What Happens in Vegas - The Report

Las Vegas. Admit it...you want to know all.

Here's the highlights.

Antique and Estate Jewelry Show. Lots of exquisite jewelry but my take was not a lot of business except in large stones and watches.

Couture Show. Some interesting new designs and business was brisk.

Italian Show. Emphasis on diamond slice jewelry, snake bracelets and sunburst pendants. Mostly yellow gold, with some great pieces in titanium. I love the Italian manufacturers. They always have a couple of bottles of wine in their booths at lunchtime. So European.

Gems and Diamonds. More supply than can be imagined...so what's up with the Rap price increase?

Technology. Saw my team at Logicmate. New talent has been hired so maybe now I wont have to harass them daily for attention.

Vegas...well it was the same as ever. Hot, crowded, tacky.

I was glad to see my favorite Bartender John at Sensi at the Bellagio. He was, as always, friendly and fun. Dinner at Daniel Boulud at the Wynn was OK but not as good as the New York restaurant. Trying to get an outside table for cognac and cigars was the usual hassle at the Fontana Bar at the Bellagio.

Bars were teeming with the typical New York diamond dealers (not the Hassidic ones of course)...with their wedding rings conveniently slipped off so they could prey on the young and naive. Ah...the typical trade show shenanigans.

Highlights of my trip.

Taking a much appreciated break by the Bellagio pool.

And...getting chatted up by a young-ish diamond dealer from NY who first had to tell me how intrigued he was by the Ashton Kutchner -Demi Moore relationship. Yeah whatever.

Then he told me about how he made the transition from the IDF to M&A at Lehman Brothers to Diamonds. OK, interesting.

Then he told me that he loved old movies...so I'm thinking great, he's got an appreciation for the genius of Preston Sturgis, Stanley Kramer, Akira Kurosawa, etc. He then goes on to say that his favorite "old" movie was The Usual Subjects. I guess when you are 35 a movie that was released in 1995 qualifies as old.

Being a young and cocky guy he just had to make a $500 bet with me on when the movie Papillion was released insisting that it came out in 1963. I was like dude, Dustin Hoffman wasn't even acting in movies in 1963. His big break came much later in The Graduate. But no...he had to insist.

Of course the next day at his firm's booth, when I tried to collect my $500 he was short by about $500.

So Oren, you still owe me.