RAPAPORT. What if the pandemic presents the largest growth opportunity the jewelry industry has
ever seen? Covid-19 and lockdowns have effectively wiped out in-person shopping, but they’ve also forced the jewelry industry as a whole to embrace e-commerce. The resulting data, if used correctly, can result in a long-overdue industry-wide recalibration that will dramatically improve efficiency and transform the customer experience to be more in line with the expectations of today’s consumer.
“Big data” is the most recent buzzword consultants are touting as the silver bullet for helping retailers predict customer behavior, gain marketing insights to boost sales, make accurate inventory projections, and increase customer satisfaction. Oxford Languages defines “big data” as “extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.”
About the data: Belgium is usually a net exporter of polished diamonds. As such,
net polished exports representing polished exports minus polished imports will normally be a positive number. The nation has historically been a net importer of rough, though in recent years, it has often been a net rough exporter. While Antwerp is still home to some high-value manufacturing, its main role in the market is as a facilitator of rough-diamond trading, with companies from around the world coming to the city to buy rough. The
net diamond account is total rough and polished exports minus total imports. It is Belgium’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by exporting rough or manufacturing it into polished.
RAPAPORT. A Canadian court has consented to Dominion Diamond Mines’ sale of its Ekati site and most of its assets to two of its bondholders.
Under the agreement, DDJ Capital Management and Brigade Capital Management are set to acquire “substantially all” of the miner’s assets, except for its 40% stake in the Diavik mine, which it shares with Rio Tinto. In return, the purchasers will assume a number of Dominion’s liabilities, other than those owed to the Diavik joint venture, and will grant Dominion $70 million in working capital, the miner said Monday.
The approval was an important step toward restarting Ekati by January 29, the cutoff by which Dominion needs to begin operations so it can transport supplies using the 400-kilometer ice road that only opens for two months a year. It follows a failed attempt to sell to affiliates of its owner, the Washington Companies.
RAPAPORT. The American Gem Society (AGS) has rescheduled its next annual Conclave, which was due to take place in April 2021.
The Las Vegas-based organization is planning to hold the event in the fall, and is working to select the dates and a location, it said Tuesday. The 2021 Conclave was scheduled to run from April 26 to 28 at the Omni Louisville Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky, after the AGS canceled the 2020 edition altogether due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“With the uncertainty that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought, and the health of our membership as the top priority, we came to the conclusion, after much discussion, that the best thing to do for our members was to move this much-loved event to the fall,” said Alexis Padis, chair of the AGS Conclave committee and secretary on the AGS board of directors.
RAPAPORT. A 14.7-carat diamond ring was the top seller for Christie’s in Paris, nearly tripling its high estimate.
The marquise-cut, E-color, SI1-clarity stone sold for EUR 437,500 ($531,812), or $35,322 per carat, well above its EUR 150,000 ($182,333) upper valuation. It was one of a number of noteworthy diamonds that led the sale Paris Jewels sale, which took place from November 24 to December 9. The auction brought in $5 million, Christie’s said last week.
A ring set with a rectangular cut-cornered, H-color, VS2-clarity diamond, weighing 1.22 carats, fetched EUR 237,500 ($288,696), or $25,167 per carat, nearly double its high estimate. Meanwhile, a ring containing two old-cut, J-color diamonds, each weighing 6.73 carats, smashed its presale high estimate, selling for EUR 137,500 ($167,139).