Eight weeks of the trade, kept the way a ledger should be kept — dated, sourced, and in one place. New entries are added at the top each week; the quarter's running numbers live in the Almanac below.
AWDC's own machine-readable monthly series puts July 2026 rough imports at 1,590,026.12 carats for $241,050,713, an average of $151.60 a carat against June's $88.63, a rise of 71.05% on this desk's arithmetic. The published series runs from January 2022 and covers 55 complete months; July 2026 is the lowest of them, June 2026 (1,834,966.27 carats) the second lowest and May 2026 (1,989,371.16 carats) the third. Against July 2025 (3,118,013.12 carats for $414,238,026) carats are down 49.01% and value down 41.81%. The May to July three-month average is 5,414,363.55 carats for $634,237,819, or $117.14 a carat; the series high is $183.74 in April 2022. July exports were 2,751,303.49 carats for $255,048,440, $92.70 a carat, or 1.73 carats out for every carat in. The per-carat figure is a trade-flow average driven by mix, not a price index.
GJEPC published FY2025-26 New Zealand figures on 27 August at the close of a delegation running 20 to 26 August: exports of $25.46 million against $16.91 million, up 50.56% (recomputed 50.5618%). Gold jewellery was $17.47 million, up 84%, back-solving to about $9.49 million a year earlier and a rise of about $7.98 million against a total rise of $8.55 million, or about 93%. Cut and polished diamonds $5.76 million, silver jewellery roughly doubled to $0.91 million, imitation jewellery up 13.16% to $0.43 million, lab-grown diamonds up 2% to $0.63 million. Named categories sum to $25.20 million of $25.46 million, 98.98%. The India-New Zealand FTA signed 27 April 2026 has not entered into force. Delegation led by Vijay Mangukiya; Consul General Madan Mohan Sethi attended. Council data on its own trade, labelled as such.
The tape carried palladium at $1,336.00 from 21 August, held nine sessions because no two pages agreed inside band. At 04:59 ET on 28 August Kitco bid $1,359.00 against TradingEconomics $1,383.50 and CNBC XPD= $1,383.10. At the Editor's 05:59 ET re-read Kitco bid $1,381.00, TradingEconomics $1,405.00, CNBC $1,404.55: moves of $22.00, $21.50 and $21.45 in the same hour, agreeing within 55 cents. Kitco quotes $1,381.00 bid against $1,421.00 ask, a $40.00 spread worth 2.896% of the bid; the mid of $1,401.00 sits 0.2855% from TradingEconomics and 0.2534% from CNBC, and the same test passes at 04:59 (mid $1,379.00, 0.3253% and 0.2964%). Written back at the bid for consistency with gold, silver and platinum. Change on the held mark +$45.00 / +3.3683%, measuring nine sessions plus today. Same pass: gold $4,604.50 (+$25.00 / +0.5459%), silver $70.37 (+$2.314 / +3.4001%), platinum $1,883.00 (+$67.00 / +3.6894%); TradingEconomics platinum $1,895.80 diverges 0.6798% and is disclosed. Gold-silver ratio 65.43.
The brand's pure gold jewellery counter reads 1,387 yuan a gram for 28 August, down 8, carried identically by cngoldprice.com and jinjia.com.cn. The four boards are 1,410 (25 August), 1,399 (26 August), 1,395 (27 August) and 1,387 (28 August), a fall of 23 yuan or 1.6312%. The 25 August figure matches this paper's own 27 August ten-brand survey. Platinum jewellery reads 711 yuan against 715, 720 and 731 on the same dates, down 20 yuan or 2.7360%, while spot platinum was written back from $1,816.00 to $1,883.00, up 3.6894%, over the last of those days. Boards are stamped 16:00 China time (04:00 ET), before the New York session read at 05:59 ET, and are quoted in yuan a gram against a dollar-an-ounce spot with a retail making margin on top.
The rate went from 6% to 15% on 13 May 2026, stated purpose the protection of dollar reserves. Customs duty of ₹10,463 crore was collected between 13 May and 2 August, 81 days, about ₹129 crore a day on this desk's arithmetic. April imports, ahead of the hike, rose nearly 82% year on year; May rose nearly 34% with the duty in force for part of the month; June and July together were $6.13 billion against $5.81 billion, up 5.51% on this desk's recomputation. India buys 700 to 800 tonnes a year and exports finished jewellery to the UAE, Thailand and Singapore. Reports on 26 August (Outlook Business; Free Press Journal crediting Moneycontrol) say officials are examining a cut, with industry asking for 6% and silver and platinum duties under the same review; sourced to unnamed officials, no notification issued, the Ministry of Finance did not respond to a request for comment, and several outlets trace to the same original reporting. Labelled speculative.
Diamond City reported on 27 August that Ahmedabad and Surat counters held Raksha Bandhan demand at record prices, putting gold at ₹1.7 lakh per 10 grams against roughly ₹1.02 lakh a year earlier (up 66.67%) and silver at ₹2.45 lakh a kilo against ₹1.17 lakh (up 109.40%), both on this desk's arithmetic. The outlet's own claim that precious metals more than doubled holds for silver and not for gold. At ₹17,000 a gram the ₹5,000 gift band buys 0.294 grams, and the 1.5 to 2 gram pieces reported selling fastest are ₹25,500 to ₹34,000 in metal alone. Jigar Soni, president of the Jewellers Association of Ahmedabad, reports strongest demand in rakhis, coins, crockery and gifts to ₹5,000; Param Begani attributes lab-grown popularity among younger buyers to gold prices; Ashish Zaveri credits a partial price correction and reports 9-carat buying among the young. Nine-carat is 37.5% gold against 22-carat's 91.67%, or 40.9% of the content. The outlet carries a secondary-research disclaimer on its price comparisons. No volume figure in grams was published.
Laopu Gold (06181.HK) published interim results for the six months to 30 June on 25 August. The company reports two top lines and they must not be confused: sales performance, covering total product sales, was 22.779 billion yuan, up 60.6%, while recognised revenue was 19.808 billion yuan, up 60.3%. The difference is 2.971 billion yuan, or 13.04% of the sales figure on this desk's arithmetic, and summaries quoting 22.78 billion as revenue overstate the business against its own accounts. Profit attributable to owners was 4.267 billion yuan, up 88.18%; adjusted net profit on the non-IFRS measure was 4.317 billion yuan, up 83.6%, so the adjustment makes growth slower rather than faster. Gross margin rose from 38.1% to 41.3%, net margin from 18.4% to 21.5%. Basic earnings were 24.16 yuan a share against an interim dividend of 18.02 yuan, a payout of 74.59%. Offline stores were 77.8% of revenue, online platforms 22.2% and up 171.9%, revenue outside the mainland up 107.8%. Separately dated and not attached to these results: shares fell 23.76% to close at HK$302.20 on 28 July, the day of the profit alert, a month before this release.
Movado Group filed its Form 10-Q on 26 August for the three months to 31 July 2026. Net sales rose $7.9 million or 4.9% to $169.8 million. Watch and Accessory Brands made $142.9 million, up 5.3%, and Company Stores $26.9 million, up 2.8%, putting the watch segment at 84.2% of the company on this desk's arithmetic. Inside the watch segment, licensed brands grew $8.3 million or 9.0% while owned brands grew $0.3 million or 0.7%. United States locations made $47.5 million, up 5.9%; international $95.4 million, up 5.0%, including $0.7 million of favourable currency, without which sales would have risen 4.4%. Net income attributable to Movado Group was $12.3 million against $3.0 million, or 4.10 times, and $19.2 million against $4.4 million across six months, or 4.36 times. Gross profit rose $13.3 million and gross margin expanded approximately 530 basis points, roughly 380 of them attributed by the company to sales mix, and gross profit included $3.2 million of IEEPA duty refunds received, a little over a quarter of the quarter's net income. The company operated 57 retail outlet locations at both period ends. Carat Capital reported on 26 August that Fossil Group's net sales fell 4.9% in its own quarter to 4 July; the two quarter ends are twenty-seven days apart and are neighbouring periods, not the same one.
The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council met Manish Kumar, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Delhi, at its head office in Mumbai on 24 August, following Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's nomination of him to meet the trade. GJEPC fielded Kirit Bhansali, chairman; Shaunak Parikh, vice chairman; Anoop Mehta, convener of the diamond panel; Ashish Borda, convener of PMBD; Mital Doshi, convener of BITC; and Sabyasachi Ray, executive director. The Bharat Diamond Bourse sent vice president Mehul Shah and customs convener Anup Zaveri. This desk counts nine distinct grievances in the council's own account: rough valuation assessments; repeated examination including continued 100% checking at Mumbai Customs; underuse of the Risk Management System and of importer compliance history; inconsistency between Mumbai and Surat; absence of specialised trade expertise in valuation, on the argument that a general valuer cannot reach a transaction-level market value for rough; misdeclaration proceedings arising from minor weight or description differences; detention of consignment exports and re-imports over small variations; the need for better coordination between customs and other government agencies, with greater consistency of procedure and clearer guidance for officers handling the sector; and inconsistent interpretation caused by frequent personnel changes. Corrected 28 August 2026: this entry and the article first said eight, omitting the inter-agency coordination concern. Kumar agreed a risk-based approach could reduce unnecessary examination while keeping safeguards against revenue leakage, said the concerns would be examined with the Mumbai and Surat formations, and requested a consolidated flow chart of the rough diamond trade process plus a comprehensive list of issues. No consignment count, detention figure, clearance time, relief or timeline was published, and this desk estimates none.
On 25 August, ten Chinese jewellery brands posted gold counter prices inside seven yuan a gram. Chow Tai Fook, Chow Tai Seng, Chow Hong Ji and Tse Sui Luen read 1,410 yuan; Chow Sang Sang and Luk Fook 1,408; Lao Miao 1,407; Lao Feng Xiang 1,406; Zhou Liu Fu 1,405; China Gold 1,403, the lowest. The spread is 7 yuan, or 0.499% of the low, this desk's arithmetic. On 24 August, Chow Tai Fook read 1,393, Chow Sang Sang 1,390 and Lao Miao 1,393, so in one session Chow Sang Sang added 18 yuan or 1.295%, Chow Tai Fook 17 yuan or 1.220%, and Lao Miao 14 yuan or 1.005% - a daily move two to three times the distance across the whole field. These are retail counter prices for finished jewellery, each carrying its own workmanship charge above the metal, not spot quotations, and the per-gram labour charge is not disclosed on these boards. A 26 August pullback reported for four of these brands reached this desk single-source with a back-calculated day-over-day change; it could not be confirmed against a second independent source and is therefore not printed, and no 25-to-26 August change is stated.
At this desk's 06:01 ET press-time reading on 27 August, gold was marked at $4,579.50 an ounce, down $42.80 or 0.926% on the 26 August mark of record of $4,622.30. Kitco bid $4,579.50, TradingEconomics $4,580.07 (0.0124% gap) and CNBC's XAU feed $4,579.89 (0.0085% gap); the session range was $4,578.40 to $4,643.70, a span of $65.30, with the mark $1.10 above the low. Silver was marked at $68.056, down $0.494 or 0.721%, with TradingEconomics $68.193 and CNBC $68.1759, gaps of 0.201% and 0.176%. The gold to silver ratio is 67.29. Platinum had been held at $1,881.00 since 21 August, seven consecutive sessions, because Kitco and the standing second page kept disagreeing beyond the band. The 05:00 tape flagged that the held mark had drifted $19.00 above the entire Kitco day range of $1,815.00 to $1,862.00. Confirmed at press time and rewritten to $1,816.00: Kitco bid $1,816.00 and CNBC XPT= $1,819.66, a gap of 0.202% inside the band, while TradingEconomics read $1,833.90, a 0.986% divergence disclosed in print. Every live reading available sat below the carried mark. The change against $1,881.00 is -$65.00 or -3.456%, and it measures the correction of a carried figure, not one day of trading. Palladium was held an eighth session at $1,336.00: Kitco bid $1,294.00 against a $1,341.00 ask, TradingEconomics $1,309.00 and CNBC $1,310.99, gaps of 1.159% and 1.313%, with no two pages agreeing - but unlike platinum the held mark still sits inside today's Kitco range of $1,292.00 to $1,364.00.
Doyle's Important Jewelry sale in New York was led by a 12.46-carat cut-cornered step-cut emerald cut, D colour, VS2, between tapered baguettes, at $457,700 against a $350,000 high estimate, which is $107,700 or 30.8% above the ceiling on this desk's arithmetic, and $36,733.55 a carat. Rapaport's report of 24 August, drawing on Doyle's own website, puts the whole sale above $8 million. A JAR ring of about 1980 with a 5.78-carat G VS2 cushion modified brilliant made $165,600 against $80,000 to $120,000, or 1.38 times the high. A Cartier Mahango Panthere necklace of more than 500 diamonds weighing about 30 carats made $133,850 against $50,000 to $70,000, 1.91 times the high. A pair of 1890 earrings holding an oval 4-carat Ceylon sapphire and an oval 4.17-carat Kashmir sapphire, each ringed by ten old-mine diamonds, made $140,200 against $30,000 to $50,000, which is 2.80 times the high and 180.4% above it, the widest margin in the top five. A Tiffany and Co. Fleurage bracelet, eight rounds of 10.80 carats and 439 smaller rounds of 25 carats, made $127,500 inside a $100,000 to $150,000 estimate, 15% below the high, the one lot of the five that did not beat its book. The five together made $1,024,850, at most 12.8% of a sale of more than $8 million. Doyle publishes no origin or treatment detail in the results this desk read, so the sapphires' laboratory origin call and heat status are unknown and are not asserted here.
Elmwood's Auctioneers sold a Verdura unicorn-head brooch, about 1.10 carats of diamonds under a circular cabochon turquoise crown, made by Fulco di Verdura, for 23,750 pounds or $32,400 at its London sale of 19 August 2026, reported by Rapaport on 24 August. It belonged to Virginia Fortune Ryan Ogilvy, dowager countess of Airlie, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II for close to fifty years. Three lots named in the same report sold for more: a 1927 Van Cleef and Arpels Art Deco diamond feather brooch at 75,000 pounds or $102,229, an Art Deco Egyptian Revival tiara at 65,000 pounds or $88,595, and a Cartier tutti frutti brooch of about 1940 at 60,000 pounds or $81,780. The Van Cleef made 3.16 times the royal brooch on this desk's division. Each dollar figure divided by its sterling figure returns 1.36305, 1.36300, 1.36300 and 1.36421, so one conversion rate near $1.363 to the pound was applied across the sale rather than four separately struck prices. The four named lots total 223,750 pounds or $305,004. Elmwood's published no sale total in the report this desk read, so the four lots' share of the sale is not stated. Priced as jewellery the Verdura returned $29,455 for each carat of diamond content, which is the signature and the provenance rather than the goods.
The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council's release of 25 August 2026 records the 13th India Rough Gemstones Sourcing Show opening in Jaipur on 24 August and running to 11 September, a nineteen-day window. Kagem Mining Ltd of Zambia is named as showing rough emeralds, and is the only source-country miner named. The council puts attendance at more than 60 Indian coloured-gemstone manufacturers, its own count and not independently audited. R.K. Chandan, Commissioner of Customs at Jaipur, was chief guest, with Jeevan Ram Dhaka, Assistant Commissioner of Customs at ACC Jaipur, Yogendra Garg, the council's regional chairman for Rajasthan, and D.P. Khandelwal, convener of its coloured gemstones panel. The stated purpose is to let Indian manufacturers buy rough at source without travelling abroad. Kagem is Gemfields' Zambian emerald mine, 75% owned with the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia holding the rest; its higher-quality rough auction held in London across May took $26.8 million, clearing 36 of 37 lots and 183,385 of 185,135 carats at an average $146.08 a carat, as this paper reported on 24 July, and Gemfields took $102.9 million from auctions across the first half of 2026, up 72%, as reported here on 31 July. No value, carat weight, lot count, sale mechanism or result has been published for the Jaipur show, which does not close until 11 September.
Fossil Group's Form 10-Q for the thirteen weeks to 4 July 2026, filed with the SEC on 13 August, puts net sales at $209,688 thousand against $220,388 thousand for the quarter to 5 July 2025, a fall of $10.7 million or 4.9%. On the company's own table of net sales by class of similar products, traditional watches fell from $178,446 to $175,746 thousand, which is 1.5%; smartwatches from $1,400 to $1,388 thousand; total watches from $179,846 to $177,134 thousand, 1.5%. Leathers fell from $16,947 to $11,679 thousand, a drop of $5,268 thousand or 31.1%, which is roughly half the company's entire decline from a line worth under 6% of sales. Jewellery fell from $19,390 to $17,220 thousand, $2,170 thousand or 11.2%. Across twenty-six weeks traditional watch sales rose, from $363,076 to $364,477 thousand, up $1,401 thousand or 0.4%, while total watches were down 0.25%, leathers down 34.6% and jewellery down 10.3%, on half-year net sales down 4.2% from $453,681 to $434,449 thousand. Watches rose as a share of quarterly sales from 81.6% to 84.5%, jewellery slipped from 8.8% to 8.2% and leathers from 7.7% to 5.6%. The filing is thirteen days old and cannot lead under this paper's fourteen-day rule.
