(IDEX Online) - Jewelry salespeople in the US are being urged to take extra care, after one was stabbed and two others were targeted by criminals within a week.The Jewelers' Security Alliance (JSA) says it's important to check nobody's following your vehicle, and to take "evasive driving techniques" if necessary.A traveling salesperson was stabbed twice after four males smashe...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mountain Province's sales and earnings jumped in the first quarter as the Canadian miner benefited from growth in rough prices.Revenue rose 56% year on year to CAD 84.7 million ($65.7 million) for the three months, the company reported last week. Net profit more than tripled to CAD 24.3 million ($18.9 million) from CAD 7.3 million ($5.7 million) a year earlier. The average selling...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two men involved in a $1m-plus series of organized jewelry raids across California, USA, have been jailed for 16 months.They broke into JCPenney and Sam's Club stores (retail warehouse clubs owned by Walmart) in nine counties throughout the state between September 2020 and February 2021Defendants Anton Salaam and Marion Paul Tilley both pleaded guilty to a violation of organiz...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A tiara with over 100 carats of diamonds that belonged to one of Britain's most extravagant aristocrats is being offered for sale.Henry Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey (1875 - 1905) squandered an inheritance from his father worth $75m in today's money, including family estates in Staffordshire, Dorset, Anglesey and Derbyshire.He blew the lot in five years, on outrageous c...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora saw record revenue in the first quarter amid strong Valentine's Day sales and the reacquisition of franchised stores.Revenue rose 21% year on year on an organic basis - a similar metric to comparable-store sales - for a total of DKK 5.7 billion ($804.3 million) in the period that ended March 31, the Danish jeweler said Wednesday. Sales for the Valentine's Day holiday increased...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Indian diamond industry is mourning the death of Sanjay Shah, a partner at manufacturer KBS Group and a former official for the country's Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). Shah was a convener of the GJEPC's diamond panel committee, which handles matters related to the diamond trade, the council said in a LinkedIn post this week. He was also an active mem...Read More
News: Diamond market split. Suppliers to large US jewelers doing well but dealer trading cautious following recent price declines. 1 ct. RAPI -3.2% in April. Cutters and dealers with US clients separating Russian supply to meet American obligations. China slow. Rough demand weaker despite removal of Russian goods from market. Alrosa postpones sales and will sell to Russia's Gokhran to raise liqui...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rough prices tumbled at Petra Diamonds' latest tender as geopolitical challenges dented the market.The April sale realized $86.1 million, down from $140.6 million in March, the miner reported Tuesday. Like-for-like prices dropped 24%, but were 3.2% higher than in December. The average price fell 29% month on month to $135 per carat, according to Rapaport calculations, reflecting a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Star Diamond Corporation's Canadian mining project contains a "significant" proportion of high-value, type IIa rough, according to a study the company performed.The Star-Orion South site in Saskatchewan, which the company owns in partnership with Rio Tinto, holds an "unusually high" number of these stones in multiple units within the mining area, Star Diamond said Monday. In one portio...Read More
RAPAPORT... With the Russia crisis constantly evolving and the US government piling sanctions on Alrosa, the Rapaport editorial team outlines how the industry is adjusting to these new challenges. In this episode of the Rapaport Diamond Podcast, Senior Analyst Avi Krawitz, Editor in Chief Sonia Esther Soltani, and News Editor Joshua Freedman discuss a wide range of topics beyond Russia, inclu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry and watch sales in the US slowed suddenly in March. They were still growing, but at just 8.5 per cent year-on-year, compared with 28.4 per cent in February. Growth in March was the slowest we've seen since January 2020, during the very early days of the pandemic. Year-on-year growth peaked last April - up by an unprecedented 218 per cent - indicating strong...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's New York is to auction a 103.49-ct diamond with a high estimate of $18m.The Light of Africa Diamond is a D color, flawless, Type IIa emerald-cut from the iconic Cullinan mine, in South Africa.It will lead the New York Magnificent Jewels sale on 8 June, as part of Christie's Luxury Week.The diamond (pictured) was cut and polished in South Africa from a 299.3 car...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra's rough sales tally was down by almost 40 per cent at its latest tender. In March the UK-based miner sold 735,222 carats for $140.6m. In April it sold 635,806 carats for $86.1m, down by 38.8 per cent.Like-for-like rough diamond prices decreased by almost a quarter (23.7 per cent). Like-for-like prices at its March tender were up 37.6 per cent on December 2021.Per-ca...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, May 3, 2022, Las Vegas... The diamond market slowed in April due to geopolitical tensions and the seasonal effects of the Passover and Easter holidays. Steady US retail demand supported the trade, but dealer activity was sluggish amid price uncertainty, Chinese lockdowns and Russian sanctions. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds fell 3.2% during the mon...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's realized HKD 295.8 million ($37.7 million) at its Hong Kong sale Friday, even as several big-ticket items didn't make the cut.A parure comprising a necklace with 176.93 carats of jadeite and diamonds, a pair of earrings and a ring was the top seller at the April 29 Magnificent Jewels sale. The set fetched HKD 46.4 million ($5.9 million), Sotheby's said last week.A cushion-sha...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi is facing new criminal charges in India, over an alleged $3m fraud.He is accused, jointly with others, of defrauding the government-controlled Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd (IFCI) between 2014 and 2018.Choksi (pictured), 62, already face charges, together with his nephew Nirav Modi, over the $1.8bn Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.He...Read More
RAPAPORT... Christie's will offer a 103.49-carat diamond that could fetch up to $18 million at its upcoming New York sale.The emerald-cut, D-Flawless, type IIa stone, called the Light of Africa diamond, will headline the auction house's Magnificent Jewels sale on June 8, it said Monday. It will be among the items featured as part of Christie's luxury week.The diamond was cut from a 299.3-carat rou...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index declined steadily throughout April, falling by over 2.1 per cent by the month end. It continued a trend set during all but the first few days of March. Before that the Index had enjoyed months of sharp increases - 5.67 per cent in January and 4.14 per cent in February. IDEX Online subscribers please click here to read the full report. Read More
(IDEX Online) - Brilliant Earth has ditched a promotional offer for "free diamond earrings" following a challenge from rival Blue Nile.It voluntarily pulled ads after complaints that the diamonds were lab-grown rather than mined, and the "free" offer was only available for a very limited time.Brilliant Earth, the US-based "ethical jeweler", had used the phrases "Free Diamond Earrings" and "One Day...Read More
RAPAPORT... Automation is already having an effect on the diamond industry, whether in the fields of mining, grading or sorting. But the artificial intelligence (AI) that could transform the industry is in the manufacturing sector, where the trade is bracing for a wave of technological solutions that will likely reduce the need for human polishers.At the center of this is Synova, a Swiss comp...Read More