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Jewellery and Coins

Lab-grown diamonds are ethical, cheaper, blood-less. So why aren’t they as popular? – by Medha Chawla (India Today – September 25, 2024)

https://www.indiatoday.in/

Celebrities like Meghan Markle, Zoe Kravitz, Lady Gaga, and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi approve of lab-grown diamonds. They are cheaper and conflict-free, but why aren’t they mainstream yet?

When Divya (name changed on request), a 31-year-old bride-to-be from Delhi, was in the middle of her wedding ring shopping, the idea of opting for a lab-grown diamond did cross her mind. Unlike natural mined diamonds, lab-grown ones don’t cost a bomb – they can be up to five times cheaper.

Yet, Divya, who went to great lengths to make her wedding a budget-friendly event, found herself inclining more towards a natural diamond ring than a lab-grown one because of its “sentimental value”.

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Indian Jewelers Brace for a Boom – by Avi Krawitz (Rapaport Magazine – September 17, 2024)

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While global markets face recession, India is riding the wave of growth, with retailers aggressively expanding their operations

There’s a constant buzz about Turner Road, the upscale thoroughfare that passes through the heart of Mumbai’s trendy Bandra West neighborhood. Bandra has gained a reputation for attracting the city’s up-and-coming, be they tech execs, property moguls or Bollywood elites. They live, eat, drink, and socialize there. Turner Road is where they buy fine jewelry.

The street is lined with the full gamut of local jewelers, ranging from well-established family businesses to the more imposing chain stores.

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Diamond Mining Losing Its Sparkle As Lab-Grown Market Share Rises – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – September 23, 2024)

https://www.forbes.com/

Tim Treadgold is an Australian journalist specializing in mining

The decline of diamonds as a store of wealth is accelerating as low-cost laboratory gems seize more of the market, eating into the share of mined stones and devaluing family heirloom jewelry.

Not a topic comfortable for the traditional diamond and jewelry industries, the latest financial analysis highlights the challenge caused by the shift from a high value, low volume business, to high volume/lower value. According to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, lab-grown diamonds accounted for an estimated 14.3% of total diamond supply last year — 16 million carats versus newly-mined supply of 112 million carats.

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London’s Jewelry ‘Garden’ – by Rachel Garrahan (New York Times – February 10, 2020)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Hatton Garden has long been known as the center of Britain’s jewelry trade. Now, independent makers and small businesses are trying to ensure it keeps that role.

LONDON — Barry Coumbe was describing operations at F. Sinclair, his polishing business in Hatton Garden, when he recalled that wheelbarrows were piled high with its commemorative gold ingots for Queen Elizabeth’s 1977 Silver Jubilee to move them between the company’s two workshops.

“You’d have 2,000 ingots with the queen’s head stamped on them, and they were always in demand,” Mr. Coumbe, 70, said with a smile.

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Lab-Grown Diamond Prices Are Falling. Here’s Why That’s Not a Bad Thing. – by Nick Scott (Robb Report – September 1, 2024)

https://robbreport.com/

The man-made stone have never had the cachet or complicated romance of mined stones. But perhaps we’re not thinking expansively enough about their best use.

Scientists discovered the ability to create synthetic diamonds back in 1954, and we’ve been arguing about them ever since. Not only about whether a man-made gemstone could be considered the same as one produced by geologic phenomenon over the course of eons—the two are chemically identical, after all, and indistinguishable to the naked eye—but also about whether it should be.

Lab-grown stones have always seemed to solve for certain ethical and environmental conundrums within the diamond industry, but as human beings, we also like our rarities, well, rare. It’s a debate, in other words, over whether diamonds are still “forever” if they’re also for everyone.

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Second-Largest Diamond Ever Found Is Discovered in Botswana – by Lynsey Chutel (New York Times – August 22, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The diamond was unearthed using new technology, and miners hope it will bring back luster to a struggling industry.

The diamond was so large that it obscured the face of Botswana’s president as he held it up for closer inspection on Thursday.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found.

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Diamonds may not be forever: Belgium’s grip on gems shaken by Russian sanctions drive – by Sunniva Rose (The National News – May 3, 2024)

https://www.thenationalnews.com/

Rules of the game are being rewritten and industry actors are jostling for influence after Russia diamond ban triggers upheaval in historic Belgian district

From the corner where the International Gemological Institute stands on one side and the Diamond Bourse on another, as far as the eye can see, the outlets at the heart of a historic Antwerp district have long inspired awe for the sheer concentration of a global trade in the most valuable cut stones.

Within a few minutes’ walk are dozens of gems dealers braced for upheaval as the wind of change blows. The latest ban on Russian diamonds by the group of seven (G7) countries has caused what many have described as nothing less than a “revolution” in the centuries-old diamond hub.

