Diamonds Update

Marisa Miller in Victoria Secret’s $3 Million Diamond Bra

The showpiece of this year’s Victoria Secret’s annual Fashion Show will be the Harlequin Fantasy Bra, worn by supermodel Marisa Miller.  The bra, created by Italian jewelry house Damiani, contains 2,300 white, Champagne and Cognac colored diamonds with a 16 carat heart-shaped brown-yellow diamond pendant dangling in the front.  Taking over 800 hours to make and with 150 total carat weight of diamonds, the gold framework and hand-set diamonds are fashioned in a harlequin pattern.

Marisa Miller was on the cover of the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, is a model for Victoria’s Secret, and is an ambassador for the American Cancer Society.

The fashion show will be televised by CBS on Tuesday December 1 at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

Check out last year’s fantasy bra blog article:
http://diamonds.blogs.com/diamonds_update/2008/10/5-million-victorias-secret-diamond-bra.html

Big Diamonds Bring Big Dollars

While the tough economic times have affected the average diamond shopper, the extremely wealthy shoppers are on a buying spree.  At Christie’s jewelry action October 21 in New York, it was as if the recession never happened.

An anonymous buyer purchased a 32.01-carat D color, Internally Flawless, type IIa Asscher cut diamond ring for $7.7, which was almost double the $3 million to $5 million pre-auction estimated value.  At $240,000 per carat, the sale set a new world record for a colorless diamond.

The Annenberg Diamond’s previously owner was Leonore “Lee” Anneberg, who died in March at the age of 91.  She was the US Chief of protocol in the Reagan administration and was the wife of billionaire publisher Walter Annenberg, who died in 2002.

A 16.33-carat round diamond with E color and Flawless clarity was purchased for $1.6 million ($97,000 per carat) by a private Asian dealer.  Other items that sold for more than preliminary estimates included belle époque diamond and rock crystal bow brooch by Cartier (sold for $1.1 million, estimate $200,000 to $300,000) and a Harry Winston emerald and diamond necklace (sold for $950,500, estimate $500,000 to $700,000).

Other big dollar items sold at the auction included a pair of pear pendants with a 7.18-carat Fancy-Blue pear-shaped diamond and an 8.04-carat Fancy Light Pink colored pear-shaped diamond, which sold for $1,426,500.  A pair of earrings featuring D color, Internally Flawless pear-shaped diamonds (7.51 carats and 8.18 carats) sold for $1,202,500.

The Christie's auction (October 21 in New York) totaled $46.5 million.

Colored Diamonds on Display in New York City

If you live in or are visiting New York City the next few months, you might want to stop by the American Museum of Natural History and get a rare chance to view some exceptional colored diamonds.  September 15 was the opening of a new display of in the museum’s Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems.

The collection includes the following diamonds:

• An intense-pink brilliant diamond from the Argyle Diamond Mine in Australia set in gold metal mounting with small pink diamonds designed by Carvin French.

• A 5.4-carat round brilliant-cut diamond set in a white gold pendant with 20 sapphires, designed in California in 1960.

• Five vivid naturally colored diamonds ranging in size from 1.01 to 2.34 carats from the Olympia Diamond Collection, which are on loan from Scarselli Diamonds. The five diamonds are a 1.01-carat vivid orange-yellow diamond (mined in Africa), a 1.02-carat vivid blue-green diamond (mined in Brazil), a 2.17-carat vivid purplish-pink diamond (Argyle Mine in Australia), 2.13-carat vivid blue diamond (mined in Africa), and a 2.34-carat vivid orange diamond (from Africa). The vivid color grade is the highest colored diamond grade given by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and these five diamonds are rare because they are completely saturated colors.

• Synthetic (laboratory-grown) diamonds from the Boston-based Apollo Diamond Corporation, created using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. The display shows the stages of growth of CVD diamonds as the diamonds form in gas mixture to a heated chamber containing “seed” material.

• Synthetic (laboratory-grown) diamonds from Sarasota, Florida-based Gemesis Corporation, created using the high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) technique, which uses large presses to transform carbon material to diamond using compression. The display includes uncut and cut (polished) diamonds, loose and in jewelry.

This special colored diamond display runs until January 2010 and is free with admission to the museum, which is located at Central Park West and 79th Street in Manhattan.

507.55 Carat Diamond Found At Cullinan Mine

A 507.55-carat white diamond was recovered September 24 at the Cullinan diamond mine in South Africa.  Initial review of the diamond indicated it has exceptionally white color and high clarity.  The diamond is currently undergoing expert analysis to document color and clarity grading and to determine if the diamond is Type II (lacking yellow producing trace elements). 

