for just $345.97 in 1974 could now sell for as much as $700,000 at auction.He fell to the ground when he was given the valuation on camera for the US edition of Antiques Roadshow.The unnamed guest said he bought the Oyster Cosmograph 6263 by mail order to use while Scuba diving, but decided instead to keep it in a sa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Indian company says it has broken its own record for the world's biggest polished lab grown diamond, at 50.25 carats.Ethereal Green says it took eight months to grow the Type IIa crystal using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). It was then cut and and polished into an emerald-cut G color, VS2 clarity gem named Shiphra. The same company announced last month that it had gr...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Polished diamond prices were down yet again during May with the prospect of a global recession still looming large. The IDEX Polished Price Index, derived in real-time from actual global industry asking prices is now down just over 22 per cent on its peak in March 2022. It's been sliding ever since then. Last month it slipped by 1.27 per cent, down slightly from...Read More
(IDEX Online) - US watch and jewelry sales fell yet again during April, by 7.1 per cent according to figures released by the US Department of Commerce. That's an improvement on the 8.8 per cent drop in March, but only a slight one. Year-on-year sales showed modest growth from May 2022, but dipped below zero in October 2022, where they have remained ever since (with the exception of an 0.8 per...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co is offering plain white bags to customers, so they can conceal their purchases.The jeweler's newly re-opened flagship store on Fifth Avenue, New York, is responding to a steep increase in street crime.Other high-end retailers in the area, such as Hermes and Louis Vuitton, are doing likewise, according to the New York Post.Tiffany is famous for its trademark ro...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Billionaire Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has presented his fiancee Lauren Sanchez with a huge diamond engagement ring, estimated at up to 30 carats and valued at up to $5m, according to US media reports.Bezos, 59, proposed to his long-term girlfriend on his $500m superyacht the Koru during a Mediterranean vacation. Divorced Sanchez, 58, is a US media personality and former TV news anchor...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lightbox, the lab grown company launched by De Beers in 2018, says its diamonds have been certified as carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust.It uses 100% renewable wind energy to produce stones at its recently-built $94m facility near Portland, Oregon, USA.And it offsetts any remaining greenhouse gas emissions it produces through carbon certified offset projects supporting the expansi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Markets remain depressed, with further widespread losses among rounds, as the prospect of possible G7 sanctions on Russian diamonds looms, combined with a lull before the Vegas storm and disappointment that China's post-lockdown bounce-back hasn't happened. Fancies fared better, as has been the case in recent months.De Beers reported a 20 per cent drop in rough sales at c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet remains by far the biggest-grossing jeweler in North America, according to National Jeweler magazine's annual State of the Majors report on $100m supersellers published yesterday.Total sales of watches and jewelry at its 2,854 outlets and online were $7.29bn during 2022 - more than double the revenue of second-placed Walmart ($3.38bn).Richemont, the Swiss luxury conglom...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds has sold half its stake in the Williamson mine, in Tanzania, for $15m.The UK-based miner said the sale to Taifa Mining, the country's largest mining contractor, would place the mine on "a stronger basis for the future".Williamson has been closed since the breach of a tailings dam last October, which released a five-mile river of gray sludge, damaging homes, farm...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sir Gabriel "Gabi" Tolkowsky, the legendary master diamond cutter and innovator, has died at the aged of 84.He will be remembered for a catalog of remarkable achievements during a career spanning seven decades.He created the Tolkowsky round brilliant diamond cut that has set the global standard for quality diamond cutting.And he headed the team that the 273.85-carat Centenary Diamo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has taken another step towards its own bricks and mortar sales of its lab grown diamonds with the opening of a short-term Lightbox "concept store" in New York.The online retailer announced last October that it was planning to open permanent, physical stores from 2024, in addition to its e-commerce offering.Lightbox's store occupies a 250sq ft space and is one of 20 re...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Hybrid diamond jewelry - a mix of natural and lab grown stones - is the new reality.That's according to the latest edition of the Tacy Diamond Pipeline, published by IDEX Online, which has provided an independent and unbiased view of the industry since 1988.Hybrid jewelry offers the best of both worlds, say authors Pranay Narvekar and Chaim Even-Zohar, bringing greater transpa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India is now importing mote diamonds from Russia than before the invasion of Ukraine and the introduction of US sanctions, according to the GJEPC (Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council). It bought $818m in 2022-23, compared to $855.83 in 2021-22, an increase of just under eight per cent.India relies heavily on Russian imports, especially of smaller stones. Banking restri...Read More