RAPAPORT... Debswana, De Beers' 50:50 mining joint venture with the Botswana government, has appointed Andrew Maatla Motsomi as managing director on a five-year contract.Motsomi will join Debswana on June 1 from the Bank of Botswana, where he has held several senior positions, most recently as deputy governor, De Beers announced Friday. He will succeed Lynette Armstrong, who had been acting i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet says it's braced for more weddings this year than any time in the last 40 years, as couples finally exchange their vows after the Covid pandemic.Gina Drosos (pictured), CEO of the world's largest diamond jewelry retailer, said there would be 2.5m nuptials in 2022, compared with the usual 1.8m to 2.2m."We know the average time between when people meet and when they...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields recorded its highest auction revenue for emeralds from its Kagem mine in Zambia since it started selling in 2009.The company saw revenue of $43.3 million from a series of five mini-auctions between May 9 and 26, with all lots finding buyers, it said last week. The sales took place in Thailand, a first for Gemfields. The miner sold 278,000 carats of emeralds at an average pric...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The manager of a diamond factory in Surat is reported to have killed himself after he was allegedly tortured while in police custody. Local media say Mukesh Sojitra had been accused of stealing diamonds from a company named as Parin Diamonds, where he worked. He had denied the claim. The dead man's brother said Sojitra was severely beaten by police officers...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's will offer two diamonds weighing more than 100 carats at its upcoming jewelry sale, with one expected to fetch in excess of $10 million.The Juno diamond, a pear-shaped, 101.41-carat, D-color, internally flawless, type IIa stone, will lead the June 16 New York Magnificent Jewels sale, the auction house said last week. Only 11 D-color diamonds over 100 carats have ever bee...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's will offer two diamonds weighing more than 100 carats at its upcoming jewelry sale, with one expected to fetch in excess of $10 million.The Juno diamond, a pear-shaped, 101.41-carat, D-color, internally flawless, type IIa stone, will lead the June 16 New York Magnificent Jewels sale, the auction house said last week. Only 11 D-color diamonds over 100 carats have ever bee...Read More
RAPAPORT... A rare necklace by French jeweler Boivin garnered more than 13 times its high estimate following a fevered bidding war at a recent Fellows auction.The piece, which featured two rows of turquoise beads suspended from a line of rock-crystal beads, fetched GBP 40,832 ($51,574) at the May 26 jewelry sale in Birmingham, UK, blowing away its upper estimate of GBP 3,000 ($3,789). The result c...Read More
RAPAPORT... An Art Deco Cartier bracelet set with 101 carats of Colombian emeralds sold for nearly three times its presale estimate at the New York Jewels Sale at Bonhams, garnering $3.2 million.The piece, designed in 1926, came from the collection of American heiress H?(C)l??ne Irwin Crocker Fagan, daughter of sugar baron William Irwin, Bonhams said Wednesday. It was originally expected to fetch...Read More
News: Polished trading sluggish but suppliers to large jewelry retail brands doing well. Expectations rising for June 8-13 Las Vegas shows with dealers relying on US market to stimulate growth. Chinese buyers cautious amid slow retail sales. High inflation, Russia supply constraints and Chinese Covid-19 restrictions fueling uncertainty. Melee hot as lack of Alrosa supply creating shortages. India...Read More
RAPAPORT... Macy's reported strong sales of luxury products and raised its profit forecast as the US retail sector weathered the challenges facing the market.Revenue rose 14% year on year to $5.35 billion in the first fiscal quarter, which ended April 30, the department-store chain said Thursday. Comparable-store sales - at branches open for a least a year - rose 13% at Macy's-owned shops and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry retailers in the US are insisting on declarations from manufacturers in India that they will not use rough stones from Russia."A number of units have received mails from the US buyers. They are worried over the matter," Dinesh Navadiya, regional chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Gujarat, told India's Economic Times.An estimated 250,000 dia...Read More
RAPAPORT... A jadeite necklace was the top seller at the most recent Christie's sale in Hong Kong, achieving nearly $9 million.The piece features 33 jadeite beads and a clasp set with an 11-carat Burmese ruby surrounded by oval-cut diamonds. It fetched $8.8 million, within its estimate, following spirited competition at Wednesday's Magnificent Jewels auction, the company said. In total, the sale b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A robber convicted of an $800,000 raid on a US jewelry store has been jailed for 10 years, and ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution.Kenneth Jones, 41, stole an estimated 700 pieces of vintage and designer jewelry, valued at $800,000, from Pretty in Patina, in Omaha, Nebraska, in February 2018.Fingerprints found on a garbage bag he left behind at the scene led detectives to his la...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two diamonds over 100-carats lead a Sotheby's New York auction next month - a 101.41-carat Type IIa pear-shaped D-color IF stone, which is expected to sell for over $10m.And a 111.59-carat pear-shaped fancy deep orange-brown diamond, on the market for the first time in nearly 40 years, with an estimate of $1.5m to $2.5m.Sotheby's says it is "pleased to present not one, bu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Indian company has produced what's being hailed as the world's biggest polished lab grown diamond.The marquise step cut 27.27-carat diamond (pictured) was made by Greenlab, in Surat, and certified by the IGI.It is significantly larger than the previous record holder, a 16.41-carat princess-cut diamond (G/VVS2) produced by Shanghai Zhengshi Technology, in China.The new...Read More
RAPAPORT... US polished-diamond imports rose 41% to $6.34 billion in the first three months of the year, according to recent data from the US Department of Commerce. The figure did not yet reflect the impact of the Ukraine war, which led to Western restrictions on imports of Russian goods.The US prohibited the import of Russian-origin diamonds during March and placed further restrictions on t...Read More
RAPAPORT... The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has graded a 27.27-carat lab-grown stone that it claims is the world's largest polished synthetic diamond.Indian lab-grown company Greenlab created the marquise step-cut diamond, named Om, IGI said Wednesday. The stone, which has no color enhancement, was grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD).Along with Om, the IGI graded two addition...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Wealthy investors in Qatar are rushing to put their money into rare and extremely valuable fancy color diamonds. The minimum investment is $1m.The Amma Group, jointly founded in 2008 by jewelry veterans Mahyar Makhzani and Philip Baldwin (pictured), says it is the only fund specializing in color diamond investment.It is seeking $100m of investment for its fifth fund, Colour Fund V,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Belgian tech firm iTraceiT says it has completed the pilot phase of its new traceability solution and is now rolling it out to customers.The company says its combination of QR-code and blockchain technology can handle all sizes of diamonds, even melee (under 0.2-cts) - unlike other solutions.It also claims to offer a "genuine industry-wide solution" because it's an indep...Read More
RAPAPORT... A 17.62-carat diamond ring is set to go up for auction at an upcoming Phillips jewelry sale, where it is expected to fetch up to $1.3 million.The emerald-cut, D-color, VVS1-clarity, type IIa diamond is the star of the June 2 New York Jewels sale, Phillips said last week. The stone is one of a number of special diamonds to be featured.The auction house will also sell an old European bri...Read More