India's Home-Grown Diamonds
February 09, 23 by John JeffayIndia cuts and polishes the vast majority of the world's diamonds. But without its own mines, it's never been able to capture the full cycle of production - until now. The increasing popularity of lab growns, and the apparent enthusiasm of India's government ... Read More...
Pope Pulls No Punches
February 02, 23 by John JeffayPope Francis pulled no punches when he landed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) earlier this week. He condemned the "economic colonialism" of those who had plundered a country blessed with a wealth of diamonds and numerous other natural... Read More...
Not Every Girl's Best Friend
January 26, 23 by John JeffayDiamonds are a girl's best friend, so they say, but Devanshi Sanghvi would disagree. She was heiress to her family's $60m-plus diamond empire, but decided instead to take her vows as sadhvi - or nun - in the Jain religion... Read More...
Lab Grown Diamonds: All Roads Lead to Paris
January 19, 23 by Marty HurwitzIn the early 20th century Paris was the center of the world for artistic creativity. Today Paris is becoming the creative center for upmarket, lab-grown diamond, fine jewelry style. At one time the names Duchamp, Chagall, Matisse, Hemingway, and Picasso Read More...
Today's Memo, Written by AI
January 12, 23 by John JeffayArtificial intelligence is everywhere. It controls what we see on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and beyond. It decides what adverts we're shown online, what Netflix recommends, based on our viewing preferences, how we get places (Waze, Google maps)... Read More...
Crystal Gazing Into 2023
January 05, 23 by Pranay NarvekarThe beginning of every year brings about a flurry of planning activities as companies and individuals set their targets for the year. While we do so, it is wise to review what happened in the previous year, as we begin to make plans for the future... Read More...
The Day That Changed Everything
December 22, 22 by John Jeffay"Record prices", "very strong market", "positive sentiment", "soaring consumer demand". Remember those phrases? That's the way the world looked the last time we welcomed a New Year. How things have changed. One word that had barely appeared in the... Read More...
Curious Tale of the "Spiritually Cleansed" Diamond
December 15, 22 by John JeffayIt's one thing when one of the world's most valuable diamonds is mysteriously pulled from auction. It's quite another when it turns out the reason is an allegation that the 13.15-carat fancy vivid pink gem had been sent from Qatar to the USA, to be "spiritually cleansed"... Read More...
Could De Beers be Offered for Sale?
December 08, 22 by Erez RivlinAnglo American owns 85% of De Beers and Botswana owns the remaining 15%. It is the seventh largest mining company in the world and in 2021 it made a staggering profit (EBIDTA) of $20.6 billion (more than double 2020). But De Beers' diamonds contributed... Read More...
The Watchmaster Heist
December 01, 22 by John JeffayIt's a heist that could prove to be bigger than the Hatton Garden safe deposit raid in 2015. Raiders managed to get through a 1.75-meter thick steel door at a vault in Berlin, crack the security codes and overcome a fog alarm. They escaped with 1,000 luxury watches... Read More...
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