Bulgari Ring Leads Strong Bonhams Sale
RAPAPORT. A number of pieces sold for well above their estimates at the Bonhams London Jewels auction, which garnered a total of GBP 2.7 million ($3.8 million).
A Bulgari ring set with a step-cut, 10.04-carat Colombian emerald bracketed by diamonds was the top seller, fetching GBP 598,750 ($835,223), more than double its GBP 250,000 ($348, 736) high valuation, Bonhams said Wednesday. A ring containing a cushion-shaped, 5-carat ruby surrounded by marquise-cut diamonds went for GBP 200,250 ($279, 364), more than 10 times its GBP 20,000 ($27,902) upper estimate.
Other notable items at the April 28 auction included a 19th-century spinel and diamond necklace and bracelet set, which achieved GBP 187,750 ($261,924), within estimates, and a cushion-shaped, 7.87-carat sapphire and diamond ring, which sold for GBP 92,750 ($129,393) against a GBP 70,000 ($97,655) high valuation.
Diamond Foundry Value Hits $1.8B After Fundraising
RAPAPORT. Diamond Foundry has raised $200 million to bring production up to “mining” levels, giving the lab-grown maker a valuation of $1.8 billion, it said Wednesday.
The Series C investment from Fidelity, which completed at the end of March, will help Diamond Foundry lift annual output to 5 million carats at its factory in Washington state by the end of 2020, a company spokesperson said in an email to
Rapaport News. It’s also exploring new sites in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
“This is the first time that this quality of diamond is produced at mining scale,” Diamond Foundry CEO Martin Roscheisen told the
RAPAPORT. De Beers is considering underground mining at its Jwaneng open-pit deposit in Botswana as a “likely approach” to extending the life of the world’s most valuable diamond mine beyond the mid-2030s.
“The underground mining project is still in the study phase and is yet to be approved,” a De Beers spokesperson said Tuesday in an email to
Rapaport News. “If approved, it would have the potential to significantly extend Jwaneng’s life of mine beyond Cut-9.”
Debswana, a 50:50 joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government, unveiled the Cut-9 expansion in March 2019 to extend the life of Jwaneng until 2035. Back then, the company said the project would cost Debswana about $2 billion and was likely to produce an estimated 53 million carats of rough diamonds.
RAPAPORT. The Diamond Club West Coast (DCWC), an affiliate of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), has reelected Moshe Salem as its president.
Kalpesh Jhaveri and Antranig Ayvazian have been voted in as vice presidents of the Los Angeles-based trade group, which was founded in 1946 and has a membership of about 275 merchants. The DCWC selected Rahul Parikh as treasurer and Vatche Shirkjian as secretary.
The eight elected members of the board are Doron Auslander, Charles Carmona, Sean Gamliel, Stanley Horowitz, Ruth Raviv, Ran Warcel, Lisa Wiener, and Ramin Zar.
Image: Moshe Salem (LinkedIn)
Banks Tie Pandora Loan to Sustainability Targets
RAPAPORT. Pandora has signed a new EUR 950 million ($1.15 billion) credit facility whose pricing is linked to the progress it will make on twin sustainability objectives.
The credit line refinances Pandora’s current undrawn facility, which is scheduled to mature in May 2022 but whose size was not disclosed in the company’s statement Thursday. However, the Danish jeweler said that a EUR 400 million ($481.9 million) state-guaranteed Covid-19 loan had been repaid “ahead of time.”
The new facility’s pricing mechanism links borrowing costs to Pandora’s progress in achieving its environmental goals. These include becoming a carbon-neutral group in its own operations and using only recycled silver and gold in its products by 2025.