News – Page 147

De Beers to Sell Diamonds from Artisanal Miners

De Beers announced plans to work with artisanal miners in Sierra Leone to ensure their diamonds are ethically sourced and sold at a fair price on its auction platform.

The company has partnered with the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) on the project, known as GemFair, which is set to launch a pre-pilot phase this month. GemFair will provide tracking technology to artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), aiming to create a secure and transparent route to market for their diamonds, De Beers said in a statement last week.

“The ASM sector represents a critical income source for many poverty-affected communities,” said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver. “However, due to parts of the sector being largely informal and unregulated, it lacks access to established international markets and the ability to derive fair value for participants.”

De Beers hopes the new project will help grow acceptance and prospects for artisanal miners, in addition to creating a new supply source for the company, Cleaver added.

Miners who want to participate in the program need to receive certification from the DDI as well as from GemFair. Participants will then be given a diamond “toolkit,” which includes technology enabling them to digitally track all stones throughout the supply chain.

Once the initiative is operational, GemFair will begin buying stones from participating miners, which will then be sold via De Beers’ Auction Sales channel.

De Beers has not set a date for the pilot’s completion, but hopes to make the first purchase later this year.

Source: Diamonds.net

$5.3 USD Million Record Price for a Fancy Intense Blue

A 3.09 carat emerald cut fancy intense blue diamond has sold for more than $5.3 million.

Setting a new record price per carat for an intense blue diamond.

The Polished Blue Diamond was set in a platinum ring flanked by tapered baguette cut diamonds.

The Fancy Intense Blue Diamond sold well above its high total estimate of $3 million.

Rosy Blue to Buy Stake in Leo Schachter

Polished manufacturer Rosy Blue has agreed to acquire a minority share in Leo Schachter, as the diamond suppliers seek to make their operations more efficient.

The deal will enable the firms to use each other’s infrastructure around the world, providing better value for their clients, Leo Schachter said in a statement Monday. Leo Schachter will still operate independently under the Schachter family’s majority ownership, led by its current management team, it noted.

The firms expect the transaction to close soon, but did not disclose other terms of the agreement.

“The relationship and collaboration which we have enjoyed with the Rosy Blue family for over two generations will produce a unique and innovative platform for the demands of today’s diamond industry,” said Elliot Tannenbaum, principal at Leo Schachter.

The companies have been working together for more than 30 years, Leo Schachter noted. They both receive rough supply from De Beers, as sightholders, and from Alrosa’s contract-sales business, and have offices in all major industry hubs.

Source: Diamonds.net

Costco is selling diamonds worth $400,000 ‘between bulk AA batteries and dustpans’

Costco sells 6.5-carat diamond rings worth nearly $US400,000 amid the bulk groceries and home goods that lure bargain seekers to its warehouse stores.

Sky News reporter Jennifer Bechwati tweeted Sunday that she found a diamond ring costing 499,999.99 AUD (or roughly $388,900 USD) at a Costco store in Australia “between bulk AA batteries and dustpans.”

She posted a photo of the round-cut ring that listed its weight as 6.55 carats with colour and clarity of “G” and “VS1,” respectively. The diamond was set in a platinum band.

It turns out that the warehouse chain sells a host of expensive diamonds in stores and online. Costco’s US website lists 303 diamond rings with stones as big as 10 carats. Prices range from $US159 to $US420,000.

Shoppers might not expect to find such expensive rings in stores, but a Costco spokeswoman told the Daily Mail that every one of its warehouses has at least one “WOW” item in its jewellery department.

Some people commented online that the colour and clarity of the 6.55-carat stone could be better for the price. A search online at James Allen, another diamond retailer, shows a diamond with a similar cut, clarity, and colour for $US354,000, or about $US34,000 cheaper than the Costco ring.

Costco was ordered to pay the jewellery company Tiffany more than $US19 million last year for selling about 2,500 rings falsely identified on store signs as “Tiffany” rings. Costco argued that the description referred to the rings’ settings, and wasn’t meant to be confused with Tiffany’s brand.

Source: businessinsider

Lab Finds 3ct. Synthetic Diamond with Fake Report

A grading laboratory in China has discovered a synthetic diamond masquerading as a natural stone, complete with a forged inscription and a falsified report.