The Israeli Diamond Institute's technology department, in an article dated 25 August 2026 on its own site and bylined to staff gemologist Sergey Lazon, reports a rough stone submitted on Tuesday 18 August whose recorded data matched expected parameters and which externally appeared to be natural rough. Microscopy found small clouds and inclusions of the kind natural rough carries, together with minor defects the institute describes as atypical of natural diamond and consistent with CVD growth. A dedicated CVD screening device returned a preliminary indication of laboratory origin, which the institute itself qualifies by noting such devices can give ambiguous readings where inclusions are weak. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy returned what the institute calls an unambiguous result and classified the stone as Type IIa, the nitrogen-poor category most laboratory-grown diamond falls into and one the institute says is difficult to attribute to natural origin given this rough's structure and shape. The account gives no carat weight, measurements, colour, price or country of submission. It states that the Gemological Institute of America identified a comparable stone days earlier and attributes that to a report by IDEX Online rather than to the GIA directly, a claim hedged twice in the original and carried hedged here. Single-source: the testing laboratory describing its own test, with no independent outlet reporting it and no submitting party named.
The Editor re-read all four metals on Kitco at press time on 26 August 2026, board timestamp 05:59 ET, and wrote two back. Gold $4,622.30 the ounce against TradingEconomics at $4,623.84, a gap of $1.54 or 0.033%; silver $68.55 against $68.68, a gap of 13 cents or 0.19%. Both replace 05:00 marks of $4,626.00 and $68.462. Gold's marks of record ran $4,643.90 on Monday, $4,634.20 on Tuesday and $4,622.30 today, down $9.70 then $11.90, for $21.60 or 0.465% across two sessions. Kitco's own board showed a larger fall of $35.60 or 0.76% measured against its own previous close rather than this paper's daily mark, which is a different reference and not a divergence between sources; its day range ran $4,615.50 to $4,674.60, so the morning mark sits $6.80 above the low in a $59.10 range. Silver ran $68.74, $67.88 and $68.55 across the same three sessions, up 0.99% on yesterday and 19 cents or 0.28% below Monday, narrowing the gold to silver ratio to 67.43 from 68.27, with Monday's at 67.56. Platinum and palladium were held a sixth session at $1,881.00 and $1,336.00, both set 21 August: Kitco read $1,856.00 and $1,321.00 against TradingEconomics at $1,871.40 and $1,339.50, gaps of 0.83% and 1.40%, outside the band. Both held marks sit inside today's Kitco day ranges of $1,846.00 to $1,887.00 and $1,305.00 to $1,375.00.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange's Au99.99 contract closed at 1,004.21 yuan a gram on 24 August 2026, up 20.65 yuan or 2.10% on a previous settlement of 983.56, back-solved by this desk from the exchange's close and change. Open 990.00, high 1,006.60, low 985.00, weighted average 1,002.84 on 7,268.38 kilograms and turnover of 7.289 billion yuan; volume divided into turnover returns 1,002.84 exactly, so the table reconciles against itself. Au99.95 closed 1,004.00 on 2.00 kilograms and Au100g 1,006.19, all three within 2.19 yuan. The level is a return and not a first: the National Business Daily's report of 24 August is headed with the domestic price returning to 1,000 yuan and lists three prior reports of it falling below, one carrying an exchange risk warning. The exchange's 42-stock gold concept board split 22 up, 19 down, one flat; the biggest riser was Shenzhen Zhonghua A at 9.99% and Zijin closed down 0.58%. Five savings-gold products at four state banks quoted at 10:15 Beijing time between 1,005.69 and 1,022.29 yuan a gram, a spread of 16.60 yuan or 1.65% of the lowest on this desk's arithmetic: Bank of China 1,022.29, Agricultural Bank's Cunjintong 1,018.00, ICBC's Ruyi 1,017.48, Construction Bank 1,008.89, ICBC 1,005.69. ICBC's two products stand 11.79 yuan or 1.17% apart on the same morning. Under the one-price rule the Editor re-read the metals at press time on 25 August 2026 at 06:05 New York time and wrote two back. Gold: Kitco bid $4,634.20 an ounce against the 05:00 mark of $4,626.60 and the 24 August mark of record of $4,643.90, so -$9.70 or -0.21% on the session; second page TradingEconomics $4,634.46, a gap of $0.26 or 0.0056%, the closest two-page agreement this tape has recorded on the metal. Silver: Kitco bid $67.88 against the 05:00 mark of $67.74 and $68.74 on 24 August, so -$0.86 or -1.25%; second page $67.969, a gap of 0.13%. Platinum not written back: Kitco bid $1,842.00 against TradingEconomics $1,857.40, a gap of $15.40 or 0.83%, so the last agreed mark of $1,881.00 stands a sixth consecutive session. Palladium not written back: Kitco bid $1,306.00 against $1,327.00, a gap of $21.00 or 1.61%, so $1,336.00 stands a sixth session. Both held marks sit inside Kitco's press-time day ranges, platinum $1,836.00 to $1,900.00 and palladium $1,298.00 to $1,390.00. Outside-source divergence disclosed: the National Business Daily carried international spot at $4,636.06 at its own 24 August filing hour, a different day and hour, and is not compared with this tape's mark.
Diamond City, the Gujarati fortnightly serving the Surat trade, reported on 24 August 2026 that the India Centre for Lab-Grown Diamond (InCent-LGD) has completed successful trials of a domestically designed high-pressure high-temperature diamond press at IIT Madras and grown HPHT rough on it. The press is a prototype built under the 242 crore rupee research programme announced for IIT Madras in the 2023 union budget, three years before the trial. Components for a full-scale commercial press have been manufactured across units in north India and shipped to IIT Madras for integration, assembly and final testing. Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council sources put an official announcement of the capability as likely in November 2026 and the first full-scale press as expected complete by December 2026; every date is an expectation reported through third parties. InCent has issued no statement of its own and this desk found no English-language trade coverage at press time, so the item is carried single-source and labelled so in the body, in Plate I's note and here. India bought roughly $594 million of rough lab-grown diamonds from China and Hong Kong in FY2025-26 on the same report's figures, which it converts to more than 4,900 crore rupees, an implied rate of about 82.5 rupees to the dollar. On that implied rate the 242 crore rupee programme is close to $29 million, or about 4.9% of a single year's import bill, on this desk's arithmetic and the outlet's own conversion rather than a market rate this desk has verified. India already holds a commanding share of world production by chemical vapour deposition and Surat cuts and polishes more than 90% of the world's diamonds; the gap is HPHT press capacity, where China's scale has made it the supplier of record.
Diamond City reported on 24 August 2026 that Indian imports of Russian rough ran at $1,195 million in FY2022-23 and $307 million in FY2025-26, a fall of $888 million or 74.3% on this desk's arithmetic. Russia once supplied roughly 30% of world rough. The report states that an executive order signed on 6 August 2026 establishes a diamond-cutting cluster between the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Smolensk region, where Alrosa's Kristall cutting works sits; that Russia is preparing an 8% export duty on rough; and that miners will be obliged to offer rough and semi-polished goods to the cluster's domestic manufacturers before the open market. The outlet carries its own secondary-research disclaimer on that policy material and this paper attributes the detail to it rather than presenting it as a verified reading of the order. Dinesh Navadiya, chairman of the Indian Diamond Institute, and Surat manufacturers argue that Botswana and Russia have both attempted domestic cutting before without matching Surat's scale or cost, where more than 800,000 skilled workers process nine of every ten rough stones in the world. Dubai-based traders and Surat importers add that with demand slow and margins thin nobody is funding new factories or relocating cutters, and that the United States takes about 30% of India's gem and jewellery exports while Russian goods remain under sanction. The report gives no capacity figure, timetable, employment target or redirected volume for the cluster, so there is no quantity against which Surat's confidence can be tested.
Matthew Burdeen, chief executive of Burdeen's Jewelry of Chicago, told Watch Insider on 14 August 2026 that the shortage of qualified watchmakers is one of the biggest structural problems in the watch industry, with intake barely replacing retirement while the installed base needing service grows; the Centurion carried the account on 18 August 2026. Burdeen's is building a 7,000 square foot watchmaking, service and operations facility due in 2027. Rolex's Watchmaking Training Center in Dallas took 27 students from more than 560 applicants in 2024, a figure Fortune reported and the Centurion cites, which is one place for every 20.7 applicants on this desk's arithmetic. North Seattle College's Watch Technology Institute accepts an average of 10 to 12 students a year on an eight-quarter certificate. The institute's own employment page returned HTTP 403 to this desk on 25 August 2026, so its outcome figures are carried from the trade press rather than verified at source, and two different quantities circulate, an 87% employment rate over five years of cohorts and a 91% completion rate; this paper prints neither as settled. Watch Insider's study of 25 February 2026 put roughly 44,000 qualified United States watchmakers in 1953 on Department of Labor and American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute records against about 6,500 in 2021 on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, a fall of 85.2% across 68 years on this desk's arithmetic. Jason Champion of the AWCI put the imbalance at at least ten employers seeking a watchmaker for every watchmaker seeking work, and Switzerland's employers' convention has worked to a need for roughly 4,000 additional watchmakers. No brand publishes a median service turnaround and no trade body publishes an aggregate repair backlog, so the shortage is argued from intake and job ratios rather than from measured queues.
Bonhams opened its Fine Jewellery sale in Sydney at 18:00 AEST on 25 August 2026, which is 04:00 New York time, and this desk read the house's own live board at 06:00 New York time, two hours in. Of the first 48 lots, 39 carried a result, eight showed an estimate and no price, and lot 11, a Concord 18ct gold and diamond lady's bracelet watch estimated AU$10,000 to AU$15,000, was marked withdrawn. Lots showing an estimate and no price are recorded as that and not as bought in, because a live page can lag the room. The sale carries 135 lots; 87 were still to come at press time. Prices are as the house publishes them, inclusive of a buyer's premium stated at 23% on the hammer. The leading lot, an unmounted 4.74 carat round brilliant, D colour and internally flawless, is estimated at AU$120,000 to AU$180,000 on Bonhams' own catalogue and had not been reached; Rapaport reported the sale on 23 August 2026 with the upper estimate alone, AU$180,000 or about $129,030, and this desk adds the lower figure from the house. It is the only lot in the sale estimated above AU$100,000 and the house's own filter puts the catalogue range at AU$1,000 to AU$180,000. Two lots tied for the top of the run at AU$55,350, a Van Cleef & Arpels white gold and diamond Frivole necklace and an Alhambra necklace from the same maison, both estimated AU$30,000 to AU$50,000 and both clearing above the high estimate. Below them a Hardy Brothers emerald and diamond ring took AU$19,680, a Cerrone diamond ring AU$18,450 and a Chopard Les Chaines bracelet AU$15,990. The eight lots without a price span AU$2,000 to AU$60,000 in estimate, so the run did not fail at the top and clear at the bottom, but the three largest estimates anywhere in the first 48 lots are all among them and none of the eight carries a maison name. Bonhams does not publish estimates against sold lots, so this desk cannot state what the 39 that cleared were expected to make.
IDEX Online reported on 20 August 2026 that Provenance Proof, the independent subsidiary of the Gubelin Gem Lab, has begun marking polished melee diamonds with synthetic-DNA nanoparticles using goods supplied by KGK Suisse, the Swiss sales and service arm of the KGK Group. Daniel Nyfeler, Gubelin's managing director, presented the work at the 41st World Diamond Congress in Singapore in July 2026, the congress at which the Qatar Diamond Exchange signed the three Asian bourse agreements this paper reported on 24 August 2026. Each particle carries a unique synthetic DNA sequence encoding mine of origin, mining period and country of manufacture; the tracer is invisible to the eye and to an optical microscope and readable only on laboratory equipment. Rough resists the technique for two stated reasons: rough is cleaned in hydrofluoric acid or deep-boiled before cutting, which damages the protective material around the DNA, and cutting and polishing removes particles applied too early, so the current model marks finished goods sorted and processed in large parcels. The technology is already in commercial use on selected Gemfields gemstones. Outside-source divergence, disclosed and unresolved: IDEX reports these as emeralds and Diamond City's report of 24 August 2026 describes them as sapphires; Gemfields mines emeralds in Zambia and rubies in Mozambique and does not mine sapphire, which points to emeralds, but this desk cannot settle it from the sources it holds. Nothing published states a cost per carat, a proportion of marked stones still readable after a full cutting and setting cycle, survival through a retail repolish, or a route for a laboratory other than Gubelin to read the marker.
Under the one-price rule the Editor re-read the metals at press time on 24 August 2026 at 05:58 New York time and wrote two of them back. Gold: Kitco $4,643.90 an ounce against the 05:00 mark of $4,637.00 and the 23 August mark of record of $4,602.40, so +$41.50 or +0.90% on the session; second page TradingEconomics read $4,646.92, a gap of $3.02 or 0.065%, inside the agreement band. It is the highest gold figure this tape has carried since the series opened on 5 August 2026 at $4,158.30, a gain of $485.60 or 11.68% across eighteen marks on this desk's arithmetic. Silver: Kitco $68.74 against the 05:00 mark of $68.62 and Friday's $68.86, so -$0.12 or -0.17%; second page TradingEconomics $68.90, a gap of $0.16 or 0.23%, marginally outside the sub-0.2% rule of thumb, the same order the tape desk accepted at 05:00, treated as agreement and stated rather than folded away. The gold-to-silver ratio reads 67.56 against 66.84 on 23 August marks, 0.72 of a point wider. Platinum was not written back: Kitco $1,874.00 against TradingEconomics $1,892.90, a gap of $18.90 or 1.01%, so the last agreed mark of $1,881.00 stands for a third consecutive session and sits inside the live range. Palladium is held on the same basis at $1,336.00 with Kitco reading $1,326.00. TradingEconomics' own page carries two gold figures, a live quotation of $4,646.92 and a market note of approximately $4,630, $16.92 apart; this paper prints neither and names Kitco as its mark. At 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce, $4,643.90 is $149.30 a gram against $147.97 on 23 August marks.
Gem Diamonds' H1 2026 trading update, published 28 July 2026 and covering 1 January to 30 June, reports revenue of $59.5 million on 42,624 carats sold at an average of $1,395 a carat, against $1,008 in the first half of 2025, a rise of 38%. Eight diamonds sold above $1.0 million each for aggregate revenue of $16.1 million, which is 27% of the half's revenue on this desk's arithmetic. The highest price of the period was $32,908 a carat for a 52.24-carat white, about $1.72 million for the stone. The update also names a 346.99-carat recovery at Letšeng, the Lesotho Jubilee, and reports no price against it. Reconciling against the first quarter: Q1 revenue of $32.1 million is the 16,727-carat first export sale at $1,501 a carat, being $25.1 million, plus a parcel of ten stones above 10.8 carats totalling 363 carats for $7.0 million, which sum exactly to the stated figure and to 17,090 carats, a blended Q1 rate of $1,878. The half less the quarter leaves about $27.4 million on 25,534 carats, an implied Q2 average near $1,073, roughly 43% below the Q1 blended rate; that subtraction is this desk's arithmetic and is not a company figure. For comparison, De Beers' realised price for the same half was $105 a carat on revenue of $1.58 billion, down 19%, with an underlying loss of $188 million, 23% narrower, as this paper reported on 31 July 2026.
The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council's own bulletin, published 22 August 2026, puts India's gem and jewellery exports to Australia at $374 million in FY2025-26, up 16% under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement. By category, gold jewellery exports rose by more than 28%, silver jewellery by nearly 30% and coloured gemstones by almost 36%, all three ahead of the 16% total, so the categories not named grew more slowly or fell. ECTA was signed 2 April 2022 and entered into force 29 December 2022; Australia gives zero-duty access across 100% of its tariff lines, with 98.3% duty-free immediately. The India-New Zealand free trade agreement was signed 27 April 2026 and has not yet entered into force. The council's delegation, led by Vijay Mangukiya, convener for international exhibitions, travelled Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington and Auckland from 20 to 26 August 2026 and met Showcase Jewellers Group, an independents' buying group founded in 1981 with 126 members operating 155 stores in Australia and further members in New Zealand and Vanuatu. The market read reported from those meetings is that 9-carat gold is mainstream Australian retail while 18-carat sits in the premium and fine tier. The release gives no prior-year base, so FY2024-25 is implied at about $322 million on this desk's arithmetic, and no monthly or quarterly path is published. Single source: the council's own release on its own export data. A Jewellery Industry Fair in Sydney on 10 and 11 October 2026 is the next fixed point, with an India pavilion scheduled.
