The most expensive rough-cut diamond in history was sold overnight. Petra Diamonds of London sold the 507-carat rough diamond for over US$35 million. The buyer was Chow Tai Fook Enterprises from Hong Kong. They are a luxury Chinese conglomerate with big stakes in hotels, casinos, jewellery, telecom and transport all over the Far East. Petra Diamonds named the stone the Cullinan Heritage, after the Cullinan mine in South Africa, which also produced the original Cullinan stone — the worlds largest rough-cut diamond. That giant was sold to the British government in 1905 and was carved into The Star of Africa, the prize of the Crown Jewels and given the sale of its modern cousin, a pretty accurate assessment of the shift in economics over the last century. Whats more, Petra announced an earnings rebound last week. They made a $37 million profit over the last six months, compared with an $88 million loss in the same period the year before. The company cited a rebound in rough diamond prices and strong demand from China and India.
507ct Cullinan Heritage Rough Diamond Sells
February 27th, 2010Polished Prices Rising
February 23rd, 2010With the reduction of rough diamond mining in 2009, we are now feeling the effect with stronger polished prices. Shortages in certain polished sizes and qualities is prevelant.
De Beers may be entering a new era whereby they will reduce diamond rough production to bolster polished prices. If prices are going to increase in the future, is it not better to leave the goods in the ground and extend the life of the mines this way.
507ct Petra Diamond Named
February 22nd, 2010Petra Diamonds announced that the 507ct rough diamond they found in the famous Cullinan Mine has been named the Cullinan Heritage. The diamond will be placed on tender shortly in Johannesburg and is one of the top 20 largest high quality rough diamonds ever discovered. Sources say it could sell for US$30 million.
Diamond Grading at its Worst.
June 16th, 2009On a recent diamond buying trip a 1ct round diamond was selected fresh out of production. Our DTC Sightholder checks and grades a diamond at least three times during the cutting process. They had agreed on G colour and SI2 clarity. We selected the diamond as we liked the SI2 and agreed with the colour grading as G.
We then submitted the diamond to a very well known international diamond grading laboratory. We received a phone call about three weeks later with the results and it had been graded E colour and SI1 clarity. We declined the diamond as we would not want a diamond that is so far out to be in stock. The difference in quality is huge and equates to a lot of money.
Someone will end up purchasing this diamond on the market as an E SI1 when the true quality is G SI2. This is the danger when you buy a diamond on a grading report basis only and do not view the diamond or get a second opinion. Always view the actual diamond before you purchase.
Let the buyer beware.
Regards,
Diamonds.co.nz
Diamonds on a Budget
February 19th, 2009Everyone looking to buy a diamond has a budget to stick to. If your wanting to buy a diamond for your girlfriends engagement ring, a diamond for your right hand ring or any other piece of diamond jewellery you desire, setting a budget is a very large component of your shopping process. With everyone feeling the pinch from the economic down turn keeping to a budget is becoming more important than ever before. The following are some guidelines and tips which will allow you to set your budget and give you hope that there is that special diamond out there no matter what your budget is.
First we suggest you set the budget in your mind, that way you can give your jeweller a guideline to work with and also by being honest with your jeweller about how much you want to spend they won’t disappoint you by showing you something which is totally out of your budget. By viewing diamonds/jewellery which fall within your budget you may be surprised by the variety of options available to you, and you won’t be disappointed thinking you wish you could have the one you can’t afford.
Once you have your budget in mind start doing some research by looking at different styles of rings to get an idea of what you might like. Popular styles are; Solitaire, Three- Stone, Cluster. Spend time looking at different shapes that might suit your overall vision/look like best Round Brilliant, Princess Cut, Marquise , Oval , or Emerald. Round Brilliant cuts are still the most popular shape today and that’s why they are generally more expensive all factors being the same. If big is your style, consider using smaller diamonds rather than one large diamond, you can often get a large look by using smaller diamonds which are less expensive than one large diamond.
If you have your heart set on a certain size like a half carat diamond or one carat diamonds consider looking for a diamond that is slightly under this weight. That way you will pay a lot less and still have something which is just as large as a true half carat or carat diamond.
Think about colour and clarity as this will also have an effect on the price of a diamond. Remember that diamonds are a natural creation and are made to have clarity characteristics this is what makes each diamond unique and one of a kind.
www.diamonds.co.nz has a large database of all different shapes and sizes. Search our database and see what size diamond will fall within your budget and explore the option of using a number of smaller diamonds to create an amazing look.
Famous Wittelsbach diamond sold at Christie’s auction house for $45.8 Million
December 11th, 2008Christie’s auction house has sold the Wittelsbach Diamond at their Christie’s Jewels: The London sale. The diamond fetched NZ$45,870,169.00- a record price, according to the auction house. International jeweller Laurence Graff of Graff diamonds purchased the Wittlesbach Diamond, a seventeenth-century, cushioned-shaped, deep grayish-blue 35.56 carat VS2 stone, for an average price of NZ$1,289,937.00 per carat.
