DIAMOND GEMS WEEKLY

Just as I was crossing the t's and dotting the i's on this week’s newsletter, a press release landed in my inbox announcing that De Beers is pausing operations at the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years. That changed the lead story because this is a significant development, even if it isn't entirely surprising. In fact, I argued this was a likely outcome in the Diamond Executive Report, The Value of De Beers, published in May, where I wrote: “De Beers might conside

By far the most consequential story over the past week went a little under the radar. De Beers signaled it would reduce prices at the sight that began today, as reported by Rapaport’s Joshua Freedman. The move, corroborated by my own sources, is a sign that De Beers believes the market is improving. That may sound counterintuitive given the price cuts, but De Beers typically adjusts prices to stimulate buying when it sees polished inventories have declined and demand beginn

This week I turn my attention to technology and what I believe may be the real opportunity for lab-grown diamonds. Over the weekend, I was alerted to a video by Chloe Abram. If you're not familiar with her, as I wasn't, she describes herself as a video journalist who makes optimistic explainers about technology. Her latest video, The $1 Trillion Problem Diamonds Can Solve, attracted more than a million views in its first day. In it, she gives an easy-to-follow explanation

Marquise-shape diamond ring offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in June 2026. (Sotheby's) It seemed like a quiet week, but there were some consequential developments in the diamond and jewelry world. Perhaps the key word to sum it all up is transparency. The biggest development in that regard was the GIA's announcement that it plans to: a) add comments to certain diamond grading reports noting that fluorescence may enhance a diamond's appearance in UV-rich environments

For many of us in the diamond and jewelry industry, LinkedIn is our playground. It’s the platform on which we engage most with our peers, share ideas, expand our networks, and build our personal and company brands. For years, the platform gave us a false sense of success, as the algorithm seemed to encourage engagement regardless of content quality. Frankly, it was quite simple to rack up thousands of impressions and hundreds of likes on almost any post. If you haven't no

It’s been a somewhat disruptive week for me, balancing travel with content creation, business development and analysis. I expect to be back to my regular broadcasting schedule this week. It’s also been an interesting period for the diamond and jewelry market. The post-Vegas environment can be unsettling, as companies focus on bringing goods home, following up on new connections and, hopefully, filling orders. That said, the industry conversation has shifted gears, as we’v

I was getting relatively positive energy from Las Vegas over the weekend, with the usual stream of company announcements timed around the JCK show (see What's Happening in Vegas?). Of course, the more important element of the show is sentiment and trading levels, which were perhaps best summed up by one subscriber who told me: “The feeling is that the US market is okay, but lab-grown keeps growing. In loose diamonds, only 2-carat and up is moving.” That’s not a big surpr

We have a big week ahead as the Las Vegas shows kick off on Wednesday and continue through the weekend. Las Vegas Jewelry Week remains one of the clearest indicators of the state of the US jewelry market and arguably offers the strongest networking environment on the industry calendar. The K-shaped economy has become a defining theme in how the US retail landscape has evolved, with jewelers increasingly shifting either toward higher-end, value-driven strategies or volume-ba

Last week’s Geneva auctions, and the GemGenève show before them, served as a welcome reminder of the resilience at the higher end of the diamond market. GemGenève, now firmly established as Europe’s premier jewelry trade show as it celebrated its 10th anniversary, drew record attendance, while the Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions generated strong buyer interest. Together, they offered an encouraging signal ahead of the Las Vegas shows that, despite the uncertainty and weak

It was a milestone week for me as The Diamond Press expanded with the publication of the inaugural Diamond Executive Report, the launch of the Diamond Executive Club, and the introduction of the Global Diamond & Jewelry Tracker. Thank you for the overwhelming support. Please feel free to reach out directly if you’d like more information or simply want to better understand how it all fits together. I realize it may seem like a lot at first glance, but the three offerings are