The Qatar Diamond Exchange signed memoranda of understanding with the Diamond Exchange of Singapore, the Shanghai Diamond Exchange and the Tokyo Diamond Exchange. Each was signed by QDE director Ghanim Nasser Al Saadi with the counterparty's president: Fabio Cascapera, Lin Qiang and Michio Iwasaki respectively. The agreements frame member introductions, bilateral visits and reciprocal participation in tenders, auctions and viewings, and commit the parties to the World Diamond Council's System of Warranties and to Responsible Jewellery Council standards. None of the three has been published and none is reported to carry a volume commitment, fee schedule or term. The signings took place at the 41st World Diamond Congress in Singapore, held by the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association from 12 to 15 July 2026. QDE announced them in a statement dated Monday 17 August 2026, at least thirty-three days after the congress closed, and Rapaport carried the news on 23 August, day thirty-nine. This paper reported the exchange's own launch on 28 July 2026, day thirteen, three weeks before the agreements signed at that congress were made public. For scale, Dubai posted $41.7 billion of diamond trade in 2025. QDE operates at the Ras Bufontas free zone with sorting, vaulting, independent valuation and tender rights, and Qatar joined the Kimberley Process as a full member in 2021.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange's Au(T+D) was quoted at 999.46 yuan a gram on 22 August 2026, up 20.19 yuan or 2.06% against a previous close of 979.27. This paper printed the same contract at 940.44 on 14 August, so the exchange leg has added 59.02 yuan, or 6.28%, in eight sessions. On the same day Lao Miao Gold moved its pure gold jewellery board to 1,391 yuan a gram, up 34; Lao Feng Xiang to 1,388, up 32; and Chow Sang Sang to 1,387, up 22, which are rises of 2.51%, 2.36% and 1.61% on this desk's arithmetic against each brand's own previous board. Two of the three beat the exchange's move and one trailed it. Chow Sang Sang's premium to the exchange fell from 39.39% to 38.77%, a loss of 0.61 of a point, while the gap in yuan widened from 385.73 to 387.54. This desk also established that the Chinese price roundups datestamped 22 August at 07:00 carry Friday's counter board beside Saturday's exchange quotation: Lao Feng Xiang at 1,388 up 32 back-solves to 1,356 and Chow Sang Sang at 1,387 up 22 back-solves to 1,365, both being the figures in the 07:00 tables, and 1,365 is the number this paper printed on 22 August. A markup read off one of those tables is measured across two sessions.
Figures published on 16 August 2026 by the Israeli financial broadcaster Emess, in a report by Gadi Fox, give the first categorical split of a half-year this paper had carried only in aggregate. Net polished exports were $625.7 million against $804.5 million a year earlier, down 22.3%. Net polished imports were $531.3 million against $609 million, down 12.7%. Net rough exports were $191.2 million against $292.6 million, down 34.6%, and net rough imports $208.3 million against $324.6 million, down 35.8%. Rapaport also carried the polished export figure at the same $625.7 million; neither outlet names a source, so the match is corroboration of one release rather than a second count. Grouped by category, the two polished legs fell 18.1% and the two rough legs 35.3%, a ratio of 1.94 on this desk's arithmetic. Rough imports were 40.3% of polished exports a year ago and are 33.3% now. These are net figures and are a different series from the $2.4 billion gross half-year export total, the lowest half on record, that this paper printed on 27 July 2026 from the Diamond Controller's Office. The release carries no monthly path and no unit volumes, and the United States tariff change of late July falls outside the period. Corrected 24 August 2026: the 10% rate was the Section 122 tariff, which sunset on or about 24 July; the measure that took effect that day was a new Section 301 forced-labour tariff, under which Israel's rate is 12.5%.
23 August 2026 is a Sunday and no spot session exists. Under the one-price rule the Editor re-read the metals at press time on Kitco, the board carrying this tape, and returned Friday 21 August's last print unchanged: gold $4,602.40 an ounce and silver $68.86, both identical to the 05:00 mark, so nothing was written back. Platinum stays at $1,881.00, the last mark on which both pages agreed, with Kitco reading $1,877.00 and TradingEconomics $1,895.70, a gap of 0.99% and beyond the agreement band. Chinese reports separately put international spot above $4,600 an ounce in Friday's night session with an intraday high near $4,630 and describe it as a three-month high; those are outside-source figures at timestamps later than Kitco's Friday print and are not this paper's mark of record.
22 August 2026 is a Saturday and no spot session exists. Under the one-price rule the Editor re-read the metals at press time on Kitco, the board carrying this tape, and returned Friday 21 August's last print unchanged: gold $4,602.40 an ounce and silver $68.86. Nothing was written back and the 05:00 marks stand. Against this paper's 21 August marks of record, gold is up $20.80 or 0.45% and silver is down $0.45 or 0.65%, the only metal lower on the session. Second page, TradingEconomics, read gold at $4,607.35, a gap of $4.95 or 0.11%, inside the band this tape treats as agreement. Platinum and palladium remain held at $1,881.00 and $1,336.00: Kitco read $1,877.00 and $1,331.00 at press time against TradingEconomics at $1,895.70 and $1,350.50, gaps of $18.70 or 1.00% and $19.50 or 1.47%, both outside the agreement band, and both held marks sit inside the live range rather than outside it. This desk's arithmetic: the gold-to-silver ratio reads 66.84 against 66.10 on 21 August marks, 0.74 points wider, because silver fell while gold rose; at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce the four marks work out at $147.97, $2.21, $60.48 and $42.95 a gram.
Eastmoney, timestamped 14:51 Beijing on 21 August 2026, reported international spot gold breaking through $4,550 an ounce and trading at $4,554.441, up 0.8%, with COMEX futures at $4,598.4, up 0.59%. The drivers it names are the US Treasury's expansion of its liquidity-support repurchase operations from $20 billion to $40 billion, falling long-end Treasury yields, a weaker dollar, a repricing of fiscal risk, visible policy disagreement inside the Federal Reserve, and US federal debt passing $40 trillion. The Beijing timestamp is 02:51 in New York, roughly ten hours before Friday's last print, and this paper's own mark of record for the same session is $4,602.40, which is $47.96 or 1.05% higher, this desk's arithmetic on the two published readings. The two figures are the same rally at different hours and not a source disagreement. Eastmoney also carried Chow Sang Sang's pure gold jewellery at 1,365 yuan a gram, up 6 yuan after a 46-yuan rise the previous day; this paper reported the same counter at 1,285 yuan on 8 August 2026, so 80 yuan a gram or 6.23% has been passed to the Chinese shopper in thirteen days. A single-source Gulf leg is carried and labelled: Ghorba News, dated in its own text to Friday 21 August, put UAE retail gold at 538.46 dirhams a gram for 24 karat, 493.59 for 22, 471.15 for 21 and 403.84 for 18. Divided by the 24-karat rate those give 0.9167, 0.8750 and 0.7500 to four decimals, the exact fineness ratios, so the four figures are one struck rate stepped down by purity rather than four quoted markets; at the dirham's pegged 3.6725 the 24-karat rate is $146.62 a gram against $147.97 derived from this paper's own mark.
The World Gold Council's India gold market update, published 19 August 2026, puts July gold imports at $4.16 billion against $1.97 billion in June, a rise of 111% on this desk's arithmetic, with volumes estimated at 40 to 45 tonnes against 20 tonnes in June. The council attributes the rebound to June's price correction bringing consumers back to the counter and retailers restocking ahead of the September-October festival season. MCX futures averaged 14.9 tonnes of daily trading volume in July, up from 13.5 tonnes over the previous three months, with turnover reported separately at INR214 billion, about $2.2 billion, up 9% on the month. The investment leg moved the other way: net inflows into Indian gold ETFs were INR15.6 billion, about $163 million, which the council states was 55% lower month on month on Association of Mutual Funds of India data, while holdings rose one tonne to 120 tonnes and 57,000 new folios took total accounts to 12.53 million. The first two weeks of August added INR11.79 billion, about $124 million. The council marks the international benchmark up 9% in the first two weeks of August to $4,391 an ounce and Indian domestic prices up nearly 7% to INR151,744 per 10 grams; this paper's own mark of record on 22 August is $4,602.40, a further $211.40 or 4.81% above the level the report describes, so the restock window it documents has already closed at a higher price. Correction, 23 August 2026: an earlier version labelled the 14.9 tonne figure as average daily turnover; the World Gold Council reports it as average daily trading volume.
Three changes to the London Bullion Market Association's Good Delivery Lists between 5 and 21 August 2026 all concern Chinese refiners and run in both directions. Shandong Gold Smelting was suspended from both the gold and silver lists with effect from 5 August, as an interim measure after the association invoked its incident review process following the company's addition to the United States Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list, with the investigation still to conclude. Shenzhen Zhonghenglong Industrial was added to the gold list with effect from 17 August, having met the association's tests on ownership, history, production capability and financial standing plus independent assay of its bars and its own assaying capability; the company was founded in March 1997, refines gold, silver, platinum and palladium from recovery and purification streams, and in 2007 became the first private enterprise approved as a Good Delivery gold refiner by the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Hunan Shuikoushan Nonferrous Metals Group, known as SKS, was suspended from the silver list with effect from 21 August, announced 20 August, following a modified assurance opinion issued by SLR Consulting for its FY2025 Responsible Silver compliance reporting. The association's current lists, read on 22 August 2026, show 67 accredited gold refiners and 86 silver refiners. Neither suspension alleges a bar that failed assay; one turns on a foreign entity listing and one on an audit opinion.
Okavango Diamond Company, Botswana's state-owned rough trading arm, has appointed Yoram Dvash chairman of its board, reported 20 August 2026. He succeeds Gape Kaboyakgosi, who left in November after five years, so the seat had been vacant for most of a year. Dvash stepped down as president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses two months earlier, having held that office since 2020 and completed the maximum two consecutive three-year terms, and he was previously chairman of both the Israel Diamond Institute and the Israel Diamond Exchange. He said he looks forward to working with the board, management and the government of Botswana. Under the ten-year sales agreement signed with De Beers in February 2025, Okavango receives 30% of Debswana's production for the first five years and 40% for the second five, with a conditional five-year extension that would move the split to 50-50; the agreement in principle announced in July 2023 had projected ODC reaching 50% within the base term and the signed document does not. No revenue figure, tender calendar or strategic target was published with the announcement. This paper reported Dvash's succession at the WFDB by Mehul Shah on 15 July 2026 and Okavango's tender arrangement with the Dubai Diamond Exchange on 1 August 2026. Correction, 23 August 2026: an earlier version said Dvash remains chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute and the Israel Diamond Exchange; he was previously chairman of both.
Vasant Mehta, a former chairman of India's Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, has died at 81, reported 18 August 2026. He ran M/s V. Rameshchandra & Co in Mumbai. He was the council's vice chairman in 1991-92, vice chairman again in 2006-08 and chairman from 2008 to 2010, a term that spans the global financial crisis and the credit contraction it produced across India's cutting and polishing sector. He convened the council's banking, insurance and taxation committee for years afterwards and advised the legal committee of the Bharat Diamond Bourse. Internationally he represented Indian interests at the World Diamond Council, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, the World Jewellery Confederation and the Kimberley Process, and he served the Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association. Gaetano Cavalieri, president of the World Jewellery Confederation, described him as first and foremost a servant of the industry. This paper carries no independent verification of the date or circumstances of the death beyond the trade report and stated so in print.
The National Retail Federation's Hot 25 list for 2026, compiled by Kantar and published 21 August 2026, ranks Miniso first on 53% growth in US sales, Dick's Sporting Goods second at 49% following its acquisition of Foot Locker, Daiso Sangyo third at 26%, Primark fourth at 24% and Five Below fifth at 23%. The metric is the increase in domestic sales between 2024 and 2025, which makes the ranking a measure of momentum off each chain's own base rather than of size, and Dick's placing reflects an acquisition rather than organic demand. Rachel Dalton, Kantar's head of retail insights for the Americas, said value is a huge story in this year's list. No jewellery specialist appears in the top five and the list is a US ranking covering the year before the current gold price. This paper ran it against its own 21 August 2026 report that Zales, a Signet banner, puts 67% of purchases among its core shoppers as self-purchases.
The Editor re-read all four metals at 05:59 New York time on 21 August 2026 under the one-price rule. Kitco read gold $4,581.60 an ounce, silver $69.31, platinum $1,881.00 and palladium $1,336.00, and all four were written back to the tape of record before the edition built. Second page, TradingEconomics, the same morning: $4,582.37, a gap of $0.77 or 0.017%; $69.43, $0.12 or 0.17%; $1,894.40, $13.40 or 0.71%; $1,357.50, $21.50 or 1.61%. Against this paper's 20 August marks of record the moves are gold up $99.40 or 2.22%, silver up $2.72 or 4.08%, platinum up $82.00 or 4.56% and palladium up $28.00 or 2.14%. Measured on Kitco's own session all four are also higher, at 1.40%, 1.99%, 2.96% and 1.75%, so both bases point the same way, which they did not on 20 August. Platinum's $1,799.00 and palladium's $1,308.00 came off a one-session hold, not because the two pages agreed but because both held marks sat below every live reading taken this morning, which is the test applied on 19 August to marks sitting above the live range and on 20 August to marks sitting below it. This desk's arithmetic: the gold-to-silver ratio reads 66.10 against 67.31 on 20 August marks, 1.21 points narrower, with silver outrunning gold by 1.87 points of percentage; at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce the four marks are $147.30, $2.23, $60.48 and $42.95 a gram, with gold's gram figure up $3.20 in a day; platinum has added close to nine per cent across two of this paper's sessions from the $1,726.00 mark of 19 August.
Business rescue practitioners put a plan to Finsch's creditors on 7 August 2026 and it passed with the required voting thresholds, concluding that no viable outcome exists to resume mining. The mine entered business rescue on 29 May 2026 and production was suspended in June, so the distance from rescue to closure was ten weeks. Finsch generated about 34% of Petra Diamonds' revenue in fiscal 2025 and began producing in 1967, making this the end of 59 years of commercial mining. More than 90% of its output was below two carats, the band in which lab-grown stones compete most directly and natural rough prices have fallen hardest; Petra's own account is that lower diamond prices and a stronger rand overwhelmed the mine's revenue despite strong operating performance. A secured creditor has provided post-commencement funding for limited on-site activity including asset reclamation, and proceeds will be distributed by ranking of claims with that creditor ranking highest. Petra is now a one-mine company and is moving Cullinan toward larger, higher-value stones. This paper reported the suspension on 29 July 2026 and had not previously carried the permanent closure; the report is eleven days old as printed and says so.
Zales, a Signet banner, announced a campaign called You Are The Occasion on 19 August 2026 built on its own finding that 67% of purchases among its core shoppers were made for themselves. The campaign is merchandised as three style stories: Everyday Elevated, covering tennis bracelets, rivière necklaces, ear stacks and solitaire pendants; Stacking and Layering, covering mix-and-match gold chains, bracelets, bands and pendants; and Bridal and Engagement, split into four aesthetics named Iconic Classic, Ethereal Romance, Grand Glamour and Modern Muse. Two of the three require no occasion at all. Campaign imagery includes men wearing watches, gold chains and other accessories, and the work runs in store and across digital and social channels. Amanda Rather, Zales' vice president of style and trend brand marketing, framed the intent as helping women make their own rules and celebrate themselves. The campaign iterates on the retailer's Own It campaign of last year rather than opening new ground, which this paper stated in print.
Shanghai Customs data reported through the Shanghai Diamond Exchange, China's sole general-trade diamond platform, puts first-half 2026 lab-grown diamond exports at 1.41 billion yuan, about $210 million, up 65.3%. This desk's arithmetic on the two published figures implies about 6.71 yuan to the dollar, offered as a check on the pair rather than as a currency quotation. The demand is industrial rather than ornamental: synthetic diamond is being bought as heat spreaders and substrates in advanced semiconductors, where its thermal conductivity is roughly five times that of copper, with Nvidia's February 2026 announcement that its next-generation graphics processors would use a diamond composite material with liquid cooling named as the catalyst. Approximately 80% of global lab-grown production still goes to jewellery. This paper's own tape carried the one-carat lab-grown reference at $703 on 21 August 2026, down a dollar on the day and down from $705 on 20 August, on CaratRadar. The two markets are supplied by the same reactors, which is the reason the paper ran the two facts together.
