RAPAPORT. While many would consider 2020 one of the most challenging years the industry has faced, auction sales told a different story, as successful digital offerings changed the road map for how customers bought luxury products.
“While undoubtedly there will still be a place for traditional auctions in the saleroom, the fast-tracked digital route in 2020 has already changed and will continue to change the way in which jewelry collectors spend,” Leslie Roskind, head of jewelry in Hong Kong for Bonhams, said earlier this month.
The auction house saw a 40% rise in buyers for its online tenders, a third of whom were under 40. Sotheby’s reported a 32% increase in new buyers compared with 2019, with nearly a third of its participants under age 40. Overall, some 32% of jewelry buyers at Christie’s were new. The value of jewels sold online by the auction house increased 241% year on year, it added.
RAPAPORT. Romania’s Supreme Court has sentenced mining magnate Beny Steinmetz to five years’ imprisonment in a land-fraud case, according to Israeli media.
The businessman, who has counted diamond mines among his vast interests, was accused of being involved in corruption carried out by a company for which he was a partner and adviser,
Globes reported last week.
Following the fall of Communism in Romania, the European country allowed people to reclaim land they had owned in the 1940s. Steinmetz was party to corrupt actions by the company to recover land, and was accused of money-laundering offenses and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to allegations that
RAPAPORT. De Beers, Alrosa and Rio Tinto have published their schedules for next year’s contract sales, which account for the bulk of the miners’ rough supply.
De Beers will continue its format of holding 10 sights a year, although the company has been more flexible with the timing of its sales due to the pandemic. Alrosa will also maintain its policy of selling rough on a monthly basis, while Rio Tinto will hold 10 contract sales and several auctions and tenders.
Covid-19 forced the major mining companies to offer concessions to contract customers in 2020 and rearrange many of the logistical aspects of their sales. De Beers, for example, hasn’t held a sight in its usual Botswana location since February, instead bringing goods to other hubs such as Antwerp and Dubai.
RAPAPORT. India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has introduced a new membership category for lab-grown diamond traders.
GJEPC members can now opt to identify themselves as lab-grown diamond businesses, enabling others to know that they are active in this area, the organization told
Rapaport News Friday. The move would help the sector expand, and followed requests from members, it added.
All of the council’s roughly 7,000 members sign up for a specific category, known as a “panel.” These include diamonds, gold jewelry, silver jewelry and colored stones. Previously, lab-grown diamond companies enrolled through a broad category covering all types of synthetic stones.
RAPAPORT. Lucapa Diamond Company is in advanced negotiations to acquire the Merlin mine in Australia after the site’s owner entered liquidation earlier this year.
“The Lucapa board considers that Merlin would be complementary to the company’s existing niche operating mines and exploration projects in Angola, Australia, Botswana and Lesotho, and is a development opportunity that would significantly benefit from the proven capability of Lucapa’s experienced development and operational teams,” the company said Thursday.
The Merlin mine, located in Australia’s Northern Territory, is a multi-pit operation, with the potential to move underground, Lucapa noted. The company also believes there is “considerable exploration potential” in a significant number of possible exploration areas at the mine that the previous owner did not exploit.