Sotheby’s Achieves Record Price For Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond

Sotheby's Hong Kong received a record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond sold at auction this week as its Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale. The auction closed with a total of $65.4 million (HKD 510.2 million) and was 78.6 percent sold by lot and 65.6 percent sold by value.

The top lot was a 6.01-carat, fancy vivid blue diamond ring, which sold to an unnamed buyer for $10.1 million (HKD 79.06 million), or $1.68 million per carat, which was within the pre-sale estimate.

A 30.31-carat, D, internally flawless diamond ring sold to an Asian private for $5.5 million (HKD 43.2 million), or $182,811 per carat, and a 4.19-carat, VVS1, orange diamond ring went to another Asian private for $2.96 million (HKD 23.06 million), or $705,587 per carat). Sotheby’s reported that this was a record price achieved for a fancy vivid orange diamond.

''Buyers for the top 10 lots came from five different countries, showing the international participation in this important market,'' noted Quek Chin-Yeow, the deputy chairman and head of jewelry of Sotheby’s Asia. He added that 13 lots sold for more than $1.2 million.

-Rapaport

ISRAELI CVD DIAMOND RESEARCHER DANIEL SHECHTMAN WINS NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY

Daniel Shechtman, an Israeli professor who has studied the effect of the defect structure of CVD diamond on its growth and properties, has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2011 of 10 million Swedish Kronor (US$1.46 million) to the Technion professor "for the discovery of quasicrystals".

Shechtman, who was born 1941 in TelAviv in Israel and has a Ph.D. from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, studied the effect of the defect structure of CVDdiamond on its growth and properties during a Sabbatical at theNational Institute of Standards and Technology between 1992-1994.

One of his significant areas of research deals with the nucleation and growth of CVD diamond films.

-The Israeli Diamond Industry

GIA Produces '4Cs of Diamond Quality' Brochure in Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) announced that its “4Cs of Diamond Quality” brochure is now available in Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish. The GIA 4Cs brochure is designed to help consumers better understand how diamonds are evaluated and explains the main factors used to describe diamond quality and depicts the GIA grading scales for color, clarity and cut.

4Cs of Diamond Quality is available in the following 19 languages:

Arabic
Bahasa
Chinese – Simple
Chinese – Traditional
English
French
German
Hebrew
India - English
India – Gujarati
India – Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Spanish
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

The first 100 brochures in any one language are free; additional copies may be purchased in bundles of 100 for $12.50 plus shipping, handling and applicable sales tax. The brochure can also be downloaded at no cost in a file format suitable for printing.

-Rapaport

Klum Unveils Additions to Wildlife Collection on QVC

Heidi Klum is scheduled to unveil new additions to the ''Wildlife by Heidi Klum'' jewelry collection on QVC, October 4 at 8 p.m. Klum's latest jewelry pieces feature distinct metal finishes, including black-plating and antique silver-tone, rose-tone and brass-tone. QVC.com is previewing the new assortment all day, leading up to the evening televised launch.

New additions to the Wildlife collection include ''Snake Print Hinged Cuff Bracelet,'' ''Heidi Klum Studded Diamond-Shaped Earrings,'' ''Heidi Klum Hammered Disc and Stone Bracelet,'' and ''Heidi Klum Crystal Drop Necklace.'' Price points range from approximately $30 to $115.

"I am not here to blend in," said Klum. "I love jewelry that makes a statement. I wanted to create a collection for QVC that would inspire women to stand out and find their wild side.

-Rapaport

BOTSWANA’S DIAMOND EXPORTS FOR JULY HIT $594.3 MILLION

Botswana exported $594.3 million worth of polished and rough diamonds in July, shooting up 371.3% year-over-year, based on figures released by the Bank of Botswana.

The high exports are a continuation of a trend seen since the start of the year, as demand for diamonds soared compared to the previous year.

Month-over-month, exports have declined by 11.4%, though in June exports were unusually high, reaching a record $670.8 million in diamond exports.

In the first seven months of 2011, Botswana exported more than $3 billion worth of diamonds.

-The Israeli Diamond Industry

Bergio Intl. Enters Russia's Retail Market

Bergio International Inc., through its partnership with Estet Jewelry Company, debuted their collections in Russia at Junwex Moscow in September.

"Our partnership with Estet Jewelry Company, one of the largest jewelry manufacturers in Moscow with approximate revenues of over $200 million and supplier to over 7,000 stores in Russia, was very successful," said Berge Abajian, the chief executive of Bergio International.

Abajian added that the brand is now in 16 stores with the plan to increase that number to 100 by the end of 2012. ''We are projecting that the Moscow expansion will yield over $3 million in revenue by the end of 2012,'' Abajian said.

''We are further pursuing our business plan for acquisitions in the jewelry industry. We currently have LOI's signed and we are diligently trying to finalize our funding to proceed with these acquisitions. Once the funding is completed, it will be announced.

Bergio International placed advertisements in JW Marriott, which was ''extremely successful,'' and they will be featured in Ritz Carlton's magazine for the fourth quarter of 2011.

U.S. Weekly Chain-Store Sales +4%

U.S. weekly chain-store sales rose 3.7 percent year on year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs. For the week that ended on October 1, however, weekly retail sales rose just 0.1 percent against the previous week. The pace of growth has remained fairly constant since the second quarter of 2011.

''Receding gasoline prices are one of the few bright spots which helped to improve the consumer's discretionary purchasing power and likely helped support the small week-on-week gain,'' said Michael Niemira, ICSC's vice president of research and chief economist. ''For the month, same-store sales growth seemingly improved for some middle-tier retailers, but overall performance was not too different from the prior month," added Niemira.

ICSC Research anticipates that the industry comparable-store sales pace will likely post an increase near 3 percent, excluding the impact of fuel, when retailers reported their monthly same-store sales results on October 6.

- Rapaport