Lucara Diamond has sold the Motswedi, recovered at Karowe in Botswana in 2024 and the second-largest diamond ever found, at an undisclosed price, reported 11 August 2026. The stone weighed 2,488 carats after cleaning against the 2,492 carats first reported. Proceeds sit inside the company's second-quarter results rather than being disclosed separately; Lucara reported $41.0 million of second-quarter revenue, down 6% on $43.7 million a year earlier, which bounds the stone without pricing it. Chief executive William Lamb has said the Motswedi was not as white as the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona and contained inclusions reflecting brown tones. The Lesedi La Rona, also from Karowe, was bought by Graff for $53 million in 2017 and is the comparison the market is left with, nine years old and describing a whiter stone in a different market. This paper reported on 12 August 2026 that Lucara's price per carat rose 24% in the same period while diamond prices generally fell.
A Russian government resolution published on 11 August 2026 moved the 8% export duty on rough and partially processed diamonds leaving the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union from 1 September 2026 to 1 March 2027, the date the country's cluster decree takes effect, so the two measures now begin together. Alrosa accounts for roughly 90% of Russia's domestic production. Rapaport reported on 11 August 2026 that the duty would have an impact of 3.12 billion roubles, about $37.9 million, on Alrosa's profit; that estimate was published while the duty was still due to start on 1 September, so it describes an annualised impact rather than a bill falling in this financial year. An outside-source divergence is printed in full rather than resolved: Rapaport and IDEX describe the duty as applying to rough above 0.45 carats including special-size goods over 10.8 carats, a floor with no ceiling, while TASS describes it as applying to rough between 0.45 and 10.8 carats plus special sizes, a band. The difference decides whether the largest Russian rough is taxed or exempt. The cluster decree replaces Russia's open rough sales model with a system in which miners must first offer goods to cutters inside the cluster before selling elsewhere.
Jewelers Mutual announced on 18 August 2026 that chief executive Scott Murphy will retire at the end of 2026 after twelve years, having joined in January 2015, and will remain a member of the board. Mike Alexander, president since 2025 and an employee since 2015, becomes president and chief executive on 1 January 2027, giving the trade four months of notice. Murphy's tenure took the company from a specialty insurer to a diversified platform of insurance and non-insurance businesses built on technology and data analytics, serving more than two million customers across the United States and Canada, and into Australia through the acquisition of Jewellers Loop. Alexander's responsibilities have spanned digital transformation, product innovation and market and portfolio expansion, and he sits on the boards of Diamonds Do Good and the YMCA of the Fox Cities. Murphy said leading the company has been the greatest honour of his career.
Bonhams' own Los Angeles listing, read 21 August 2026, shows Weekly: Jewelry running online from 18 to 25 August with 112 lots, and Modern Native American Art and Jewelry as a live sale on 26 August with 175 lots, 287 lots in total. Neither sale has a published result. A correction of this paper's own record is carried in the article: the Bureau filed the weekly sale at 48 lots and the house's listing says 112, so the house's figure was printed. The aggregator entry for this series resolves to a February 2025 edition of the same sale, which is why the house's own page was used to establish both counts and both dates. That February 2025 edition offered work by Paloma Picasso for Tiffany, Valentin Magro, Gübelin, Gucci and Ippolita in a band running from about $100 to $4,000, cited as a description of a prior edition rather than of the sale now open, because Bonhams has published no verifiable estimate range for the current one. A lot-level estimate reported elsewhere for a Jesse Monongya necklace could not be verified against the house's catalogue and was not printed. The 26 August date settles the question that caused this desk to kill an earlier version of the story on 17 August 2026.
Jean Dousset opened its third store on 13 August 2026 at Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara, California, after a Los Angeles flagship and a New York showroom. The brand has sold lab-grown diamonds exclusively since 2023, across engagement rings, eternity bands, necklaces, bracelets, studs and hoops. The founder is the great-great-grandson of Cartier founder Louis-François Cartier. The boutique follows the brand's Dorée collection in its design, with elongated lines, structural forms and an open, gallery-like layout, and carries a screen beside the consultation desk showing views of the Eiffel Tower. Price points are not disclosed, which bounds what can be concluded. This paper ran the opening against two other figures from the same day's edition: the one-carat lab-grown reference on its tape at $703, down a dollar, and Chinese lab-grown exports to industrial buyers up 65.3% in the first half.
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry published July 2026 export figures on 20 August 2026. Total exports were CHF 2,628.3 million, up 9.6% on July 2025, and cumulative performance over seven months moved into positive territory at plus 0.9%, against minus 0.7% for the half on CHF 12.8 billion as this paper reported on 21 July 2026, a swing of 1.6 points. Wristwatches were CHF 2,522.7 million, up 9.8%, on 1,523,400 units, up 6.8%, or 97,000 additional watches. By material and by value: gold-steel plus 23.8%, other materials plus 11.1%, other metals plus 9.8%, steel plus 9.0%, precious metal plus 3.7%. Precious-metal units rose 0.9% to 37,100 pieces carrying CHF 912.8 million, which is 2.4% of wristwatch units and 36.2% of wristwatch value. This desk's arithmetic on the Federation's table puts the average export price of a precious-metal watch at about CHF 24,600 against about CHF 23,900 a year earlier, up 2.8%, and gold-steel at about CHF 4,970, up 29.5% on 4.4% fewer units. Markets: United States CHF 701.3 million, up 26.5%, a 26.7% share and a third consecutive month of double-digit growth; France plus 104.6%, which the release itself says does not reflect the actual trend in that market; Japan minus 3.7%, China minus 18.5%, United Arab Emirates minus 3.7%; the six largest markets CHF 1,563.8 million, up 21.7%, 59.5% of the whole. By price band on value, above CHF 3,000 plus 12.0% and CHF 500 to 3,000 minus 3.9%. The next release, covering August, is due 17 September 2026.
At 06:02 New York time on 20 August 2026 Kitco's board read gold $4,482.20 an ounce, silver $66.59, platinum $1,799.00 and palladium $1,308.00. A second reading on TradingEconomics the same morning gave gold $4,484.81 (0.06% away), silver $66.754 (0.25%), platinum $1,813.80 (0.82%) and palladium $1,328.50 (1.57%). All four are written back to this paper's tape as the marks of record. Against the marks this paper printed on 19 August, gold is up $122.20 or 2.80%, silver up $3.47 or 5.50%, platinum up $73.00 or 4.23% and palladium up $34.00 or 2.67%. The tape desk had correctly held platinum and palladium at 04:59, because neither pair cleared the two-page test; at press time both held marks, $1,726.00 and $1,274.00, sat below every live reading on the table, which fails the same test this paper applied in mirror on 19 August when two held marks sat above the whole range. Both are written at Kitco's reading, the board already carrying gold and silver on this tape. Outside-source divergence is disclosed on both: $14.80 apart on platinum, $20.50 on palladium, the latter a third consecutive session above 1.4%. On platinum the two sources disagree on direction, Kitco printing minus 0.94% on the session and TradingEconomics plus 0.18%. Two bases are printed separately: against this paper's own marks every metal is sharply higher because the 19 August marks were taken at 05:58 before that session's rally, while on the session Kitco has all four lower this morning. Kitco reported gold at $4,518.90 on 19 August, up about 4%, session high $4,524.50, its first move above $4,500 since early June, after the Treasury said it would roughly double buyback operations in 10-to-30-year maturities from 9 September; the 30-year Treasury yield fell as much as 10 basis points to 5.18% and the 10-year 6 basis points to 4.65%. Platinum rose 6.14% in that session to about $1,815. Derived by this desk from the marks above: the gold-to-silver ratio is 67.31 against 69.07 on 19 August, 1.76 points narrower, silver having outrun gold by 2.69 points of percentage; gold is $144.11 a gram and platinum $57.84.
India's Commerce Ministry convened a Chintan Shivir on 19 August 2026 and published a roadmap taking gems and jewellery exports from about $28 billion in 2025-26 to $100 billion by 2040. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal set out projections of 1.2% of India's GDP and 14% of merchandise exports by that year, manufacturing output roughly doubled to about 15 lakh crore rupees and overall economic value near 60 lakh crore, organised into five missions: global market access, MSME scale-up, an export-import fast track, Crafted by India, and next-generation talent and design. By this desk's arithmetic the target multiplies the sector by 3.57 times and requires 9.5% compound annual growth in US dollars read to the fiscal year ending March 2040, or 8.9% read to the year after, which is between 3.6 and 3.9 times the current rate. The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council's own data, published 13 August 2026, puts gross exports for April to July 2026 at $9.17 billion, up 2.44% in US dollars and 13.58% in rupees; July alone was $2.35 billion against $2.34 billion, up 0.38% in dollars and 11.68% in rupees. By line for the four months: studded gold jewellery plus 21.09% to $2.24 billion, silver jewellery plus 72.19% to $508.18 million, platinum jewellery plus 17.20% to $77.82 million, polished lab-grown diamonds plus 7.47% to $408.50 million, plain gold jewellery minus 8.46% to $1.80 billion, and cut and polished diamonds minus 8.00% to $3.60 billion. This desk computes cut and polished diamonds at 39.3% of the four-month total, and the three fastest-growing lines at $994.50 million combined, under 11% of it. The roadmap publishes no interim milestone. Agrawal is quoted naming the mechanism as building a comprehensive ecosystem driven by innovation, global design leadership and trust.
At 05:58 New York time on 19 August 2026 Kitco's board read gold $4,360.00 an ounce, silver $63.12, platinum $1,726.00 and palladium $1,274.00. A second reading on TradingEconomics the same morning gave gold $4,360.73 (0.017% away), silver $63.254 (0.21%), platinum $1,737.90 (0.69%) and palladium $1,292.50 (1.45%). All four are written back to this paper's tape as the marks of record. Against the marks this paper printed on 18 August, gold is down $33.10 or 0.75%, silver down $1.88 or 2.89%, platinum down $23.00 or 1.32% and palladium down $37.00 or 2.82%. Platinum and palladium had failed the two-page rule on three consecutive sessions and had been carrying their 17 August marks of $1,749.00 and $1,311.00. Both held marks sat above every live reading available this morning, so both were retired and written at Kitco's number, on the mirror of the reasoning the chief used on 17 August when four live palladium readings all sat above a held mark of $1,297.00. Platinum's 0.69% gap is the sixth consecutive session of the same Kitco-low basis between 0.59% and 0.69%, recorded as a settled basis in edition No. 036; palladium's 1.45% gap is a genuine outside-source divergence and is printed. TradingEconomics separately reports gold up 0.60% and silver down 0.10% against the previous session's close, a different basis, because gold fell nearly 2% during the 18 August session after this paper took its 06:04 mark. The 30-year US Treasury yield reached 5.31%, its highest since June 2007, and Japan's 10-year neared 3%. Derived by this desk: the gold-to-silver ratio widened from 67.59 to 69.07, a gain of 1.49 points, and platinum at $1,726.00 is $55.49 a gram.
Drake announced on Instagram on 16 August 2026 that he had received a one-of-one gem-set Rolex Daytona, described as an Ice Gradient piece unique, with baguette diamonds running into light and dark blue sapphires on the bracelet, sapphire-set bezel and lugs, paved dial and case sides, and the words Freeze the World engraved in blue enamel on the caseback. JCK reported it on 18 August 2026. No reference number, stone count, carat weight or price has been published, and a search by this desk on 19 August found no statement from Rolex on the watch; the claim that it is factory rather than aftermarket work rests on the owner's post and on trade reporting of it. A dealer publication asserting the watch is entirely factory (15 August 2026) supplied no documentation and named a prior claimed one-off, a platinum Yacht-Master said to have been made for a Singaporean client in 2024, which if correct contradicts the first-ever framing; the same piece's $2 million to $5 million figure is explicitly its author's ballpark on a watch not for sale and is not carried by this paper as a valuation. The one transacted figure in the story is a Rolex GMT-Master II, reference 116758SANR, previously owned by Drake and seen in the video for a track from his 2011 album, which sold earlier in 2026 through the dealer Wind Vintage at $500,000, the full advertised ask, after four offers arrived shortly after listing, at approximately five times the average dealer value for the reference on EveryWatch data. Rolex operates no bespoke programme for clients; modification outside its own network voids the warranty and its service centres decline watches carrying non-original parts.
Edahn Golan's Q2 2026 lab-grown wholesale price list, published 7 July 2026 and reported by JCK on 10 August 2026, records the LGD Wholesale Price Index down 13% year on year in the second quarter of 2026, after a 26% decline across 2025, and down 96% since tracking began in July 2018. The decline is uneven by size: one-carat rounds rose 1% year on year, 1.50 to 1.99 carat stones fell 11%, two-carat stones fell 20%, and a three-carat VVS D colour round was quoted at $126 a carat, about 30% cheaper than in 2025. JCK reports US jewellery retailers' lab-grown inventory-to-sales ratio climbing from single digits in 2020 to nearly 50%, and retail markups exceeding 80% above wholesale in 2026, a difference of only one to two points from 2025. Paul Zimnisky is reported as holding that current retail margins are too high; Farshid Roshanravan of Rayan Gems is quoted saying there is no resale value for lab-grown diamonds; Edahn Golan is reported warning of a bullwhip effect and a possible offloading of memo goods. Against this paper's own tape, the lab-grown one-carat reference read $704 on 19 August 2026, unchanged, sourced from CaratRadar, and this paper's six-retailer sample of 25 July 2026 found $550 for the same stone, 21.9% below the tape figure. Corrected 20 August 2026: as first published this passage and the article said 28.0% below, which is the gap measured on the wrong base; $704 is 28.0% above $550. The source figures are nine days old at publication and that age is disclosed in the article.
In the three months to 30 June 2026 Mountain Province Diamonds sold 869,520 carats from the Gahcho Kue mine against 411,114 in the same quarter of 2025, an increase of 111%, at an average realised price of CAD 50 a carat against CAD 90, a fall of 44%. Revenue rose 18% to CAD 43.5 million from CAD 36.8 million; 869,520 carats at CAD 50 is CAD 43.48 million, so the reported revenue and the reported volume and price are internally consistent. Carats recovered were 2,014,563 against 708,072, up 185% and the second consecutive quarter above two million carats. Cash cost of production fell to CAD 108 a tonne treated from CAD 167 and to CAD 48 a carat recovered from CAD 209. Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 8.4 million against negative CAD 2.2 million. The net loss was CAD 120.6 million, or 57 cents a share, against CAD 37.7 million and 18 cents, which is 2.8 times the quarter's revenue and about CAD 129 million below the positive adjusted EBITDA line; disclosed foreign-exchange losses account for CAD 11.3 million of that distance and this paper does not attribute the remainder. Chief executive Jonathan Comerford said the diamond market continues to face significant challenges. Two outside sources differ on the dollar conversion of revenue: the company's release gives $31.2 million and Rapaport $31.3 million against the same CAD 43.5 million. Release dated 13 August 2026, Rapaport report 16 August 2026.
For the quarter to 30 June 2026 Asian Star reported consolidated revenue of INR 6.47 billion, about $67.7 million, down 11% year on year and 13% against the preceding quarter. Loose-diamond sales fell 22% to INR 4.26 billion, about $44.6 million, and 11% sequentially. Jewellery revenue rose 17% to INR 2.35 billion, about $24.1 million. Net profit fell 38% to INR 120.6 million, about $1.3 million, a net margin of 1.86% against about 2.68% a year earlier on figures derived from the reported percentages. Working those percentages backwards implies about INR 5.46 billion of loose-diamond sales and about INR 2.01 billion of jewellery a year ago, so loose stones fell from about 73% to about 64% of the two segments taken together. The two segment lines sum to INR 6.61 billion against consolidated revenue of INR 6.47 billion, a gap of INR 140 million before eliminations, and the shares above are shares of the segment sum rather than of the group. Reported by Rapaport 17 August 2026; board approval of the results dated 13 August 2026.
At 06:04 New York time on 18 August 2026 Kitco's board read gold $4,393.10 an ounce, silver $65.00, platinum $1,744.00 and palladium $1,303.00. A second reading on TradingEconomics the same morning gave gold $4,394.27, silver $65.124, platinum $1,755.50 and palladium $1,322.00. Gold's two pages are 0.027% apart and silver's 0.19%, both within rounding, so both are written back to this paper's tape as the marks of record: gold $4,393.10, down $1.50 or 0.03% on the $4,394.60 marked 17 August, and silver $65.00, down $0.38 or 0.58% on $65.38. Platinum's pages are 0.66% apart and palladium's 1.46%, so neither is written and both hold their 17 August Kitco marks of $1,749.00 and $1,311.00, now two sessions old. At 04:58 the same morning this paper's tape desk had recorded platinum 0.68% apart (Kitco $1,738.00, TradingEconomics $1,749.90) and palladium 0.69% apart (Kitco $1,297.00, FXEmpire $1,305.92); over the sixty-six minutes between the two readings Kitco's platinum rose to $1,744.00 and its palladium to $1,303.00 while the palladium gap roughly doubled, so both sides of the disagreement are live. Platinum's implied range of $1,744.00 to $1,755.50 puts it at 39.7% to 40.0% of gold; the held mark of $1,749.00 sits at 39.8%.
