The R&M “Lettre”

Investors in the Hong Kong-based retail jewelry giants have had better months than in April.

At the recent American Gem Society Conclave, speaker Peter Sheahan gave an excellent presentation about how all industries are dealing with rapid change. “Don’t build your future on the beliefs of the past,” he exhorted.

If it is true that diamonds find their raison d’être in emotions, rather than necessity, then one can see why good marketing is twice as important as in other goods.

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that one section of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict mineral rule, its response to Sect. 1502 of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, was unconstitutional.

This past winter, one of my esteemed industry colleagues included a saying in one of his blogs that I had never heard before: If you really want to be wary of the mass media, read an article on a topic about which you are particularly well informed.

The world’s largest flawless blue diamond, a 13.22-carat stone, is to lead Christie’s auction of Magnificent Jewels in Geneva next month.

Few issues in the diamond industry raise more concern than financing. Bank financing is what allows most businesses to expand, overcome temporary cash flow hardships, purchase new equipment, make long-term plans and execute programs.

Last week, Israel Diamond Exchange unveiled a new slogan: “Natural is real.” The slogan is a clever play on the word Israel, and a less-clever poke in the eye to lab-grown diamond producers, who do, in fact, produce real diamonds.

To a chemist, diamonds are a three-dimensional cubic lattice of carbon atoms. To most of us, they are the ultimate status symbol – but how long will they remain so, now that they can be mass-produced?

It’s never boring in the rough sector of the global diamond pipeline. De Beers is proposing a new contract – simplified, with important additions, but still troubling in a way.

You may remember Supplier of Choice. It was the De Beers policy designed to set the industry up for the post-cartel world. It billed itself as transparent, open, and objective.

Industry leaders joined senior United Nations officials and representatives of UN-affiliated organizations for a special conference organized by CIBJO (World Jewellery Confederation), to discuss the commitment of the jewelry and gemstone business to facilitate sustainable development in the countries and regions in which it is active at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The […]