The diamond was discovered with three other large diamonds with similar high color and clarity weighing 168.00 carats, 58.50 carats, and 53.30 carats.

Johan Dippenaar, Petra’s Chief Executive Officer noted, “The Cullinan mine has again given the world a spectacularly beautiful and important diamond.  Initial indications are that it is of exceptional color and clarity, which suggest extraordinary potential for its polished yield.  We now eagerly await the findings of the expert analysis.”

The Cullinan mine is best known as the source of the world’s largest gem diamond ever discovered, which was discovered in 1905, named the “Cullinan,” and weighed 3,106 carats rough.  Other famous diamonds sourced at the Cullinan mine include the Golden Jubilee (755 carats rough), the De Beers Centenary (599 carats rough), the Niarchos (426 carats rough), and the Premier Rose (353 carats rough).  Cullinan was also the source for some of the world’s largest polished diamonds including the Golden Jubilee (545 carats polished), the Great Star of Africa (530 carats polished), and the famous Taylor-Burton diamond (69 carats polished).

Petra Diamonds Cullinan Consortium who purchased the mine from De Beers in 2007 owns the Cullinan mine.  The Cullinan mine is also the world’s primary source of blue diamonds.  In May 2009, a fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats (cut from 26.58 carat rough) from the Cullinan mine sold for $9.4 million, the highest price ever paid for a gemstone sold at auction.

Hope Diamond Gets A Fashion Make Over

Last week the world’s most famous gemstone, the Hope Diamond, was displayed to the public for the first time in 50 years out of its setting.  Housed in the Hall of Geology , Gems and Minerals at the National Museum of Natural History, the Hope Diamond is getting a rare fashion make over.

More than five million visitors a year have viewed the diamond that has been in an ornate setting, sixteen white pear-shaped and cushion-cut diamonds suspended from a chain containing forty-five diamonds.

To observe its 50th year at the museum, the public was able to vote on a new setting for the famous blue diamond.  The Hope Diamond will be displayed loose, with no mounting, until next spring when it will be set in a temporary setting called “Enchanting Hope,” a necklace of a ribbon of diamonds with the Hope sitting in a cluster of diamonds in a teardrop shape.  The Hope Diamond will be returned to its ornate setting in late 2010.

Diamond Industry Copes with Crisis

 

The past 12 months have been witnessed many forms of economic crisis and the diamond industry was no exception.  In past decades when demand for diamonds dropped, De Beers simply stockpiled diamonds to keep supplies and therefore prices stable.  However, in recent years the European Union has forbidden monopolistic activities (like stockpiling) and De Beers now only controls 40% of the diamond market compared to over 80% a few years ago so no longer has full control over diamond production.  As a result, the diamond industry had to implement new strategies to cope with the economic crisis.

The industry’s main tool was stopping production of diamonds.  De Beer’s mines in Botswana, Canada, and Namibia were mostly shut down with only about 10% production in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same time in 2008.  While production is slowly being brought back online, some companies like Harry Winston Diamond Corporation has decided to cancel winter production at their Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada after a summer shutdown and production returning in the fall.

Rio Tinto shut down its Argyle diamond mine in Australia during the first quarter of this year resulting in a production drop for the country of almost 90%.

Alrosa, the Russian diamond producer, continued to produce diamonds but protected prices by having the Russian government purchase and stockpile the diamonds.

Even with the cuts in production, the dramatic drop in demand results in global polished diamond prices dropping 15.7% from August 2008 to August 2009.  Most of that drop occurred in the November to February period with prices being stable since May.

The past year produced the largest drop in diamond demand in more than 50 years with the most visible fall out being the weekly reports of bankruptcies in the retail and manufacturing sectors of the diamond industry.  Retailers in particular simply could not cut enough costs to compensate for the lack of sales.  Retailers and wholesalers who had made money by leveraging purchases of diamonds as the prices were going up suddenly saw their credit lines cut and interest rates rise at the same time their inventories lost 15% or more in value.

What can the diamond industry expect in the months ahead?  With the US economy slowly coming out of the recession and demand continuing to grow in China and India, demand should become more stable and head back up.  At the same time, many of the large diamond mines are moving from open pit to underground production, which will lower production levels.  The economic crisis has also delayed opening of any new mines so global production of diamonds will soon be outpaced by supply again, which means diamond prices will soon return to their historic 3 to 4 percent annual inflation trends.  However, the that price inflation will likely see considerably short term fluctuations as the industry continues to react to the more chaotic global financial times.