GJEPC's IIJS Bharat Premiere, the 42nd edition, ran across two Mumbai venues, the Jio World Convention Centre at BKC from 5 to 9 August 2026 and the Bombay Exhibition Centre at NESCO from 6 to 10 August 2026. IDEX reported on 10 August that the show drew more than 50,000 trade visitors, 2,100 exhibitors and 2,700 international buyers from more than 80 countries. As at 18 August 2026, eight days after the close, a search by this desk across GJEPC's own channels and the trade press returned no aggregate business or turnover value for the edition; the absence is recorded as this desk's finding on the sources it reached, not as proof that no figure exists. This paper previewed the show on 28 July 2026 as india-fills-the-hall, writing that registrations measure hope and recommending readers watch the order books rather than the footfall, and recording Indian gross gems-and-jewellery exports up 26.5% in June to about $2.21 billion against a flat quarter and rough imports down roughly a third.
As at 17 August 2026, Sotheby's own past-results index carries no total, no sell-through rate and no top lot for three closed jewellery sales. The Gem Drop August, an online sale in New York, closed on 13 August after four days of bidding, four days before this reading. The Arcade Sale in Hong Kong ran from 31 July to 6 August and closed eleven days before this reading. The Gem Drop July closed on 16 July, thirty-two days before this reading, and its sale page likewise carries no result; this paper covered that sale on 17 July 2026 as eleven-lots-no-premium, describing it as the sixth in a monthly series. Sotheby's landing page for the Gem Drop series, read the same day, describes it as a monthly release of jewels through the house's Sealed platform and carries a heading for past auctions with no auctions listed beneath it. Lot pages and estimates remain accessible; realised prices do not. One limitation is recorded: Sotheby's renders parts of these pages through scripts this desk's fetch does not execute, so the finding is what the public page returns to a reader rather than proof that no figure exists internally. Against this, the same house's New York High Jewelry sale of 16 June 2026 made $43.4 million with 98% of its 119 lots sold, led by a 10.02-carat fancy intense blue diamond at $8.7 million, a total in the trade press the following day, and Sotheby's reported a $4.4 billion first half for 2026 with private sales at a record $826 million. The Gem Drop charges no buyer's premium, the feature that makes its performance data materially interesting to consignors and to retailers. This paper's own recommendation of 14 August 2026, that the missing Gem Drop result be retired as a story after four days, is corrected here.
On 17 August 2026 Kitco's live board at 05:59 New York time read gold at $4,394.60 an ounce, silver at $65.38, platinum at $1,749.00 and palladium at $1,311.00. Under the one-price rule the Editor wrote all four readings back over the 04:59 marks, with the new timestamp and the source named, before the edition built. Because no edition published on 15 or 16 August, two comparison bases are printed. Against Kitco's own previous close the session moves are gold up $19.00, silver up $0.80, platinum up $4.00 and palladium up $13.00. Against this paper's last printed marks of record, set on 14 August 2026 at $4,356.20, $64.77, $1,725.00 and $1,297.00, the three-day moves are gold up $38.40 or 0.88%, silver up $0.61 or 0.94%, platinum up $24.00 or 1.39% and palladium up $14.00 or 1.08%. Gold and silver were cross-checked the same morning against TradingEconomics at $4,394.79 and $65.484, differences of 0.004% and 0.16%. The palladium mark retired, $1,297.00, was set on 14 August and carried unchanged since; the tape desk declined to replace it at 04:59 today, having found Kitco at $1,311.00 against FXEmpire at $1,320.55, a gap of $9.55 or 0.73%, and held under the two-page rule. At 05:59 the Editor read two further pages, TradingEconomics at $1,331.00 and JM Bullion at $1,351.00. The four live readings span $40.00, or 3.05%, from low to high and every one of them sits above the held mark, which is not among them; the divergence between those outside pages is disclosed rather than reconciled. Platinum showed the same basis for a fourth consecutive session, with Kitco $11.40 or 0.65% below TradingEconomics at $1,760.40, the same sign and approximate size as the gaps recorded on 12, 13 and 14 August; Kitco is printed because it is the board carrying the other three marks on this tape. At 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce the four marks work out at $141.29 a gram of fine gold, $2.10 of fine silver, $56.23 of fine platinum and $42.15 of fine palladium, and the gold-to-silver ratio reads 67.22 against 67.26 on 14 August, all this desk's arithmetic.
On 17 August 2026 the Shanghai Gold Exchange's Au99.99 contract opened at 946.00 yuan a gram and last traded at 954.01, a rise of 1.41% on the session, per the market report carried by the Chinese finance aggregator cngold. Chow Tai Fook's 24-carat counter read 1,332 yuan a gram the same day, a figure carried identically by two independent Chinese price aggregators, jinjia.com.cn and cngold. Dividing the counter by the exchange, this desk's arithmetic, puts the counter 39.62% above the exchange, a gap of 377.99 yuan on every gram. This paper published the same pair on 14 August 2026 at 940.72 and 1,312, a markup of 39.47% and a gap of 371.28 yuan. Over the three days the exchange rose 13.29 yuan, or 1.41%, and the counter rose 20 yuan, or 1.52%, moving the markup by fifteen hundredths of a percentage point. This is the test this desk set for its own 14 August argument, that the Chinese counter price is a merchant setting a margin rather than a market clearing, and the result is consistent with it: the counter tracked the metal in percentage terms rather than in absolute yuan. Two divergences between outside sources are disclosed. On the exchange leg, the Bureau's gold desk read today's Shanghai sessions at 951.80 and 952.98 yuan against the 954.01 used here; on 952.98 the markup would read 39.77% and the gap 379.02 yuan, and this desk cannot establish which minute of the board each page reads. On the counter leg, the aggregator series runs 1,312 on 14 August, 1,325 on 15 August, no published reading for 16 August and 1,332 on 17 August, so the 20-yuan rise spans two counter revisions rather than one. As a sanity check on the Shanghai figure, gold at this paper's own mark of $4,394.60 an ounce is $141.29 a gram, and 954.01 yuan against $141.29 implies 6.752 yuan to the dollar; that implied rate is this desk's arithmetic and is not an official currency quotation. A listed counter price is an asking price rather than a transacted one, and workmanship charges, store discounts and buy-back terms sit outside both numbers.
Four institutions filed amended Schedule 13G statements with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in respect of Signet Jewelers between 8 July and 14 August 2026, each reporting a position as at 30 June 2026. Vanguard Portfolio Management reported 3,577,704 shares, or 9.09%. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reported 2,584,443 shares, or 6.6%. Select Equity Group, L.P. reported 2,436,873 shares, or 6.2%. FMR LLC reported 2,168,433 shares, or 5.5%. The four positions total 10,767,453 shares against the 39,329,783 common shares Signet disclosed as outstanding at 29 May 2026 in its quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which is 27.38%, this desk's arithmetic on the filings. Two positions changed materially over the quarter. Select Equity Group filed its first Schedule 13G on Signet on 3 April 2026 reporting 3,243,549 shares, or 8.1%, as at 1 April; its amended filing of 14 August reports 2,436,873 shares at 30 June, a reduction of 806,676 shares, or 24.87% of the stake and 1.9 percentage points of the company. Vanguard Portfolio Management filed on 29 April 2026 reporting 2,912,522 shares, or 7.26%, as at 31 March; its amendment of 31 July reports 3,577,704 at 30 June, an increase of 665,182 shares, or 22.84%. The net of the two is 141,494 shares. Over a longer window, FMR LLC reported 4,792,767 shares, or 11.6%, as at 29 August 2025, so its 30 June position represents a reduction of 54.76% across ten months. BlackRock, Inc. last filed on Signet reporting 5,893,515 shares, or 14.4%, as at 30 September 2025 and has not filed since. The Vanguard Group lodged a fifteenth amendment on 27 March 2026 reporting zero shares, and two separately named Vanguard entities filed fresh Schedule 13Gs at the end of April 2026; this desk reads that sequence as a re-registration of the same holding under new filing entities rather than a disposal, and states it as a reading rather than as an established fact. A Schedule 13G is a passive declaration by holders who state they are not seeking to influence control. Holders below the 5% threshold do not appear, so these filings are not a complete register.
The Perth Mint reported on 10 August 2026 that it sold 30,871 troy ounces of gold, 486,043 ounces of silver and 1,915 ounces of platinum in minted product form during July 2026. Month on month, gold sales rose 4%, silver 65% and platinum 59%. Year on year, gold rose 41%, silver 8% and platinum 46%. Holdings in the mint's exchange-traded product, PMGOLD, rose 1,011 ounces, or 0.26%, to 382,735 ounces, which is 11.90 tonnes at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce. The mint's own commentary records gold trading near US$4,050 an ounce at the end of July, a monthly gain of about 1%, after touching its lowest level of the year during the month. Against this paper's mark of record of US$4,394.60 an ounce on 17 August 2026, that end-July level is 8.51% lower, this desk's arithmetic, so the July demand recorded here was transacted at a materially lower price than the metal now carries. Derived figures, all this desk's: 15.7 ounces of silver left the mint for every ounce of gold; valued at this paper's 17 August marks of US$4,394.60 and US$65.38 an ounce, the month's gold sales are approximately US$135.7 million against approximately US$31.8 million of silver, so gold outsold silver by 4.27 to one by value while silver outsold gold by 15.7 to one by weight. The figures are seven days old as this paper prints them and describe a month that closed more than a fortnight ago. They cover one refiner's minted-product sales through a retail channel weighted to Australian and Asian buyers, and are neither Australian nor global demand. This paper reported on 14 August 2026 that global gold exchange-traded fund flows in July were principally European, with North America contributing US$71 million of a US$3 billion month.
On 17 August 2026 CaratRadar's reference average for a one-carat round lab-grown diamond read US$705 a carat, on a page dated the same day which states that it refreshes daily; this is the figure carried on this paper's tape. The series this paper has published runs US$727 earlier in August, US$711 on 11 August 2026, US$707 on 14 August 2026 and US$705 on 17 August 2026, a decline of 0.84% over six days and 3.03% from US$727. The same source page shows the offers underlying that average running from US$185 to US$3,247 a carat for a one-carat round, a spread of 17.6 times, this desk's division; at two carats the cushion range runs US$345 to US$6,984 and at three carats US$449 to US$12,050. A second source disagrees and both are carried. This paper's own Natural Diamond Price List, compiled 25 July 2026 from a live retail sample, puts the one-carat round lab-grown at US$550 a carat against a natural one-carat round at US$4,581, a multiple of 8.3; CaratRadar's US$705 is 28.2% above that US$550, this desk's arithmetic, across a three-week gap and two different samples of the same market. Neither figure is presented as correct against the other: one is a live retail asking average from one aggregator, the other a six-retailer median from another, and no clearing exchange exists to settle the difference. Separately, Marty Hurwitz, executive director of the Grown Diamond Trade Organization, told JCK in an article published 14 August 2026 that lab-grown diamonds are a help and not a hindrance to the jewelry industry, and identified the sector's principal challenge as bringing Gen Z consumers into jewellery stores at all, noting that consumers continue to buy the category without macro-level marketing behind it.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange closed its Au99.99 contract at 940.72 yuan a gram on 14 August 2026, from an opening of 955.00 and a session low of 933.01, on volume of 3,886.14 kilogrammes; the deferred Au(T+D) contract closed at 940.44 on 41,646 kilogrammes. Those figures are taken from the exchange's own published daily quotations rather than from an aggregator. On the same day Chow Tai Fook listed 24-carat jewellery at 1,312 yuan a gram, a figure carried identically by two independent Chinese price aggregators, jinjia.com.cn and cngold. Dividing the counter price by the exchange price, this desk's arithmetic, puts the counter 39.47% above the exchange, a gap of 371.28 yuan on every gram. This paper published the same pair on 9 August 2026 at 938 yuan on the exchange and 1,286 at the counter, a gap of 348 yuan and a markup of 37.10%. Six days later the exchange has moved 2.72 yuan, or 0.29%, and the counter has moved 26 yuan, or 2.02%, so the gap has widened by 23.28 yuan a gram rather than closing. Today both legs fell: the exchange closed 8.52 yuan, or 0.90%, below its 13 August close of 949.24, while the counter came off 28 yuan, or 2.09%, from 1,340, roughly two and a third times as fast, narrowing the premium from 41.17% on one aggregator's 13 August counter price, or 40.01% on the other's, to 39.47%. Across the sessions the aggregator series records this month the Chow Tai Fook price has gone 1,231, 1,240, 1,297, 1,286, 1,308, 1,308, 1,336, 1,329, 1,340 and 1,312. On the readings this desk can verify, the Chinese jewellery markup has run between 37.10% and 41.17% in August. Two divergences between outside sources are disclosed: one aggregator's series carries 1,286 against 7 August rather than the 8 August this paper published it under, and the two aggregators disagree about 13 August by 11 yuan, at 1,340 and 1,329. Separately, the Bank of China's market note of 13 August put Shanghai spot gold up 0.96% at 955.75 yuan a gram against the exchange's own close of 949.24 for that date; the exchange's own figure is used here. A listed counter price is an asking price rather than a transacted one, and workmanship charges, store discounts and buy-back terms sit outside both numbers.
On 14 August 2026 Kitco's live board at 06:00 New York time read gold at $4,356.20 an ounce, silver at $64.77, platinum at $1,725.00 and palladium at $1,297.00. Under the one-price rule the Editor wrote all four readings back over caratwire's 04:59 marks, with the new timestamp and the source named on the tape before the edition built. Measured against this paper's own marks of record 24 hours earlier, gold fell $27.90 or 0.64%, silver rose $0.25 or 0.39%, platinum rose $15.00 or 0.88% and palladium fell $22.00 or 1.67%. Gold and silver were cross-checked the same morning against TradingEconomics at $4,356.79 and $64.89, differences of 0.01% and 0.19%. The gold-to-silver ratio, this desk's division of its own published gold mark by its own published silver mark on the same board at the same minute, narrowed to 67.26 from 67.95. Platinum had been held twice: on 12 August 2026 because Kitco's cell was stale, and on 13 August 2026 because Kitco's live cell sat $14.60 below TradingEconomics and JM Bullion, which agreed with each other to within 50 cents. At 04:59 on 14 August the tape desk found the same shape a third time, with Kitco $13.30 below TradingEconomics, and held again. At 06:00 the gap was $12.70 against TradingEconomics at $1,737.70 and $14.90 against JM Bullion at $1,739.90, with those two pages agreeing to $2.20, or 0.13%. This desk's judgement is that a gap recurring at the same size and sign across three consecutive sessions is a basis difference between outside pages rather than an unreadable market, and that continuing to hold had produced a mark two sessions old and 1.62% below where two other pages put the metal. Platinum is therefore written back on Kitco, the board that carries every other mark on this tape, and palladium with it at Kitco's $1,297.00 bid; JM Bullion read palladium at $1,336.71 at 06:01, $39.71 or 3.06% higher, disclosed as the other side of a thin spread. At 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce the four marks work out at $140.05 a gram of fine gold, $2.08 of fine silver, $55.46 of fine platinum and $41.70 of fine palladium, all this desk's arithmetic.
The World Gold Council reported on 6 August 2026, under the title Europe's golden heatwave, that global physically backed gold exchange-traded funds took in US$3 billion in July 2026, reversing two consecutive months of outflows. Collective holdings rose 23 tonnes to 4,068 tonnes and assets under management rose 1% to US$530 billion. Holdings remain 108 tonnes, or 2.59%, below the record of 4,176 tonnes set on 27 February 2026, that subtraction being this desk's. By region, Europe took US$2 billion, of which the United Kingdom contributed US$875 million and Switzerland US$657 million; Asia took US$616 million, with China the strongest contributor and Japan in outflow; North America took US$71 million; and other regions, chiefly Australia and South Africa, took US$140 million. Britain and Switzerland together raised US$1,532 million against US$827 million from Asia, North America and all other regions combined, a ratio of 1.85 to one, and North America supplied 2.5% of the named regional total; both figures are this desk's arithmetic. The named regional components sum to US$2,827 million against a rounded headline of US$3 billion because every component is rounded, a difference this desk states rather than reconciles. Year to date, global gold ETF inflows amounted to US$11 billion, equivalent to a 39-tonne increase in holdings. Average daily trading volumes across the gold market fell 3.5% to US$356 billion in the month and over-the-counter volumes fell 3.4% to US$205 billion. This paper has previously reported global jewellery demand of 278 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026, the smallest since the pandemic, on 31 July 2026; Indian jewellery demand of 75.1 tonnes, down 15% by weight, on the same day; China's gold jewellery consumption at its lowest since 2004, on 3 August 2026; and China's heaviest month of bullion buying since 2023, on 9 August 2026. This is the first coverage of the World Gold Council's monthly ETF flows series in this paper's archive, and the report is eight days old as it prints.