The National Gemstone Testing Center (NGTC) in the city of Shenzhen received a round-brilliant, 3.1-carat diamond ring, which it subsequently graded as F or G color and VS clarity, it said last week.

However, when gemologists checked the laser-inscription code that was already on the girdle, using an online certificate-verification service, they found the grading report bearing that number was for a natural diamond with similar, but not identical, characteristics. The certificate they saw online was for an H-color, VS1-clarity diamond.

The Chinese lab carried out tests that confirmed the stone in the ring was synthetic, created using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The inscription and accompanying paper report, purporting to be from an international grading laboratory, were fakes, the NGTC said.

The stone had a type of impurity, known as a “silicon-vacancy center,” that is extremely rare in natural diamonds but common in CVD diamonds, helping the scientists identify its origins. It also had other characteristics that indicated it was synthetic, such as showing green fluorescence under ultra-violet light.

While this was not the first case of its type — the Gemological Institute of America last year found a synthetic diamond with a forged inscription — it is rarer for a Chinese lab to make such a discovery, NGTC noted. It is also one of the larger synthetic diamonds to have cropped up with false credentials to date, the lab added.

“The growth technology of CVD synthetic diamonds has been making great progress for decades in [terms] of size, color and clarity,” the lab said. “Recently, the distinct characteristics of the synthetic diamond are becoming less, and it is more difficult to differentiate.”

Source: diamonds.net

Third largest diamond ever for Lucara Diamonds

Karowe diamond mine located in Botswana has recovered a 472 carat, top light brown gem diamond.

The Rough Diamond will be sold with other exceptional stones recovered this year as part of the first large stone tender in 2018.

In 2018 The Karowe mine will focus on the high value south lobe area which consistently delivers, large high quality diamonds in excess of 10 carats in size.

Russia’s Alrosa says diamonds sales at $559.5 million in March

Russia’s diamond miner Alrosa said on Tuesday that its sales of rough and polished diamonds totaled $559.5 million in March.

There was a slight seasonal cooling off in demand in March,” Alrosa Deputy CEO Yury Okoemov said, according to a company statement.

Alrosa’s total diamond sales in the first quarter 2018 amounted to $1.606 billion, the company said.

12.02 carat Fancy Vivid Pink

12.02 carat Fancy Vivid Pink Internally Flawless pear shape diamond.

One of the rarest diamonds of it’s colour and clarity in the world.

8ct Pink Diamond Ring to be Auctioned at Christie’s

Christie’s New York spring sale will feature an 8.42 carat, fancy intense pink diamond ring, estimated at between $4 million and $6 million, the auction house said Friday.

The cut cornered rectangular modified brilliant cut, VVS1 clarity stone has the potential to be re cut to internally flawless, according to Christie’s. Two tapered baguette cut diamonds surround it on either side.

Royal Blue Diamond Surfaces After 300 Years

Sotheby’s will offer the historic Farnese Blue diamond at its Geneva sale in May, the first time it has been on the market.

The pear-shaped, 6.16-carat, fancy dark grey-blue stone — originally given to Queen Elisabeth Farnese of Spain as a wedding gift following her marriage to King Philip V in 1714 — has spent 300 years in the private collection of Europe’s royal families. The diamond will go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction on May 15 with an estimated price of $3.7 million to $5.3 million. Originating in the Golconda mines of India, it has traveled from Spain to France, Italy and Austria over the last three centuries.

The family kept the diamond in a secret royal casket, and, other than family members and the royal jewelers, no one knew of its existence.

“With its incredible pedigree, the Farnese Blue ranks among the most important historic diamonds in the world,” said Philipp Herzog von Württemberg, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and managing director of Sotheby’s Germany.

Queen Elisabeth passed the Farnese Blue to her son Philip, duke of Parma, whose son Ferdinand inherited it and passed it to his son Louis I, king of Etruria. Louis’s grandson, Charles II, duke of Lucca, passed it to his grandson, Robert I, the last ruling duke of Parma, who took the stone from Italy to Austria. He then mounted the stone on a diadem that had belonged to his mother, Louise Marie Thérèse of Artois. Upon the death of Robert I, the stone passed to his son Elias of Bourbon, duke of Parma. His wife, Maria Anna von Habsburg — who died in 1940 — recorded the stone’s history.

The Farnese Blue will appear at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, London, New York, Singapore and Taipei, before coming to Geneva for display prior to the sale.

Source: diamonds.net