Global Economic Slowdown Impacts Diamond Industry

Diamond prices, like most commodity and luxury items had been climbing for years.  Large diamond prices in particular have been sky rocketing the past five years due to the imbalance of supply and demand.  This year alone, diamond prices were up about 16 percent.  However, the global forecasts and now the reality of economic slowdown, are taking their toll on the demand for diamonds.

After seeing the prices of large diamonds begin to fall, the world’s largest producers of diamonds (De Beers and Russia’s ZAO ALROSA) have announced they will cut supplies of rough gems to support prices.

The sight-holders who purchase diamonds from De Beers have requested the supply of diamonds be reduced at the final two “sights” scheduled in November and December.  ALROSA has said they will reduce rough diamond supplies as much as 30 percent.

The reduction of rough diamond supply is an effort to keep the price of diamonds steady and thus encourage continued exploration and mining efforts.  A sudden, short-term drop in diamond prices would play havoc with the capital-intensive diamond mining industry, causing some business to stop exploration and mining efforts.  Then when the economy recovers and the demand for diamonds gets back on its fast track, the supply side would lag the demand side of the industry and cause sharp price increases.  De Beers and ALROSA are acting as a moderating agent for diamond prices.

The plummeting stock market and severe credit crisis have caused the confidence of luxury buyers in the United States to drop to its lowest level in four years.  Stock prices of luxury retailers like Tiffany & Co have dropped as much as 40 percent this year in anticipation of reduced diamond sales.

Consumers will continue to purchase diamonds as engagements, anniversaries and special occasions continue in good and bad economic times.  However, even the wealthy shoppers are being more discriminate about their purchases and shopping for values.

$5 Million Victoria’s Secret Diamond Bra

Victoria’s Secret knows how to get attention and their 2008 Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra is no exception.  The one-of-a-kind contains about 3,900 gemstones with 1,500 total carat weight and was created by Martin Katz, the rare gemstone jeweler who has worked with Victoria’s Secret on earlier fantasy lingerie.

The bra has 3,575 black diamonds, 117 certified one-carat white round diamonds and 34 rubies.  Two tear-shaped black diamonds with 100 total carat weight, drop from diamond encrusted cords in from.

Brazilian Adriana Lima is the supermodel who will be modeling the this 2008 Fantasy Bra in the Victoria’s Secret Christmas catalog as well as the December 3 televised fashion show.

Learn more about black diamonds...

July Rough Diamond Prices up 5%

De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC) has increased the average prices of rough diamonds more than 5% at its sixth sight distribution July 7-11.  While the average was over 5%, the price of higher quality rough diamonds over one carat increased as much as 15 percent.

The next sightholder rough diamond distribution, scheduled for the week of August 18, will likely have further price increases.

The prices of polished diamonds tend to track closely with the rough diamonds because the cutters and wholesaler have to pass on the increased cost of new diamonds.  It is only a matter of days or weeks before the retail market reflects these increased diamond prices in polished diamonds and diamond jewelry.

Expected Diamond Price Increases

De Beers has scheduled sightholder meetings in July and August, which is where they sell the rough diamonds to cutters.  Industry expectations are that there will be significant price increases for rough diamonds and that the expected increases will probably take place in August rather than July.  Traditionally De Beers announces in advance what the range of increases will be but that information has not been released, resulting in anticipation of double digit increases in for some groups of diamonds.

Price increase announcements for rough diamonds are usually scheduled ahead of the three major industry trade shows (Basel in March, JCK Las Vegas in June, Hong Kong in September).  Price increases tend to be the greatest for larger diamonds since those are the items with the biggest differential between supply and demand.  The last major price increase was in May with average prices increasing about 8% but some four-carat and above diamonds increasing over 20% in one day.  Production of small diamonds tends to be more in line with demand so they have seen relatively small price increases.

The price increases for polished diamonds tend to follow close behind the rough diamond price increases so the likely timeframe is August or September.  If you are planning a large diamond purchase in the next few months, I would suggest taking action sooner rather than later.  We do not know when the retail price increases will occur, for what types of diamonds, or how much the price increases will be, but all the signs are that they will go up near the end of summer.  It would be a shame for a consumer to pay 5-10% more just because they waited a few weeks too long to make their purchase, especially if they have been made aware of the impending price increase.