Sarine Technologies reported results for the six months ended 30 June 2026 on 11 August 2026. Revenue was $14.4 million, down 6% on the first half of 2025, and the group recorded a net loss of $3.5 million against a net loss of $166,000 in the comparable half. No dividend was declared. Dividing one deficit by the other gives 21.1 times, this desk's arithmetic on the two published figures. Taking 6% off the published revenue implies revenue of roughly $15.3 million in the first half of 2025, which puts the revenue decline at about $0.9 million against a deficit that widened by $3.334 million, or approximately three and a half times the fall in the top line; those three figures are this desk's arithmetic on rounded published figures and are published by no source. The company attributes the wider loss to higher operating expenses, driven by a weaker US dollar against the Israeli shekel, and to reduced natural-diamond processing volumes in the face of lab-grown competition. Against that, revenue from GCAL grading rose more than 50% in the half, revenue from the MVP rough-planning service more than doubled, and Kitov.ai, the industrial-inspection associate in which Sarine holds 33%, booked $1.5 million of revenue and also more than doubled. The company's own framing is that a 6% revenue decline is modest relative to a significantly greater contraction in rough diamond supply. Sarine sells the scanning, planning and grading equipment and services that stones pass through on the way to a polished parcel, so its revenue tracks stones processed rather than stones sold at retail. This paper published global rough production down 8% to 98.8 million carats in 2025 on 27 July 2026, and Lucara Diamond selling 24% fewer carats in its second quarter on 12 August 2026. This is the first coverage of Sarine Technologies in this paper's archive.
On 13 August 2026 Kitco's live board at 06:00 New York time read gold at $4,384.10 an ounce and silver at $64.52. Under the one-price rule the Editor wrote both readings back over caratwire's 04:59 marks of $4,374.20 and $64.31, with the new timestamp and the source named on the tape before the edition built. Both were cross-checked the same morning against TradingEconomics, which read gold $4,383.54 and silver $64.65, differences of 0.01% and 0.20%. Measured against this paper's own mark of record 24 hours earlier, gold fell $31.10 or 0.70% and silver fell $1.78 or 2.68%. The gold-to-silver ratio, this desk's division of its own published gold mark by its own published silver mark on the same tape at the same hour, widened to 67.95 from 66.59. The series now reads 68.41 on 9 August, 67.84 on 10 August, 67.49 on 11 August, 66.59 on 12 August and 67.95 on 13 August. The four-session narrowing to 12 August was worth 1.82 points; 1.36 of them, or 74.7%, came back in a single session, and the ratio now sits above every reading since 9 August. Fine gold works out at $140.95 a gram and fine silver at $2.07, at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce. Platinum and palladium were not written back for a second consecutive morning. Kitco's board read platinum $1,717.00, down $31.00 or 1.77%, while TradingEconomics read $1,731.60 and JM Bullion's board at 06:01 New York time read $1,731.10; the two pages this paper does not carry as its mark of record agree with each other to within 50 cents and put Kitco $14.60 or 0.85% low, so no press-time reading was treated as verified and caratwire's 04:59 mark of $1,710.00 stands as filed. Palladium had no comparable second reading available, Kitco bidding $1,324.00 against an ask of $1,360.65 on the only other reachable board, so the 04:59 mark of $1,319.00 stands.
In remarks published on 12 August 2026, Arun Narayan, chief executive of Titan's jewellery business, said the company has seen more stability in the pricing of both solitaires and small diamonds, and Ajoy Chawla, Titan's managing director, said that at the market level natural-diamond pricing has stabilized and that the lab-grown-versus-natural narrative has faded from the conversation. Titan reported a resurgence in diamond-jewellery buying in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2026 and into the first quarter of fiscal 2027, with demand strengthening through the April-to-June period. Titan's consolidated income for the three months to 30 June 2026 was Rs 20,753 crore, up 40% year on year, with profit before tax of Rs 2,429 crore, up 64%, at a margin of 11.7%. The jewellery division recorded Rs 18,253 crore, up 43% excluding bullion and digital gold, at an EBIT of Rs 2,360 crore and a margin of 12.9%. Watches and wearables recorded Rs 1,543 crore, up 21%, at an EBIT margin of 19.1%. The group added a net 77 stores in the quarter to reach 3,680 worldwide as at June 2026. This paper published the same quarter on 28 July 2026 from the company's own business update at approximately 41% revenue growth and 39% for jewellery; the 43% figure excludes bullion and digital gold and is a different basis rather than a revision. A third basis circulating in secondary coverage, revenue from operations of Rs 21,356 crore and growth of 29.25% against Rs 16,523 crore, is internally consistent on its own terms and does not agree with the 40% consolidated-income headline; the divergence is disclosed rather than resolved. Titan is a retailer of natural diamonds and the statement is made by an interested party on its own earnings call. This paper reported Indian gold jewellery demand down 15% by weight in the second quarter of 2026 even as its value rose.
On Rapaport's Heard on the Street, published 12 August 2026, Senil Lakhani, president of Kiran Gems USA, said that diamonds below one carat and up to 1.5 carats are less expensive than ever before and are selling at prices from the 1990s and early 2000s. He identified the 0.30, 0.40, 0.50 and 0.70-carat range as the bread and butter for America and placed the relevant price points at $1,000, $2,000 and $5,000 rather than at the half-million and million-dollar level. Kiran Gems is one of the largest diamond manufacturers in the world. This paper has reported the same goods from the index side through August: RapNet monthly moves for July had 0.30-carat goods up 1.6% and 0.50-carat goods up 1.8% against a flat one-carat index, published here on 4 August 2026, and the colour split inside that flat month had K to M goods averaging 1.7% against 0.1% for D to F and G to J colours in IF to VVS and VS clarity, published here on 12 August 2026. Those figures are directions for a single month; the characterisation of a 1990s price level is a level, and no index reachable by this desk publishes a 1999 comparison for 0.30 to 0.70-carat goods, so the level claim is reported as a named executive's characterisation of his own market and not as a price. On the same panel, Jeff Angel, head buyer at RDI Diamonds, said he can locate a diamond of traceable Botswana origin in about five minutes and recently filled a million-dollar order in which every stone was required to come from Botswana. Other participants in the episode included Ari Jain of House of Diamonds, Angelo Palmieri of GCAL by Sarine and Kerri Lavine of Diamanti NYC, moderated by Heather Chambers.
Lucara Diamond released its second-quarter 2026 results on 7 August 2026. The company sold 58,553 carats from its Karowe mine in Botswana during the quarter, against 77,167 carats in the second quarter of 2025, and recorded revenue of $41.0 million against $43.7 million, a fall of 6% on a 24% fall in carats sold. Dividing the published revenue by the published carats gives a realised price of $700.22 a carat for the quarter against $566.30 a year earlier, a rise of 23.7%; on the first half the same division gives $454.10 a carat against $493.21, a fall of 7.9%. All four of those per-carat figures are this desk's arithmetic and are published by no source. The company's own commentary states that average prices per carat declined across both channels, with tender prices falling 5% and Clara prices falling 17%, which it attributes to continued pricing pressure on mid-range and lower-grade stones. The whole of the realisation gain is therefore composition rather than price. It is not a function of more large stones reaching the surface either: specials, the stones above 10.8 carats, were recovered at 176 in the quarter against 242 a year earlier. Second-quarter net income was $15.6 million against $12.5 million; first-half net income was $1.0 million against $12.4 million, a fall of 92%, which implies a first-quarter loss of roughly $14.6 million by subtraction, this desk's arithmetic. The plant processed 761,848 tonnes of ore and recovered 90,082 carats at a grade of 10.9 carats per hundred tonnes, of which 6,973 carats came from tailings, at an operating cost of $23.76 a tonne, down 11% from $26.76. Full-year guidance was maintained at revenue of $100 million to $130 million, carats recovered and carats sold each at 340,000 to 360,000, ore processed at 2.6 to 2.9 million tonnes, operating costs of $27.50 to $31.00 a tonne, underground project capital of up to $110 million and sustaining capital of up to $11.5 million. Against $62.8 million of first-half revenue and 138,297 carats sold, that requires $37.2 million to $67.2 million and 201,703 to 221,703 carats in the second half, or 59% to 62% of the year's sales after the halfway point, all derived by this desk. Cash stood at $243.6 million at 30 June against bonds payable of $342.8 million with nothing drawn on the working capital or project facilities. The Karowe underground project has $275.9 million of completion cost remaining including contingency, with full production expected in the first half of 2028 and open-pit mining on track to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2026; in July 2026 the Botswana Department of Mines licensed the 15-person auxiliary winder and the 105-person man and material winder on the production shaft.
On 12 August 2026 Kitco's live board at 05:59 New York time read gold at $4,415.20 an ounce and silver at $66.30. Under the one-price rule the Editor wrote both readings back over caratwire's 04:59 marks of $4,401.70 and $66.03, with the new timestamp and the source named on the tape before the edition built. Both were cross-checked the same morning against TradingEconomics, which read gold $4,416.14 and silver $66.39, differences of 0.02% and 0.14%. Measured against this paper's own mark of record 24 hours earlier, gold rose $42.40 or 0.97% and silver rose $1.51 or 2.33%. The gold-to-silver ratio, this desk's division of its own published gold mark by its own published silver mark on the same tape at the same hour, has now narrowed on four consecutive sessions: 68.41 on 9 August, 67.84 on 10 August, 67.49 on 11 August and 66.59 on 12 August. That is 1.82 points, or 2.66%, taken out of gold's purchasing power over silver across three sessions, and the 0.90-point narrowing on 12 August is the largest single step of the four. Fine gold works out at $141.95 a gram at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce. Platinum and palladium were not written back. Kitco's platinum cell read $1,764.00, up $27.00 or 1.55%, the identical value and identical change this paper printed on 11 August; JM Bullion's board at 04:52 New York time bid $1,748.00; and TradingEconomics read $1,761.30, up 0.36%. That is a span of $33.90 across three published pages read inside an hour, or 1.94% of the metal, derived by this desk. On that basis no reading was treated as a verified press-time mark and caratwire's 04:59 figure of $1,747.00 stands as filed, corroborated within a dollar by JM Bullion's bid. Palladium was handled identically, the tape carrying $1,351.00 against $1,368.00 on Kitco and $1,392.59 on JM Bullion at 00:13, a spread of about 3.1%.
Signet Jewelers announced on 11 August 2026, from Hamilton, Bermuda, that Jamie Cygielman has been named president of Zales and Banter, effective 24 August 2026. She will be based in Dallas and reports directly to J.K. Symancyk, Signet's chief executive officer. She joins from Mattel, where she was global head of dolls, a portfolio she reached after serving as general manager and president of American Girl and which she later widened to include Barbie. The same release named Pam Cloud president of Blue Nile with effect from 10 August 2026, based in New York City; Cloud spent more than 25 years at Tiffany and Co., latterly as senior vice president and chief merchandising officer, an appointment this paper reported on 6 August 2026. Two of Signet's four brand families therefore changed president within eight days, and the two appointments are different in kind: one seat was filled from inside the jewellery trade and the other from a toy company. Under Grow Brand Love, the strategy launched by Symancyk in March 2025, Signet is organised into four customer families: Kay and Peoples for core milestone and romantic gifting, Zales and Banter for style and trend, Jared for inspired luxury, and Blue Nile for luxury. The stated aim of the strategy is to have the company's chains operate as brands rather than as retail banners and to grow share in adjacent categories, notably everyday jewellery. Gold spot stood at $4,415.20 an ounce on this paper's tape the same morning, up 0.97% on the paper's previous mark of record and up 6.2% on the $4,158.30 the tape carried on 5 August 2026.
Rapaport's Diamond Pulse for August 2026 published a colour-band breakdown of July's one-carat polished moves. One-carat goods in D to F and G to J colour, in IF to VVS and VS clarity, averaged a gain of 0.1% in July. K to M colours averaged a gain of 1.7%. K to M goods in VS clarity swung from a 0.1% loss to a 2.8% gain. This paper led its edition of 4 August 2026 on the finding that the RapNet Diamond Index for one-carat polished was unchanged across July, closing a slide that had run without a positive print since June 2025, alongside gains of 1.6% for 0.30-carat goods, 1.8% for 0.50-carat goods and 0.2% for 3-carat goods. The colour breakdown shows that the flat headline is an average of a near-flat top and a rising bottom, and that the recovery this paper has described as bottom-up since 14 July 2026 is running from the bottom of the colour scale as well as the bottom of the size chart. The ratio between the two bands is seventeen times, this desk's division of 1.7 by 0.1. The finding rests on a single source, and that source is the owner of the index reporting on its own index; there is no second publisher of RapNet colour-band moves against which to check it. The remaining figures in the same newsletter are already in this paper: global rough production down 8% to 98.8 million carats in 2025 was published here on 27 July 2026, De Beers' first-half revenue down 19% to $1.58 billion on 31 July 2026, and the Section 301 tariff bands of 10% and 12.5% on jewellery and gemstone imports on 25 July 2026.
On 11 August 2026 this desk read two public reference pages for a one-carat lab-grown diamond at the same hour. CaratRadar, republished that day, put the one-carat average at $711 and states on the page that its figures are asking-price averages by shape, carat, colour and clarity, calculated from active certified listings across major online retailers and refreshed daily. TheDiamondPrice, carrying an August 2026 date, put the fair market price of a one-carat round at $650, said most comparable stones sit between $590 and $760, and gave its benchmark as E to F colour and VVS clarity. The difference is $61, or 9.4% of the lower figure, derived by this desk. The two readings are not irreconcilable: the $711 asking average sits inside the $590 to $760 band the second page publishes, above its $675 midpoint, which is where an offer should sit relative to an estimate of transaction value. Neither page publishes the ask-to-sale distance as a number. This paper carried a third reference, StoneAlgo at $511 dated 7 August 2026, in its wire on 9 August; that page was not re-read on 11 August. Across the three, the published span for the same stone is about 39%. Lab-grown took 61% of United States engagement centre stones in 2025, a figure this paper published on 30 July 2026. This paper carries two lab-grown one-carat marks of its own and they differ: the newsroom tape carries $711, the CaratRadar asking-price average read on 11 August, while the site's tape chip carries $475, the midpoint of the published CVD wholesale band dated 30 July 2026 and locked by the build to the lab-grown price list it links to. Both are footnoted on the page with their quantity and date. A third figure of $727 was printed on the retail desk panel under the label "Lab-grown 1ct, wholesale" with no source or date attached, disagreeing with this paper's own wholesale midpoint under nearly the same label; it was removed on 11 August 2026 and replaced with the sourced $475. The RapNet Diamond Index and the Zimnisky rough index were both recorded as returning no numeric reading and both carried unreachable. Corrected 25 August 2026: RAPI publishes its index levels in plain text on its public page and this paper's tape carries the 1.00-carat series at 3,881.34, dated to the July 2026 point; only Zimnisky returns no numeric reading, and its status word is paywalled.
On 11 August 2026 Kitco's live board at 06:00 New York time put gold at $4,372.80 an ounce, which is $140.59 a gram at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce and AED 516.31 a gram at the dirham's fixed peg of 3.6725 to the dollar; both conversions are this desk's arithmetic and are published by no source. LivePriceOfGold's Dubai board, timestamped 11 August at 10:04 UTC, read AED 516.26 a gram for 24-carat gold, five fils from the peg figure and about one hundredth of one per cent away. Goodreturns' Dubai page, dated the same day, read AED 526.75 for 24-carat and AED 487.75 for 22-carat. The difference between the counter page and the peg arithmetic is AED 10.44 a gram, or 2.02% of the metal, against AED 10.66 on 10 August and AED 1.08 on 7 August, all three derived by this desk. Overnight the three readings moved almost in lockstep: the peg figure added AED 3.72, LivePriceOfGold AED 3.81 and Goodreturns AED 3.50, a spread of AED 0.31 across the three. That resolves the open question left by this paper's 10 August lead. The AED 13.25 step Goodreturns took between 7 and 8 August was a single repricing rather than a page that had stopped updating, and the margin it opened has since held through a rising metal. Under the one-price rule the tape carries the Editor's 06:00 press-time reading, written back over the 04:58 mark of $4,369.70, $64.60, $1,752.00 and $1,357.00: gold $4,372.80, silver $64.79, platinum $1,764.00 and palladium $1,362.00. Measured against this paper's own mark of record 24 hours earlier those are gains of 0.72%, 1.25%, 1.55% and 1.64%; Kitco's own session line at the same moment read gold and silver lower against its previous close, which is two conventions rather than two prices. The gold-to-silver ratio narrows to 67.49 from 67.84.