Happy new month. It’s quite crazy how quickly time is moving. We already have the Vegas shows coming up at the end of the month, though before that GemGenève gets underway this week and next, alongside the Geneva auctions with their usual line-up of spectacular diamonds. This year the offering feels a little understated, though the 5.50-carat triangular-cut fancy vivid blue-green diamond at Christie’s, and the cushion-shaped 6.03-carat fancy vivid blue, internally flawless

I’m not sure if you agree, but it feels to me that the industry has turned a positive corner in its marketing activity. Perhaps that’s a sign of tough times, with promotional efforts ramping up as the trade recognizes the urgency of reclaiming its place in the consumer mindset. We’ve had a seemingly successful launch of World Diamond Day by the Natural Diamond Council, De Beers’ Desert Diamonds push appears to be gaining traction, and organizations like the World Federation

It’s been a fun week for me personally, having launched a new podcast with my friends Rob Bates and Edahn Golan. We’re “The Diamond Dudes,” and I think we offer something that’s been missing in the industry for some time: unfiltered, opinionated discussion about diamond industry developments, with a bit of banter mixed in. It aligns closely with what I’m building at The Diamond Press . You can listen to the first episode on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Amazon Music or watch

The most significant development this past week is De Beers expanding its Desert Diamonds campaign into the bridal category. It’s a considered move as the company looks to stimulate demand across a broader range of goods. For some context, De Beers introduced Desert Diamonds last year, describing it as its first beacon concept in over a decade. A beacon is designed to spark industry-wide interest and consumer demand around a specific product category or idea, much like the

We all have a starting point in this industry. Mine goes back to age 11, on a school trip to Kimberley, where I was first introduced to the world of natural diamonds. In many ways, that excursion was a coming-of-age experience for me, one I’ve probably stretched into a better story over time, with a bit of embellishment thrown in. There were a few memorable moments. At one point I was left behind at a Boer War memorial, convinced I’d been abandoned and destined to become pa

In some sense, it was a historic week for the diamond industry, as Rio Tinto announced the closure of the Diavik mine in Canada. The significance of the announcement is threefold. First, it marks the end of a consistent source of supply. The mine was launched in 2003 and yielded around 153.8 million carats over its life, an average of about 6.8 million carats a year, though that settled closer to 4 million in recent years (see graph below). Second, it effectively comple

There has been a trickle of positive news from the diamond market, suggesting stabilization, or even a recovery, may be taking hold. Alrosa made that case in its latest press release , arguing that a tightening in supply is reversing the downward trend in rough and polished prices seen over the past few years. That’s a bold claim, and even by Alrosa’s own admission it applies mainly to the higher-priced segment, particularly goods in the 2-carat to 10-carat range. That se

This blog first appeared in the March 16 Pressing Matters Executive Memo. Read the full memo here, Pressing Matters . Another week, another report highlighting the disruption lab-grown is having on natural diamonds. This time the data comes from jewelry insurance provider BriteCo, whose findings echo trends we’ve seen in reports from Tenoris, The Edge Retail Academy, The Knot and others, even if each arrives at different market share estimates and average price points. Brit

This blog first appeared in the March 9 Pressing Matters Executive Memo. Read the full memo here, Pressing Matters . It’s been quite a week in the world. The situation in the Middle East raises the question of how the war with Iran might affect the diamond market, beyond the disruption to trading in Dubai and Ramat Gan, the two centers directly impacted by Iran’s attacks. Those interruptions are unlikely to upset the immediate diamond supply-demand dynamic. Rather, the broa

This blog first appeared in the March 2 Pressing Matters Executive Memo. Read the full memo here, Pressing Matters . Last week's Diamond Debate examined the question if the diamond industry overregulated. My opponent, Feriel Zerouki, president of the World Diamond Council, kicked off the conversation by listing a series of disclosure requirements involved in diamond trading. It’s worth considering these details as you reflect on the topic. For a small parcel of natural diam