(IDEX Online) - A masked raider calmly removed a gun from his bag and fired five shots at workers in a booth selling jewelry at a swap meet in Utah, USA.He then used a hammer to smash open glass display cabinets and steal what police describe as a "large quantity" of merchandise.One employee was grazed by a bullet but did not require medical treatment, said West Valley City Police in a statement a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two Rolex Daytona watches owned by Paul Newman are expected to fetch at least $1m each when they're auctioned in June by Sotheby's New York. They're among 300 lots from his estate and that of his actress wife Joanne Woodward.Newman, best known for The Hustler, died in 2008. He was well known as a keen car racer and watch collector. The watches were f...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The tailings dam that burst at the former Jagersfontein diamond mine, in South Africa, last September, "deviates from best engineering practice," according to a study of satellite images by civil engineering academics. Based on their three-dimensional reconstruction of the failed dam, the authors estimate four to six million cubic meters of diamond mining waste were...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz has lost an appeal against a conviction in a Swiss court for bribery, over an iron ore deal in Guinea.Three judges did, however, reduce the five-year prison sentence, handed down two years ago, to three years of which he must serve 18 months, according to a Reuters report.They also upheld the $52m fine, which was imposed at the same time, but acqu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamcor announced a 60 per cent drop in carats sold during its fourth fiscal quarter, as it battled ongoing power supply issues at the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project in South Africa.Total revenue was also down, from $2,054,248 in Q3 to $1,579,728 in Q4, although the price per carat rose steeply from $246 to $477. The Canadian junior miner said it sold 3,310 carats in Q4, incl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A ruby described as "the largest and most valuable" ever to be auctioned is expected break the world record when it is sold by Sotheby's New York in June.The 55.22-carat Estrela de Fura ((Star of Fura in Portuguese), is "the world's largest gem-quality ruby in existence," and is "expected to achieve in excess of $30m," the auction house said.The highest price ever paid fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - GIA has bowed to pressure and says it will re-introduce paper certificates, at no extra cost, as of Sunday (9 April). The move to digital-only Diamond Dossiers, for stones up to 1.99-cts, provoked widespread criticism from retailers, who said some customers were refusing to buy a diamond without one. In a message to clients, GIA (Gemological Institute of America) said it "did not a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has announced the discovery of an astonishingly rare diamond-within-a-diamond.The 0.329 carat D-color Type IaAB diamond, named the Beating Heart has an internal cavity enclosing a smaller diamond that is trapped yet able to move freely.There are only two other known examples of such a Matryoshka or Russian Doll diamond.In 2019, Alrosa recovered a 0.62 carat diamond at its...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A brazen raider is believed to have struck twice in six weeks at the same jewelry store in New York. The owner said he told staff: "Hi, I'm back".Police say he grabbed a worker at Melissa Joy Manning Jewelry, in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, in the latest attack and ordered her to open the display cabinets.Owner Melissa Joy Manning says merchandise worth $200,000 was stolen in the fi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The GIA is facing criticism over the new digital-only reports it introduced in January.Dealers say retail customers still expect a paper certificate and are, in some cases, refusing to buy a diamond without one.The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) says its paperless Diamond Dossiers, for stones up to 1.99-cts, are the first step towards phasing out all printed reports with th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jaeger LeCoultre has reworked its iconic Reverso "secret watch" design into a high jewelry necklace set with 3,000 diamonds.The pink gold Art Deco piece was unveiled last week at the Watches & Wonders 2023 salon in Geneva.It has the swivelling Reverso movement that has featured in watches, bracelets, brooches, handbag clips pendants since 1931.That was the year watchmaker Jacqu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - One of Patek Philippe's rarest watches has broken the record for the highest price paid in an online auction.The Sky Moon Tourbillon, with a blue handmade enamel dial and white gold hand-carved case, sold for $5.8m at Christie's Hong Kong.It is one of the most sophisticated timepieces ever created, with functions that include a cathedral minute repeating, tourbillon, perp...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Edward Asscher, outgoing president of the World Diamond Council, defended the Kimberley Process and addressed the "white elephant" of Russian sanctions at the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) Congress in Israel."Today, through the KP and the work that we all do, I am convinced that 99.9 percent of all diamonds in the global marketplace are conflict free," he said."Is the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Watch and jewelry sales in the US were down for a fifth consecutive month in February, amid ongoing fears of a recession and financial crisis. They fell 3.0 per cent year-on-year, according to the US Department of Commerce. In January sales dropped by just 0.3 per cent, a figure that was originally reported as 2.1 per cent but which has now been revised up based on actual rather th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Polished diamond prices tumbled 17.3 per cent year-on-year in March. Such a dramatic fall shows how dependent the market has become on world events. This kind of volatility was unknown in the days when De Beers cornered the market and insulated prices.It controlled 90 per cent of the diamond market in the late 1980s and fluctuations were mostly limited to single digits. Then Russia...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has reportedly splashed out $2.5m on a diamond engagement ring for his fifth wife.Murdoch, 92, (pictured) is to marry Ann Lesley Smith, 66, this summer, after divorcing wife number four, supermodel Jerry Hall, last July.Widow Ms Smith was seen wearing the 11-carat Asscher-cut gem at Los Angeles Airport last week The couple first met in September2022."It...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany fooled its followers on social media with a pair of diamond-encrusted sneakers, each set with 17,000 carats, with a total weight of 1,837 carats (a reference to the year the company was founded).The prank provoked a mixed reaction, with many immediately spotting it was an April Fool. But one or two were taken in. One posted "Absolutely obscene", presumably reckoning it was...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Botswana's mining union has issued a stark warning over the government's purchase of a 24 per cent stake in the Belgian manufacturer HB Antwerp announced last week."We should be wary to jump on a partnership with a company that is hardly two years old with no proven track record, and in the process mortgage the economy of Botswana because we were blinded by over-promises...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A pair of pear-shaped fancy pink pendant diamond earrings, weighing 11.17 carats and 10.85 carats, are to be sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong.The estimate is $5.48m to $7.01m. Both diamonds are GIA-certified as Fancy Pink, Natural Color, VVS1 Clarity.The pink diamonds are set in platinum and yellow gold suspended from a pear, marquise-shaped and brilliant-cut diamond surmount weigh...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rounds prices held up better than in recent months, and demand for fancies drove up prices, especially among 0.30-cts to 0.79-cts goods. China is post-Covid, the US is emerging from the depths of its inflationary woes and consumer confidence is actually on the rise. Things aren't great, but the industry appears to be getting used to another "new normal".It's now over...Read More