Kalyan Jewellers announced on 3 August 2026 the launch of Akshaya Thanga Maligai, a second retail brand intended to trade only in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The first showroom opens at Panagal Park in T. Nagar, Chennai, on 21 August 2026, selling hallmarked gold and certified diamond jewellery designed to regional preferences. The company has said it will expand the brand within Tamil Nadu through a franchise model before considering any other state, and has appointed the actor Sivakarthikeyan to support its visibility. Rajesh Kalyanaraman, executive director, framed the reasoning as regional markets offering significant long-term growth opportunities when approached with a truly local proposition. Kalyan Jewellers itself operates more than 400 showrooms across India, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United States and the United Kingdom. No investment figure was disclosed. The choice of franchising rather than owned showrooms places the working capital for the gold inventory on franchisee balance sheets at a point when gold spot stood at $4,372.80 an ounce on this paper's tape the same morning. The demand backdrop previously filed by this paper is Indian gold jewellery demand down 15% by weight in the second quarter of 2026 to 75.1 tonnes, its lowest second quarter since the pandemic, with the value of that demand up about 50%, and Kalyan taking more than 46% of its June-quarter revenue in recycled metal and more than 55% in the month of June alone.
On 10 August 2026 two of the most widely quoted Dubai gold pages published materially different rates for the same metal on the same day. LivePriceOfGold's Dubai board, timestamped 10 August at 10:07 UTC, read AED 512.45 a gram for 24-carat gold, AED 470.43 for 22-carat, AED 448.40 for 21-carat and AED 384.34 for 18-carat, and states on the page that it prints a raw gold rate to which commission and labour charges are added. Goodreturns' Dubai page, dated the same day, read AED 523.25 for 24-carat and AED 484.50 for 22-carat, reporting no change against 9 August. The gaps are 2.11% on the 24-carat line and 2.99% on the 22-carat line, both derived by this desk from the two published figures. Kitco's live board at 5:57am New York time on 10 August put gold at $4,341.40 an ounce, which is $139.58 a gram at 31.1035 grams to the troy ounce and AED 512.59 a gram at the dirham's fixed peg of 3.6725 to the dollar; both conversions are this desk's arithmetic and are published by no source. That places LivePriceOfGold AED 0.14 from the raw-metal figure and Goodreturns AED 10.66 above it. Goodreturns' own ten-day table runs AED 485.25 on 1 August, 487.25 on the 2nd and 3rd, 485.50 on the 4th, 492.25 on the 5th, 510.25 on the 6th, 510.50 on the 7th, 523.75 on the 8th and 523.25 on the 9th and 10th: a step of AED 13.25 between 7 and 8 August against a metal move of AED 3.13 over the same span, then three flat days while spot continued to move. Read against this, the three UAE readings this paper printed for the 7 August session without choosing between them, Khaleej Times at AED 517.50, one bureau desk at AED 510.25 and another at AED 514.00, sit on two different lanes rather than representing three attempts at one figure; the peg arithmetic for 7 August gives AED 509.42.
The Bureau of Indian Standards disclosed on 9 August 2026 that the volume of hallmarked silver articles in India rose to 5.9 million pieces in the 2025-26 financial year from 3.2 million in 2024-25, an increase of about 84% derived by this desk from the two published counts, and set out a plan to scale up testing and certification capacity to match. The bureau attributes the rise to consumers moving into silver as gold prices have risen beyond reach. About 230 bureau-recognised assaying and hallmarking centres currently handle silver testing across the country. The bureau's recognised laboratory network has grown from 147 in 2014 to 440, and government-empanelled laboratories from 24 to 350, against ten standalone bureau laboratories and roughly 270,000 product samples tested; the bureau holds about 700 mandatory standards out of 23,000 in total. Nishat S Haque, deputy director general for laboratories, said the referral and assay laboratory expansion would run across the next two years. Gold surveillance remains in-house while silver testing is outsourced to the recognised centres as capacity is built. Silver hallmarking has been voluntary in India since 2005 and no timeline has been announced for making it mandatory, so the 5.9 million figure counts articles voluntarily submitted rather than total production. A hallmark unique identification number for silver articles was introduced in September 2025. The demand backdrop previously filed by this paper is Indian gold jewellery demand down 15% by weight in the second quarter to 75.1 tonnes, its lowest second quarter since the pandemic, and Kalyan Jewellers taking more than 46% of June-quarter revenue in recycled metal.
Etsy disclosed on 6 August 2026 a restructuring removing approximately 220 roles, about 12% of its marketplace workforce, falling mainly on the product and engineering organisation, at an estimated charge of about $35 million, primarily severance and benefits, to be booked in the third quarter of 2026 and completed within it. Approximately 1,600 employees remain. The company stated that the reduction is not a cost-cutting measure and is not related to artificial intelligence, describing the intent as flatter teams with wider remits, fewer handoffs and quicker decisions. The plan was announced alongside second-quarter results for the period ended 30 June 2026: revenue of $668.3 million, up 6.2% year on year against a FactSet consensus of $646.1 million; gross merchandise sales from continuing operations of $2.58 billion, with Etsy-only gross merchandise sales up 7.5%; a revenue take rate of 25.9%; active sellers up 5.9% to 5.7 million; and active buyers down 0.4% to 87.0 million. The reported net loss of $46.7 million is driven by $161 million of losses on discontinued Depop operations rather than by the core marketplace. Kruti Patel Goyal took the chief executive role earlier in 2026. Wedbush read the reduction as supportive of the gross merchandise sales trend. Jewellery and personal accessories is one of the six largest categories by gross merchandise sales in Etsy's own filings; third-party estimates place it near 30% of the platform total, a figure this desk carries as an outside estimate because Etsy does not publish a category split.
QVC Group formally emerged from Chapter 11 protection on 7 August 2026, having filed on 16 April 2026, a span of 113 days derived by this desk from the two dates. The restructuring removed more than $5 billion of debt. As part of the exit the company issued $1.2 billion of take-back notes due 2032 carrying a 10% coupon, disclosed in a regulatory filing, and secured a $600 million asset-based lending facility; the equity was approved for trading on Nasdaq under the ticker QVCG. David Rawlinson, chief executive since 2021, stepped down at the exit and was succeeded by Mike George, who previously ran QVC for more than a decade, as interim chief executive officer and board chair with immediate effect, alongside a newly appointed eight-member board. The company entered court with a pre-negotiated restructuring plan intended to compress the timetable, and the plan received judicial approval in July before the exit closed. Fine and fashion jewellery has been among the top-selling categories on the QVC platform, making the outcome directly relevant to suppliers who use long-form television demonstration as a volume channel. Alex Hennick, president and chief executive of A.D. Hennick & Associates, said the company still has brand recognition, loyal customers and strong vendor relationships. The 10% coupon on the new paper is the credit market's price for the business after the debt reduction and is carried here as the material figure alongside the headline cut.
Pandora announced on 6 August 2026 the appointment of Paulo Garcia as chief financial officer. Garcia joins the company on 1 October 2026 and assumes the role on 1 December 2026, succeeding Anders Boyer, who retires on 30 November 2026 after more than fourteen years with the company and remains until 31 March 2027 to support the handover. Garcia is a Portuguese national with twenty-five years of international executive experience across Europe and Latin America. He joins from the chief financial officer's role at Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica, a separately listed subsidiary with about $50 billion of revenue and 240,000 employees, and was previously chief financial officer for Europe and Indonesia at Ahold Delhaize and before that at Unilever. The appointment completes a turnover of three senior seats inside twelve months at the largest jewellery company in the world by units: Berta de Pablos-Barbier takes office as chief executive on 1 January 2027, and Andre Branch was named president of the North America cluster in an announcement this paper filed on 5 August 2026 as pandora-fills-the-seat. None of the three arrives from the jewellery trade. Pandora's own published figures put the company at around 7,000 points of sale globally including more than 2,800 concept stores, and approximately 39,000 employees. The company sells lab-grown diamonds in eight markets, having added Spain and Italy in June 2026 with flagship stores in Barcelona and Milan.
A 22-carat gold Cadbury's 'Conundrum' egg, named Cuckoo Cuckoo and made by Garrard & Co. of London in 1983, sold for £123,500, about $166,600, at Batemans Auctioneers & Valuers in Stamford, Lincolnshire on 1 August 2026. Forbes reported the result on 8 August and the auction house describes it as a world auction record for a bejewelled egg of its type. The price is close to six times the pre-sale estimate and about eighteen times the £6,500 the egg fetched at its previous appearance; Forbes dates that earlier sale to 2018 while the Batemans catalogue entry for the same lot is dated July 2017, and this paper carries both readings rather than resolving them. Forbes gives the egg at nine ounces of 22-carat gold, engraved and enamelled in translucent green, blue, orange and white with a cat, a weather vane, stars, mice, a castle and a treasure hunter finding a golden egg. At 91.7% fineness that is between about 7.52 and 8.25 troy ounces of pure gold, depending on whether Forbes means troy or avoirdupois ounces, worth roughly $32,600 to $35,800 at the $4,341.30 an ounce this paper's tape carries from Kitco's 5:00pm New York close on 7 August. That metal figure is derived by this desk from the reported weight and fineness and is not published by any source. Corrected 10 August 2026: this entry first carried 323.6 grams and about $41,400 of bullion, taken from a catalogue entry describing the secret thirteenth egg rather than the one that sold, and called the result four times melt; on Forbes's nine ounces it is about five times. The egg was one of twelve individually designed 22-carat eggs commissioned by Cadbury's in 1983 for a nationwide treasure hunt, with Perspex caskets buried across the United Kingdom each holding a clue to one egg; a thirteenth was made in secret. Greg Bateman, managing director at Batemans, called the eggs a fascinating piece of British cultural history.
The People's Bank of China increased its official gold reserves by 640,000 troy ounces, about 19.9 metric tonnes, during July 2026, published with the monthly reserve data on 7 August. Holdings rose to 76.08 million troy ounces at the end of July from 75.44 million at the end of June, roughly 2,366 tonnes against 2,346. It was the twenty-first consecutive month in which the bank reported a purchase and the largest single-month addition since the 740,000 ounces recorded in October 2023. The gold reserve was valued at $306.35 billion against $303.72 billion a month earlier, within total official foreign-exchange assets of $3.419 trillion, up from $3.416 trillion, putting gold at about 8% of the reserve. Set against this paper's reporting of 2 August, which carried World Gold Council figures showing central banks buying 289 tonnes in the second quarter, up 62%, with China taking 33 tonnes across those three months, July alone runs at close to double China's second-quarter monthly pace. The same World Gold Council data put first-half central-bank demand at 345 tonnes, the smallest first half since 2022's 241 tonnes, after a first quarter revised down to 57 tonnes. July was also the month gold closed at $4,041.70, up about half a per cent and its first monthly gain since February, so the increase in pace came into a market that had barely moved. At the $4,341.30 an ounce carried on this paper's tape, 640,000 ounces is worth about $2.78 billion, a figure derived by this desk from the published ounce count rather than reported.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange's Au99.99 contract traded at 938 yuan a gram on the morning of 8 August 2026, up 7.53 yuan from the previous close. On the same day, Chinese brand counter prices for 24-carat jewellery stood at 1,286 yuan a gram at Chow Tai Fook, 1,285 at Chow Sang Sang, 1,284 at Lukfook, 1,283 at Lao Feng Xiang and Lao Miao, and 1,281 at Zhou Liu Fu — every major brand inside five yuan of the others and roughly 37% above the exchange benchmark, a spread of 348 yuan a gram. The same Mandarin financial-press tally puts the distance from the Shuibei wholesale price in Shenzhen, where most Chinese gold jewellery is made and traded, to the highest brand counter price at 170 yuan a gram. On 6 August the major brands raised counter prices by close to 60 yuan a gram in a single session, as reported by Sina Finance, against a far smaller move in the benchmark, reversing the pattern in which brand list prices lagged the metal. This paper declined to print a Chinese brand-counter figure on 7 August because two independent reads of that day's price stood at 1,240 and 1,297 yuan a gram, the main aggregator returned empty price cells and a second site failed on its certificate; the 8 August table, cross-checked against two independent brand-price trackers, resolves it. The demand backdrop, previously filed by this paper on 7 August, is China Gold Association half-year figures putting gold jewellery consumption at 132.13 tonnes, down 33.88%, against bar and coin demand of 339.34 tonnes, up 28.42%.
Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry figures for the first half of 2026 put exports to Turkey at 165.2 million Swiss francs, up 6.9% from 154.5 million in the first half of 2025 and 145.2 million in 2024, with Turkey the seventeenth largest market for Swiss watches. The figures were carried by the Turkish press on 6 August, sourced to the federation. Worldwide exports for the half came to 12.8 billion francs, down 0.7%, a total this paper filed on 21 July when the federation published it. The federation's country table shows the United States, the largest single market, down 14.8% for the half though still 2.6% ahead across two years; Germany down 10.5%, China down 5.0% and Japan down 1.6%. Against those, India rose 31.5%, Mexico 14.9%, South Korea 6.5%, the United Kingdom 5.8%, Hong Kong 3.3%, Singapore 2.2% and the United Arab Emirates 1.6%. France rose 63.4%, which the federation attributes to a logistics reclassification rather than to demand. By material, watches in precious metals fell 6.5% and steel watches fell 6.5%, while bimetallic models rose 20.0% and other metals rose 14.4%. Mechanical watches priced under 500 francs at export rose 23.8% while the 500 to 3,000 franc band fell 5.7%. Seven million wristwatches shipped across the half, up 2.3% in units, on a wristwatch value of 12.2 billion francs, down 0.6%. Turkey's 165.2 million francs represents about 1.3% of the half's total, a share derived by this desk from the published figures rather than published by the federation. This is the watches desk's first article since 4 August, after four consecutive dark editions.
Kalyan Jewellers reported consolidated revenue from operations of ₹10,589 crore for the quarter to 30 June 2026, up 46% from ₹7,268 crore a year earlier, and consolidated net profit of ₹349 crore, up 32%. The results were announced on 4 August 2026. Same-store sales in India grew about 28%, international revenue rose 35%, and Candere, the group's digital business, grew 112%. The company operates 524 showrooms worldwide, 354 of them Kalyan-branded in India. The company states that its gold-recirculation campaign, run under the name Shine with India, contributed more than 46% of revenue across the quarter and more than 55% in the month of June alone, reducing its reliance on imported gold. In the same week, MMTC-PAMP, India's only LBMA Good Delivery refiner of gold and silver, launched a limited-edition 10-gram commemorative coin on 4 August struck entirely from 999.9-plus recycled gold, capped at 8,000 pieces in assayer-certified packaging carrying unique identification numbers, unveiled in New Delhi by the Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu. The volume backdrop, previously filed by this paper, is Indian gold jewellery demand down 15% by weight in the second quarter to 75.1 tonnes, its lowest second quarter since the pandemic, against a value up about 50%. A 46% revenue rise against a national tonnage down 15% therefore combines a price effect, an exchange effect and a store-count effect; the company's own same-store figure of about 28% is the comparable measure.
P N Gadgil Jewellers announced on 8 August 2026 that it has replaced Litestyle by PNG, its lightweight diamond jewellery line, with a new brand called YOOU, offered in 9, 14, 18 and 22-carat gold and positioned for everyday rather than occasion wear. The line currently trades through 13 exclusive brand outlets across Maharashtra and Goa plus shop-in-shop counters across five states, against a stated target of 100 stores by 2030. Sara Tendulkar continues as brand ambassador, carried over from Litestyle. Saurabh Gadgil, chairman and managing director, described the brand as built for contemporary collections and everyday wear. The parent company reported first-quarter revenue of ₹2,413 crore, up 41% year on year, and has said it plans to open roughly 103 stores across its whole portfolio by the end of the current financial year. The segment context previously filed by this paper is that lightweight, low-carat diamond jewellery aimed at everyday wear is the most exposed category to lab-grown substitution: on 7 August this paper reported lab-grown diamond studs selling at $29.99 in the American mall channel. Two Indian jewellers filed news in the same week and both point the same way, Kalyan sourcing more than 46% of revenue from recycled gold and P N Gadgil building a chain around 9 to 18-carat pieces bought without an occasion, both responses to a gold price that has made the traditional heavy-gold Indian purchase unaffordable at the old frequency.
