Diamonds From Fantasy To Reality

The Fantasy

From IDEX
A 30.02 carat pear-shaped D, Internally Flawless type Iia diamond was sold for $4,002,500 to an unidentified private buyer at Christie’s New York jewelry auction on Wednesday. The winning bid represents a $133,000 per carat sale price. “The market for colorless diamonds remains absolutely firm and very much in line with prices realized for similar stones this time last year,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s head of jewelry. Another top selling item was a 6.76 carats cushion-cut Burmese ruby and diamond ring that was sold for $866,500, or $128,000 per carat, to an Asian private buyer. A rectangular-cut D, VS1 diamond weighing 32.72 carats sold for $1,650,500, within the estimated range of $1.4 - $1.8 million. “The sale attracted buoyant participation from private collectors and members of the trade from all over the world, setting a great tone for the spring jewelry auction season,” Kadakia added.

Yes, there is still a market for big rocks, especially if they are D-IFs.

And, you would think from Kadakia's comments that the demand for diamonds is robust.

The Reality

What better way to describe reality than to show you this chart.

Diamond prices have tanked.

So...if you are in the market for something new or if you want to trade up, now is a good time to buy.

Jewelry News On The Web

Did Malia and Sasha make this in their arts & crafts class?

Can you imagine Carla Bruni Sarkozy sporting such nonsense?

Jewelry Whore has a new and improved site full of stuff about Peruvian opals...which I like and Michelle Obama's "found objects-art project" jewelry which I think is an embarrassment.

My favorite gossip girl from Gem Gossip has posted on InStyle's article on what's inside celebrity jewelry boxes

and some great vintage jewelry finds for under $250 including pieces from Beladora2.com.

Wired magazine has an in depth article on The Untold Story World's Biggest Diamond Heist full of shady diamond dealers and Italian mafiosi.

Some jewelry biz news from IDEX

Dubai Pearl Trade Increases 300% in 2008

and

RBC Downgrade Sparks Harry Winston Takeover Speculation

From the Wall Street Journal

Bulgari Posts Sharp Fall in Profit, Cuts Dividend

Bling Biz - The Year End Report

The industry news from IDEX

Online Shopping

2008 Online Holiday Shopping Sales Decline 3% to $25.5 Billion
(December 31, '08, 5:32 IDEX Online Staff Reporter)
Online retail spending during this year’s holiday season, between November 1st and December 23rd, declined 3 percent to $25.5 billion compared to the same period in 2007, according to comScore tracking analysis.

The company, which measures e-commerce, says this year is the first time since 2001 that there has been negative growth in the holiday season, which is attributable to the combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and the “severe economic headwinds faced by consumers.”

Similarly, the fourth quarter of 2008 will mark the first full quarter to record negative growth since 2001, with e-commerce spending for the period of October 1 – December 28 down 4 percent to $36.8 billion.

Despite low retail sales, several top retailers registered growth in site traffic during December 1-24, compared to the same holiday period in 2007. Though eBay suffered a 4 percent drop in visitors, it remained the most visited retail site with 85.4 million visitors; Amazon sites had a 7 percent increase in site traffic totaling 76.2 million visitors.

Luxe Business

U.S. Luxury Sales Hard Hit in Holiday Season, MasterCard Finds
(December 28, '08, 9:30 Edahn Golan)
Luxury retail sales in the U.S. dropped 34.5 percent in the holiday season, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse. This figure includes jewelry sales. Total retail sales, excluding automobiles, fell by 8 percent in December through Christmas Eve, compared to last year.

Excluding gasoline sales, the fall in retail sales was 2.5 percent in November and 4 percent in December.

The National Retail Federation projected holiday sales to rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion. In November, IDEX Online Research analyst Ken Gassman forecasted annual jewelry sales to be flattish to down about 1 percent. When jewelry price inflation is removed, jewelry sales in terms of units will likely be down about 7-8 percent for the full year, according to Gassman.

Ouch!

The Sell side is certainly screwed...but the Buy side is looking good, especially with diamond prices coming back down to reasonable levels.

Anyone who has held off on making a diamond purchase will benefit in the upcoming year with a larger selection at lower prices.

Bling Biz -- Idex Update

Diamonds One Year Price Chart

A lot can happen in a year....

Bling Biz - Wild Whorl At Winston

From the Daily Mail Online
Armed robbers in drag steal £70m of jewellery from Paris store in 'just minutes' in one of Europe's biggest ever heists

Armed robbers - some dressed as women - escaped with more than £70million worth of jewellery in Paris in one of Europe's biggest ever heists.
As many as four masked men wielding sawn-off shotguns stormed into the exclusive Harry Winston jewellers in a high-speed raid described by detectives as 'terrifyingly efficient'.

Within minutes the gang had vanished - without a shot being fired - on powerful motorbikes parked close to the shop in the city's upmarket Avenue Montaigne, close to the Champs Elysees, yesterday evening.
Police said the meticulously prepared robbers knew all the store staff's names, which jewels were the most valuable, and the location of the shop's strong-box where the most precious items were kept.
At least three of the men were dressed as women. The raiders were also speaking a foreign language which police believe may have been Serbo-Croat or a a dialect of Russian.

The raid at 5.30pm on Thursday was the largest ever gems theft in French history and one of the most lucrative armed holds-ups ever in the world.

Wow...this is the second robbery with virtually the same modus operandi in 14 months.

Do ya think that a reevaluation of their security system is in order?

Graff on a Gambol or Betting on the Billionaire Boys

Recession...What Recession?

Certainly that's the view from Larry Graff's glamorous world.

Style.com reports that London's uber jeweler to Saudis and Socialites, Graff, has just opened his flagship New York store.

Larry Graff and Stephanie Seymore aka Mrs Peter Brant

“We’ve had a record six months,”
said Laurence Graff. “Not in spite of the credit crisis but because of the
credit crisis.” He continued, spelling out the jeweler’s clearly
winning take on navigating global economic discord: “In times of chaos, you have to go back to the basics, one of which is treasure. Treasure never becomes worthless. And that’s what we sell.”

Opposite of what I read on Idex and RAP, I'm glad to know that someone out there in retail land is making big bucks with big bling.

This Rocks!

Lesotho mine yields one of world's largest diamonds

LONDON (Reuters) - Miners in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho have found one of the world's largest diamonds, a near-flawless white gem weighing nearly 500 carats, mining group Gem Diamonds said on Sunday.

The diamond was discovered in the Letseng Mine on September 8, the company said in a statement. It has been analyzed by experts in Antwerp and found to weigh 478 carats, with very few inclusions and of outstanding color and clarity.
"It has the potential to yield one of the largest flawless D color round polished diamonds in history," the company said.

In the course of a few days nature brings us the fury of hurricane Ike and a diamond as beautiful as this.

Wow