It’s been a long time since Japan has been in the diamond industry’s headlines. Indeed, the last major occasion was when it was knocked off the number two spot in the global ranking of diamond consuming countries by China several years ago. Read More...

One month ago, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) announced the sudden suspension of its diamond sealing services and the issuance of duplicate reports at all locations. Its formal explanation is that “the Institute is taking this action after receiving a sealed diamond for verification that did not match the data label in the sealing packet. Read More...

How do I sell more diamonds, a diamond trader recently asked me. Why don't we see global promotion of diamond jewelry so that more diamonds are sold? Read More...

The gradually evolving hysteria surrounding gemological laboratory diamond over-grading, mis-grading, grade definitions and standards reminds me of the movie “Dirty Dancing” from the late 1980s. Read More...

OECD Guidelines: A Replacement of the Kimberley Process? was the original name given by the organizers for Panel II at the Second Zimbabwe Diamond Conference that took place in Harare in early November. Though the original name of the panel discussion was changed, at the request of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it didn’t seem to matter much to the officials from Angola, Namibia, DRC, or Zimbabwe who were in attendance. Read More...

Although it is not certain just yet, with less than two months to go to the end of 2014, something interesting is happening in the U.S. retail jewelry sector. Jewelry and watch sales in the United States in September increased by around 3 percent on the year to $5.52 billion, after putting in a highly respectable rise of 4 percent in August. Consequently, 2014 could yet be a record-breaking year for jewelry and watch sales. Read More...

Although it is not certain just yet, with less than two months to go to the end of 2014, something interesting is happening in the U.S. retail jewelry sector. Jewelry and watch sales in the United States in September increased by around 3 percent after putting in a highly respectable rise of 4 percent in August. Consequently, 2014 could yet be a record-breaking year for jewelry and watch sales if those trends continue. Read More...

The press release published the day after the conclusion of the World Diamond Council’s 10th Annual Meeting last week should become a case study about the length and width in which supposedly ethically, responsible, transparency, accountable, honest organizations deceive their stakeholders. Read More...

The last thing I want to do is promote synthetic diamond czar Jatin Mehta’s synthetic diamond operations, IIa Technologies in Singapore, or his Pure Grown Diamonds (formerly Gemesis) operations in New York. But when I saw what appear to be his fingerprints on an ambitious, well-financed (of course), graphically well-executed new internet platform called “Better Diamond Initiative” (BDI), I believed, for one fleeting moment, that something good and worthy of reporting may be in the making. Read More...

Walking around Hatton Garden in London last week, the home since medieval times of the British jewelry industry, as well as town and city centers across the country, one receives a clear picture of the state of the retail jewelry in the United Kingdom. The mood is similar to that found across European countries. That mood, unfortunately, is rather morose. Read More...