(IDEX Online) - A flamboyant pastor and his wife were robbed at gunpoint of $1m of jewelry as he delivered his Sunday sermon at a New York church.Police are investigating a complaint by Lamor Miller-Whitehead, who goes by the title bishop, at the Leaders of Tomorrow church, in Brooklyn.He says a raider brandishing a gun took off his bishop's ring and chain, his wedding ring, an chains he...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamond merchant Jatin Mehta, wanted in India over sophisticated $1bn fraud, has found living an "expensive lifestyle" in Britain and has had his assets frozen by a court there.He is alleged to have been behind a scam to defraud a gold bullion and jewelry manufacturer and a diamond company in India, using a complex web of companies in the UAE, Britain, Singapore and I...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara has announced the death of its founder and former chairman Lukas Lundin at the age of 64, after a two-year battle with brain cancer.He was the driving force behind the Canada-based Lundin Group of Companies, which employs 15,000 people globally in energy and mining.And in 2007 he established Lucara, the diamond mining company that owns the Karowe mine in Botswana. It is know...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers' revenue rose by almost a quarter in the first half of 2022, but the miner gave a more somber outlook for the rest of the year as polished demand has slowed. "We can only have strong rough sales if that's also coupled by what's going on on the polished side," De Beers chief financial officer Sarah Kuijlaars told Rapaport News on Thursday. "The polished position was very s...Read More
News: Trading centers quiet with Belgium shutting for August summer break. Polished prices declining as demand drops and inventory rises. US dealers resilient despite economic caution. Consumer confidence down in July amid inflation concerns and higher interest rates, Conference Board says. Fed raises rates 0.75%. Rough premiums cool after strong 1H. Cutters maintain low polished production. De Be...Read More
RAPAPORT... Kering reported strong jewelry sales during the first half of 2022, led by a recovery in North America and Europe.The group's Boucheron and Pomellato jewelry houses delivered "very solid performances," outweighing weaker results from Qeelin, which was affected by the health situation in China in the second quarter, Kering reported Wednesday.Sales at Kering's "other houses" segment - wh...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has begun accepting submissions for a new service providing consumers with source verification for diamonds.Leading manufacturers sent the first polished diamonds to the GIA's Source Verification Service in early July, the institute said Wednesday. GIA-graded diamonds with confirmed origin information will be available to consumers when the in...Read More
IDEX Online) - A huge pink diamond weighing 170 carats has been recovered at the Lulo mine, in Angola.Australia-based miner Lucapa describes it as "an historic recovery" and says it is believed to be the largest pink diamond found in the last 300 years.The stone, named The Lulo Rose, will be sold at international tender by Sodiam E.P, the Angolan state diamond marketing company.Tobias Kormind, man...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered one of the largest pink diamonds in history: a 170-carat stone from the Lulo mine in Angola.The type IIa rough, named the Lulo Rose, is "believed to be the largest pink diamond recovered in the last 300 years," Lucapa said Wednesday. It is also the fifth-largest diamond from Lulo, and the deposit's 27th over 100 carats since commercial producti...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers brought in $630 million at its latest sales cycle as the miner benefited from solid demand for its rough amid shortages of Russian goods.Proceeds from the July sight and auctions were 23% higher than for the equivalent period a year ago, the miner reported Monday. Sales were down 4% compared with the previous cycle in June, which grossed $657 million."Following a period o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today said it sold $630m (provisional) of rough during Cycle 6, a year-on-year increase of almost 23 per cent as demand remained "robust".The figure is a light drop on Cycle 5's $657m (up a third year-on-year). Rough sales during Cycle 4 were $604m.Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: "Following a period of consistently robust demand in the first half, we continu...Read More
RAPAPORT... LVMH saw revenue from jewelry and watches jump 22% in the first half of 2022, boosted by an "excellent" performance in the US from Tiffany & Co.Revenues in the category grew to EUR 4.91 billion ($5 billion) in the six months ending June 30, LVMH reported Tuesday. Profit for the division rose 26% to EUR 987 million ($1.01 billion).The debut of Tiffany's new Knot collection saw susta...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two suspects have been arrested after an armed robbery in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, that left a jewelry store worker in a critical condition with a gunshot wound.Matthew David Jones, 22, and Helen Ann Simmons, 18, were caught two days later at Huntington Beach, California, 400 miles away, following an hour-long car chase that was caught on camera.One suspect allegedly pointed a gun at...Read More
(IDEX Online) - GIA is to open a lab in Dubai for the first time, it was announced today.It is scheduled to open in mid-2023, offering its services to over 1,150 diamond companies at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).News follows an announcement in February that Dubai had overtaken Antwerp as the top trading hub globally for rough diamonds - over $22.8bn in 2021.The move "reflects Dubai�...Read More
RAPAPORT... Johanna Levy has joined the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as its first vice president of environmental, social and governance (ESG) programs.Levy will spearhead the GIA's sustainability policy and practices. The aim is to advance its consumer-protection mission of moving itself and the industry closer to a more sustainable future, it said in a LinkedIn post last week.Before jo...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rapaport's Avi Krawitz chats with Wesley Tucker, head of digital transformation and Tracr at De Beers, about the industry's drive to develop diamond tracking programs. In this episode of the Rapaport Diamond Podcast, Tucker outlines the progress Tracr has made as De Beers works toward putting all of its production on the platform. The two discuss how the miner can enable more sigh...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has appointed Ivette Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos as vice president of Code of Origin and trade services for North America.In her new role, Nersesyan-Stephanopoulos will be responsible for promoting and growing De Beers' trust-mark program, which enables retail jewelers to sell the miner's diamonds and tap into its branding. She will also endorse the company's trade services to th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone is offering a $7.2m reward for the return of jewelry stolen in Britain's highest-value house burglary.Three Italian nationals were jailed last November after they made off with valuables worth over $31m (at today's exchange rate) from her 57-room mansion in Kensington Palace, London, while she and here family were on holiday in 2019.B...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's may have to pay a consignor $4 million after the auction house allegedly released 45 vivid-yellow diamonds to another entity.On July 14, an appellate court ruled on a claim brought against Sotheby's by M&L Financial. The ruling assumes that the facts contained in M&L's allegations are true.According to the filing, M&L claimed that Jona Rechnitz, the owner of Jadel...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora plans to set up an office in New York that will enable it to expand and manage its US business.The Danish jeweler will open a temporary hub in Manhattan this September, followed by a permanent space in the summer of 2023, it said last week. The location will house approximately 150 corporate employees."New York is the largest commercial market in the US and one of the largest c...Read More