Francois Curiel, chairman of Christie’s Europe wrote in a statement: “In the midst of these challenging times, we were thrilled to achieve an historic price for an historic diamond. At $45.8 million, the 35.56 carat Wittelsbach blue diamond, dating to the seventeenth century, has become the most expensive diamond sold at auction, topping the previous record of $31 million for a 100-carat diamond in 1995 in Geneva. It was purchased by the leading international jeweller Laurence Graff, bidding against Aleks Paul of Essex Global Trading.
Caution – Counterfeit GIA Diamond Reports
November 6th, 20086/11/2008
Please take note of the following urgent matter. The following has come to the attention of the diamond and jewellery industry worldwide.
1. Counterfeit GIA diamond reports offered with HPHT (high pressure high temperature) treated diamonds or diamonds of a different grade than described on the accompanying counterfeit GIA Report, have been discovered in the marketplace.
2. Counterfeit GIA diamond reports with the exact GIA Report number and exact and or similar grading information and details are also being offered in the market place.
These counterfeit GIA diamond reports are accompanying HPHT diamonds or genuine diamonds of a different, though very similar grade.
We urge you to exercise utmost caution when purchasing a diamond online without having the diamond and the report verified as genuine by an independent diamond grading laboratory. To identify a diamond that has been treated by HPHT involves advanced laboratory testing.
You can help protect yourself by using the following method recommended by the GIA.
GIA Report Check is a free online service that lets clients check the information contained in a GIA Diamond Report and GIA Diamond Dossier. Enter the diamond’s report number and carat weight, and Report Check returns the Grading information, including a cut grade when available, that was issued for that diamond. Report Check currently serves only those diamonds graded from January 1, 2000 to the present. To access Report Check, go to http://www.gia.edu/reportcheck/
Extreme care needs to be taken when purchasing a diamond online, even if the diamond is accompanied by a diamond grading report due the use of counterfeit GIA diamond reports.
Virtual Diamonds
October 31st, 2008With the proliferation of diamond and jewellery websites recently in New Zealand and offshore there has been an increase in the use of virtual diamond inventory. This is the ability of internet based operations to link back to offshore diamond portals and list the corresponding diamond stock on their websites. A margin is then added to these diamonds. Many of these websites are being run by IT people with no prior experience in the diamond or jewellery industry. They see it as an ideal product to be sold on the internet as it is of high value, small and easily shipped to consumers.
This is why you see New Zealand and offshore websites purporting to have a stock or 30,000 or 40,000 diamonds when in fact they don’t own any of the diamonds. This is very unprofessional as this stock is from multiple suppliers and countries and the Jeweller has not seen the diamond and can make no comment on the actual diamond being quoted.
Professional Jewellers would never buy a diamond that they have not had the chance to view before buying. This is because Jewellers know that there are a large number of variables that make up a diamonds quality that are not recorded on a diamond grading report and that diamond grading reports are not all equal. The analogy is that you would not buy a house from the road – you would want to go inside and view the layout, quality of the build and finish etc. This is the same with a diamond. All diamonds listed on www.diamonds.co.nz are owned by us and along with our De Beers DTC Sightholder have looked at each diamond at least six times during its cutting process, grading process and final purchase. We know exactly what each diamond is and where we feel it is in the grading system. We have been buying diamonds for the New Zealand jewellery industry for 25 years.
Diamond Clarity Enhancement
October 31st, 2008Diamond clarity enhancement is a process to improve the clarity of a diamond by the use of a foreign material, normally a type of glass, being forced under pressure into open fissures, cracks and other surface reaching characteristics on the surface of a polished diamond.
Diamonds listed on www.diamonds.co.nz are not clarity enhanced and we would never supply these diamonds to our clients.
Our main area of concern is that they are actually not what they appear as the process can improve the clarity and appearance of the diamond by a number of clarity grades. Yes, the majority of clarity enhanced diamonds are disclosed when initially sold but with any further sales this disclosure can get lost.
Also there is a considerable risk in damaging the diamond and returning it to its original clarity while under repair, as the majority of clarity enhanced diamonds cannot withstand the heat of a jeweller’s torch.
Diamond Clarity
October 1st, 2008All diamonds are graded for Clarity; this is another component that makes up the 4C’s which determines each diamonds value (price). Clarity is a diamonds freedom from clarity characteristics, which are classified in two parts –Inclusions and Blemishes.
Inclusions are enclosed within a diamond, or they extend into the diamond from its surface. Blemishes are confined to the diamonds surface. Inclusions generally have more influence on a diamonds clarity grade than blemishes.
The clarity characteristics found in a diamond make it unique. It is very unlikely that two diamonds would have the same clarity characteristics in exactly the same position.
When grading diamonds, a clarity grading scale is used. The scale provides a universal method for describing a diamonds clarity. The scale consists of 11 clarity grades.
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Clarity Scale |
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Flawless |
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Internally |
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Flawless |
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Very very slightly included |
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VVS1 |
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VVS2 |
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Very slightly included |
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VS1 |
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VS2 |
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Slightly included |
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SI1 |
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SI2 |
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I1 |
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I2 |
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I3 |
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Diamonds form under tremendous heat and pressure; it is extremely rare to find a diamond that does not contain any internal and external clarity characteristics. Clarity characteristics are caused by the diamonds formation and help Gemologists separate natural diamonds from synthetics and simulants, and identify individual stones.