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AN OZARK JOURNEY: The Great Ozarks Pearl Rush: Seeking fortunes in Ozarks streams – by Wayne Sayles (Ozark County Times – 06/10/2021)

https://ozarkcountytimes.com/

In our constant forays online searching for tidbits of historical information, we recently came across a reference to the “Arkansas Pearl Rush.” That casual encounter led to a revelation that few today would ever have expected.

Our first inclination was to assume that this was just an “Arkansas” folktale and to ignore it. After all, this continuing series is about our (Missouri) Ozark Journey. But something inside pushed me on. It turns out that the Arkansas Pearl Rush was actually a big thing, and it did spill over into Ozark County.

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[Diamonds] Indian Consumers Not Into Synthetics, Seek Natural: Titan – by Leah Meirovich (Rapaport Magazine – August 6, 2024)

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Domestic customers at Titan Company are less interested in buying synthetic diamonds than their US and overseas counterparts, looking more for assurances that the stones they purchase are natural.

“We’ve been trying to track the inquiries on a continuous basis across all the stores, Tanishq, CaratLane, Mia and Zoya, and so far we have not seen material inquiries for [customers wanting lab-grown diamonds],” Titan managing director C.K. Venkataraman said in an analyst call last week. “What we do hear about, what our customers are more curious about, they want to be assured that what we are selling is natural, and [doesn’t have any lab-grown in it].”

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The Current State of the Diamond Market Is…Not Good – by Rob Bates (JCK On Line – July 18, 2024)

JCK Online

Both the natural and lab-grown diamond sectors are hurting right now, industry members acknowledged at a panel on “The Current State of Diamond Market,” held July 16 during the Initiatives in Art and Culture’s 14th annual Gold + Diamond Conference in New York City.

“Business is quiet for both natural and lab-grown,” said Ronnie Vanderlinden, president of Diamex, which deals in both products. “There’s struggles at the moment. Liquidity is not strong. The U.S. market is the strongest market in the world right now. We hope that by the time September comes around, consumers will wake up and there will be better demand for both natural and lab-grown.”

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Kiran Gems’ Sister Company Grows Synthetic Diamonds – by Joshua Freedman (Rapaport Magazine – July 18, 2024)

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Mehul Vaghani, cofounder and director of Kira Diam — which claims to be the world’s largest CVD producer — gives his take on the market.

Given how many Indian diamond firms have invested in synthetics in the past five years, it’s unsurprising that the company that claims to be the world’s largest manufacturer of natural polished should also get involved.

Indeed, Kira Diam, the brainchild of Kiran Gems founder Vallabhbhai Patel, also maintains it is the world’s largest producer in its field. That field is chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the method it uses to grow gem-quality synthetic diamonds primarily for the US jewelry market.

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India’s Diamond Trade Is Suffering. Why Isn’t America’s? – by Joshua Freedman (Rapaport Magazine – July 11, 2024)

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Weak demand and a supply glut have created a perfect storm for manufacturers. But the only true solution is at the consumer level.

Indian manufacturers view the current market situation as something close to a crisis. The desperation is similar to that during last year’s deep downturn. Polished prices are falling, and sightholders are losing money on rough.

But American dealers are happier. They say there is demand from retailers, albeit not at the peak levels they saw in 2021 and early 2022. They enjoyed decent sales at the Las Vegas shows, and trading is better now than before the exhibitions. So why the discrepancy?

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Do Consumers Care About Diamond Origin? – by Joshua Freedman (Rapaport Magazine – June 20, 2024)

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Panelists at RapNet event highlight provenance challenges.

One of the ongoing questions in the diamond industry is whether shoppers care about the source of the stones they buy. For Olivia Landau, CEO of online natural-diamond retailer The Clear Cut, the problem is more fundamental.

“Everyone just assumes that natural diamonds come from one place, and it’s Africa, and Africa’s one country, and it is a blood diamond,” Landau said in a RapNet panel discussion at the recent JCK Las Vegas show. “We are starting from square one.”

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New platinum alloy to transform jewellery making – by Darren Parker (MiningWeekly.com – July 3, 2024)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) has highlighted the launch of a new platinum alloy named Inoveo Platinum, which it believes has the potential to transform platinum jewellery design and manufacturing.

Established by Platinum Guild International (PGI) USA, Inoveo Platinum was codeveloped by mining major Anglo American and materials designer and developer Alloyed following years of research and development.

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HOW LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS UPENDED THE INDUSTRY AND COULD END UP CHANGING THE WORLD – by Matthew Hart (Crime Reads – June 20, 2024)

https://crimereads.com/

Matthew Hart on mayhem in the diamond industry.

The diamond world was stunned when De Beers, the storied diamond miner, announced this month it was ditching its lab-grown diamond business. De Beers had been selling lab-grown gems online through its Lightbox brand for six years, at prices its competitors found hard to beat.

But the lab-grown diamond price was crashing, and De Beers will now focus its $94 million Oregon diamond factory away from gemstone production and onto something much more exciting: diamonds for targeted industrial uses.

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