US non-farm payroll employment fell by 23,000 in July 2026 against a market consensus of roughly 83,000 jobs added, a miss of 106,000, with June revised down to a loss of 20,000. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% while the labour force participation rate fell to 61.4%, its lowest in more than five years; average hourly earnings rose two cents on the month and annual wage growth slowed to 3.2%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics release page returned HTTP 403 to this desk, and the figures are carried as reported by Brisk Markets and CNBC on 7 August 2026 rather than from the primary release. Kitco's 5:00pm New York close on 7 August had gold bid at $4,341.30 an ounce, up $102.00 or 2.41% against Thursday's close; silver $63.46, up $2.06 or 3.36%; platinum $1,743.00, up $25.00 or 1.46%; palladium $1,357.00, up $4.00 or 0.30%. Fine gold at that level is $139.58 a gram against $138.72 at this paper's Friday morning mark; ten grams of 18-carat gold carries $1,046.85 of metal. Outside sources diverge on the day's gold mark and the divergence is recorded rather than resolved: Trading Economics carried $4,343.43 for 7 August, $2.13 above the Kitco close, and Reuters reporting during the session had spot near $4,356 at its intraday best. This paper carries the Kitco close because it is a stated closing print at a stated time. The CME FedWatch tool had September rate-hike probability at 46% immediately after the release, from 55% before it and against the 56.9% this paper carried on Friday morning. Consumer price data is released the following week. Saturday 8 August is a weekend and spot markets did not trade; the Editor re-read Kitco at press time and the reading matched the 05:00 tape exactly, so the tape stands unamended.
Carat Capital marked four metals from Kitco spot at 5:58am New York on 7 August, an hour and a half before the payrolls release. Measured against Kitco's 5:00pm close the same day, gold rose a further $26.80 from $4,314.50 to $4,341.30, while silver fell $0.83 from $64.29 to $63.46, platinum fell $29.00 from $1,772.00 to $1,743.00 and palladium fell $25.00 from $1,382.00 to $1,357.00. In session-percentage terms platinum was up 3.14% at the morning mark and closed up 1.46%, surrendering more than half its gain; palladium was up 2.14% and closed up 0.30%; silver was up 4.71% and closed up 3.36%; gold alone improved, from 1.77% to 2.41%. The gold to silver ratio stood at 69.04 on Thursday's close, tightened to 67.11 at the Friday morning mark and widened back to 68.41 at the close. Platinum stood at 41.1% of the gold price in the morning and 40.15% at the close. Measured against this paper's marks of 5 August, the three-session move is gold +$183.00 or +4.40%, silver +$2.16 or +3.52%, palladium +$7.00 or +0.52% and platinum +$2.00 or +0.11%. Both readings are from the same source at two stated times and both were correct when taken.
Bonhams announced on 7 August 2026 a three-city Chanel auction series for September. New York holds Chanel: From the Vault II from 7 to 17 September, led by a gold-tone bird cage minaudière from Virginie Viard's Métiers d'Art Paris-31 rue Cambon collection, set with simulated turquoise and multicoloured crystals, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000; highlights go on view at the house's Manhattan flagship from 17 August. Paris holds Chanel: From the Vault II Paris Edition from 14 to 24 September with roughly 400 lots spanning Karl Lagerfeld's 1990s work to Viard's recent collections, led by a white tweed jacket from the autumn/winter 2025 ready-to-wear collection at €2,000 to €3,000, about $2,300 to $3,460, and including a Lagerfeld-era brooch with rhinestones and turquoise-coloured paste at €700 to €900, about $810 to $1,040. London holds Designer Handbags and Fashion from 21 September to 1 October and carries the heaviest jewellery weighting, with a private collection of Chanel costume pieces from the 1960s to the 1990s led by a filigree snake bangle made by Robert Goossens for Chanel Haute Couture circa 1960, estimated at $13,000 to $20,000, against a pair of Chanel Fine Jewelry Comète Géode earrings from 2024 in 18-carat white gold and diamonds estimated at £2,000 to £3,000, about $2,690 to $4,040. The signed costume bangle therefore carries roughly five times the estimate of the current-production gold and diamond earrings from the same maison, which prices attribution and documentation rather than materials. This is the first substantial auction-house announcement this desk has been able to file in three editions.
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council surveyed 1,507 buyers and exhibitors at its twin fairs, the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show and the Hong Kong International Diamond, Gem and Pearl Show, which ran together from 29 July to 2 August 2026 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. On the most-in-demand stone, 29% named diamond, 25% ruby and 20% pearl. On growth potential by segment, 57% named trendy fashion jewellery, 35% precious jewellery and 21% designer jewellery. Yellow gold was named the most popular precious metal by 40% of respondents. Respondents described themselves as cautious about 2026 and said they expect one to two years before confidence is fully restored. Hong Kong's own 2025 trade data provides the base: exports of fine jewellery rose 5%, driven by precious metal prices rather than units; exports of pearls, gemstones and rough diamonds fell 8%; exports of imitation jewellery fell 26%. The twenty-eight-point gap between the fashion jewellery and precious jewellery answers on growth is the widest signal in the survey and sits against a week in which gold closed at $4,341.30 an ounce, $139.58 a gram. Related context previously filed by this paper: China Gold Association half-year figures showing Chinese gold jewellery consumption down 33.88% by weight while bar and coin demand rose 28.42% (7 August).
Figures from the analytics firm Tenoris, reported by JCK on 5 August 2026, put United States jewellery sales up 8.6% across the first half of 2026 while the average purchase price rose 19% and unit sales declined. June alone rose 13% year on year. Sales of items priced below $1,500 continued to decline. The implied unit change, derived by this desk from the published value and average-price figures rather than published as such, is a fall of roughly 9%. The composition reflects a spending distribution rather than a jewellery-specific trend: The New York Times has the top 10% of American households accounting for nearly half of all consumer spending, and a discretionary category inherits that shape. De Beers chief executive Al Cook, speaking at the JCK show, said larger and higher-quality diamonds are growing in value and desire. The same mechanism appears in three company results previously filed by this paper: Brilliant Earth's second quarter, revenue up 6% on total orders down 2.1% with average order value up 8% to $2,238 (7 August); Richemont's quarter to 30 June, jewellery up 24% within total sales up 20% and a seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit jewellery growth (15 July); and Luk Fook's record profit taken from fixed-price design rather than gram weight (5 August). The Knot separately reports six of ten brides in 2025 chose lab-grown centre stones.
NY Now's summer market ran from 2 to 4 August 2026 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York with 460 exhibitors, more than 70 of them new to the show or returning after an absence, across its Gift and Lifestyle, Jewelry and Accessories, and Home sections. Buyer attendance rose 5% on the previous summer edition. Organisers report a 96% renewal rate for the winter 2027 market and say 107 prospective exhibitors walked the summer floor to assess taking space. It was the first edition under Rockview Management Group, which acquired NY Now and JA New York from Emerald before that company's own acquisition by Apollo, and which has placed the industry veteran Dorothy Belshaw in charge. The winter 2027 market is scheduled for 31 January to 2 February 2027. Neither the attendance rise nor the renewal rate is broken out by section, so the jewellery-specific read is limited: NY Now is a gift and home market with a jewellery and accessories hall inside it rather than a jewellery fair. This paper filed the show's opening on 2 August. Separately and not filed as an article: Etsy is cutting 220 jobs, 12% of its workforce, in product and engineering, with second-quarter sales up 6% and first-half revenue up 5%; no jewellery-seller-specific impact has been reported and it is carried here as context only.
The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 passed the Lok Sabha on 6 August 2026, proposing an income-tax exemption for qualifying non-resident companies selling rough diamonds in India between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2041, a fifteen-year window. The exemption is conditional on the sale taking place inside a Special Notified Zone; the two relevant zones sit inside the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai and the Surat Diamond Bourse. The class of qualifying seller covers miners, brokers, aggregators, auction operators and sightholders, and a qualifying company must furnish information when required. The existing regime offers a safe harbour presuming taxable profit at 1.25% of gross revenue, with Indian corporate tax at rates reaching about 33% of profit where the safe harbour is not elected. The stated policy aim is to reduce the movement of rough and encourage direct sales within India, positioning Mumbai and Surat against Dubai and Antwerp. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council welcomed the introduction. The Bill has cleared the lower house only and requires Rajya Sabha passage and presidential assent before any exemption takes effect; no date has been set for a hearing in the upper house, which makes the 1 October start date an intention rather than a commitment. For comparison, this paper reported on 2 August that a single tender cleared at 100% in Dubai against 75% in Johannesburg, and on 15 July that Dubai's diamond trade was worth $41.7 billion in a year.
At 5:58am New York time on 7 August, Kitco's spot page had gold bid at $4,314.50 an ounce, up $75.20 or 1.77% against Thursday's close, a fifth consecutive advance and above the seven-week high carried the previous day. Silver was bid at $64.29, up $2.89 or 4.71%, the largest single-session move of the four; platinum at $1,772.00, up $54.00 or 3.14%; palladium at $1,382.00, up $29.00 or 2.14%. The gold to silver ratio tightened to 67.1 from 69.3, more than reversing Thursday's widening. Against the 6:03am mark this paper carried on 6 August, gold added $43.60 an ounce or 1.02% and silver $2.62 or 4.25% in twenty-four hours. Fine gold at $4,314.50 an ounce is $138.72 a gram against $137.31 the previous session; platinum stood at 41.1% of the gold price against 41.0%. This desk wrote on 6 August that silver turning red beneath a gold high was the clearest internal warning the tape had printed all week; silver reversed that decline in full the following session, and the call is recorded here against the print that followed it. Context: Iran said it had reached an understanding with Oman on a proposed shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as a temporary route and not a full reopening; ADP put July private hiring at 44,000 against about 50,000 expected, JOLTS was softer and initial claims rose to 199,000; the CME FedWatch tool showed September at 56.9% against 63.4% a week earlier. July non-farm payrolls were scheduled for 8:30am on 7 August, after this edition closed. Two divergences are recorded rather than resolved: this paper's own overnight tape read gold at $4,304.40 at 4:58am, $10.10 below the 5:58am bid, with silver at $64.16 and platinum at $1,763.00 and palladium identical at $1,382.00 on matching previous closes; and Dubai 24-carat retail was quoted at AED 517.50 a gram by Khaleej Times on 7 August, AED 510.25 by this paper's metals desk the same day and AED 514.00 by the overnight desk on 6 August. NAT1 and LGD1 were carried unchanged, the lab-grown reference holding at $709 on CaratRadar for a third straight day against $536 on StoneAlgo, a spread of roughly 24%.
China Gold Association half-year figures, reported 6-7 August 2026, put national gold consumption at 511.41 tonnes for the first half of 2026, up 1.23% year on year. Gold jewellery consumption fell 33.88% to 132.13 tonnes while gold bar and coin consumption rose 28.42% to 339.34 tonnes, making investment metal roughly two and a half times the jewellery figure. The association attributes the divergence to elevated and volatile gold prices and to the rollout of new domestic gold tax policies, with temporary price corrections boosting bar sales through banks. These figures sit alongside, and do not match, the World Gold Council data this paper filed on 3 August, which put Chinese jewellery demand at roughly 136 tonnes across the half, a fall of about 30%, and the second quarter at 50.0 tonnes, the weakest since 2004. The gap between the two authorities is about four tonnes and nearly four percentage points, arising from differing definitions between a consumption series and a demand series; both are printed here and neither is preferred. Related context previously filed by this paper: Indian jewellery demand of 75.1 tonnes in the second quarter, down 15% by weight and up about 50% by value (31 July), and Luk Fook's record profit driven by fixed-price design rather than gram weight (5 August).
Brilliant Earth reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $115.1 million, up 6% year on year, on a 2.1% decline in total orders, with average order value up 8% to $2,238. Net income was $0.8 million against a net loss of $1.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Gross margin was 57.9%, a 360 basis point sequential improvement. Fine jewellery bookings grew 32% year on year. The company raised full-year revenue guidance to $459 million to $462 million and guided the third quarter to roughly flat sales with adjusted EBITDA between $3 million and $5 million. The composition is the result: revenue growth came from ticket rather than customer count, which concentrates the quarter in existing higher-income demand and leaves no volume growth underneath to absorb a trim in that cohort. The pattern matches other results filed by this paper in the same period, including US jewellery revenue rising while tonnage fell (3 August) and Luk Fook's fixed-price mix carrying a record profit (5 August).
The World Platinum Investment Council projects Chinese platinum jewellery demand down 14% year on year in 2026 and global platinum jewellery demand down about 6%. The council attributes the Chinese figure to an unrepeated and exceptionally high stock build in the second quarter of 2025, when Chinese fabricators bought platinum ahead of a gold price that had made their usual metal unaffordable; excluding that atypical inventory build, Chinese platinum jewellery fabrication would show a small year-on-year increase. The global 6% contraction reflects North American and European growth consolidating after strong years and Indian demand facing tariff-related headwinds, with the largest single contributor being the Chinese comparison. WPIC separately forecasts a fourth consecutive annual platinum market deficit for 2026, with supply falling short of demand by 297,000 ounces. Against this, platinum spot was bid at $1,772.00 an ounce at 5:58am New York on 7 August, up 3.14% on the session and standing at 41.1% of the gold price. The general caution applies beyond platinum: any 2026 comparison against 2025 in this trade is a comparison against a year in which buyers front-ran the gold price.
Claire's is relaunching its in-store piercing experience across the United States and Canada from August 2026, the second overhaul of that service in three years, and has expanded the starter stud assortment to include lab-grown diamonds and coloured gemstones alongside existing gold and steel options. Piercing kits start at $29.99 with the piercing itself free on kit purchase. The lab-grown range includes 14-carat white gold studs at 0.10 carats total weight, sold as complete kits with aftercare solution. The significance is the price tier rather than the material: at this level grown diamond functions as a finish and hypoallergenic setting specification rather than as a gemstone purchase, and the competitive displacement falls on cubic zirconia and surgical steel rather than on natural diamond. It is the clearest published evidence to date of grown material reaching mass-market starter pricing, and follows this paper's earlier coverage of grown wholesale price declines and of retailers tiering their floors between lab-grown for everyday and natural for rarity.
At 6:03am New York time on 6 August, Kitco's spot page had gold bid at $4,270.90 an ounce, up $24.70 or 0.58% against Wednesday's close and its highest level in seven weeks, a fourth consecutive advance. Platinum was bid at $1,753.00, up $23.00 or 1.33%, and palladium at $1,367.00, up $20.00 or 1.48%. Silver was bid at $61.67, down $0.25 or 0.41%, the only one of the four lower on the session, after leading the complex all week with gains of 3.27% on 5 August and 3.2% the session before. The gold to silver ratio widened back to 69.3 from 67.8, undoing two sessions of tightening. Against the 5:58am mark this paper carried on 5 August, $4,157.80, gold added $113.10 an ounce or 2.72% in twenty-four hours. Fine gold at $4,270.90 an ounce is $137.31 a gram against $133.68 the previous session and $130.17 on 4 August; platinum stood at 41.0% of the gold price, down from 42.0%. This paper's own overnight tape recorded gold at $4,276.60 at 4:58am, $5.70 above the 6:03am bid carried here, and read silver as flat at $61.92 rather than down, a divergence recorded rather than resolved. NAT1 and LGD1 were both carried unchanged; the lab-grown reference was not printed as a market because two trackers stood 28% apart at $709 and $555. July non-farm payrolls are released at 8:30am on 7 August, the first full read on American hiring since the Federal Reserve held on 29 July with three dissents; June's print was 57,000.
Alrosa's first-half 2026 accounts, as reported in English-language coverage of the filing, show revenue of 74.2 billion roubles, about $932.5 million, down 36% year on year, and a net loss of 10.67 billion roubles, about $134.1 million, against a net profit of 39 billion roubles, about $490.1 million, in the first half of 2025. Cost of sales fell 20% to 69.5 billion roubles, about $873.4 million, so revenue fell nearly twice as fast as the cost of production. The comparative half carried about 53.1 billion roubles, some $667.3 million, of non-operating income, including roughly 30 billion roubles, about $377 million, from the sale of Alrosa's stake in Angola's Catoca venture, which flatters the base. The company is preparing to place several open-pit mines into care and maintenance during 2026 and has suspended mining at Severalmaz, which accounts for roughly 10% of Russian diamond output. The 2026 production target of 25 to 26 million carats, down 14% from 29.7 million carats in 2025, is not new: it was set out by the company's head in December 2025, with the stated reason that it was not a question of capacity but of regulating demand and global inventories. For comparison, De Beers' consolidated average realised price fell 32% to $105 a carat across the same half, filed by this paper on 31 July. These figures rest on a single English-language report of the filing and no second outlet has yet carried them.
Signet announced on 5 August that Pam Cloud becomes president of Blue Nile effective 10 August, reporting to Joan Hilson, Signet's chief operating and financial officer. Cloud has more than thirty years in luxury retail, of which more than twenty-five were spent at Tiffany and Co., latterly as senior vice president and chief merchandising officer and a member of the executive committee. She subsequently founded Roseate Jewelry, a direct-to-consumer pearl brand. Signet acquired Blue Nile in 2022 for $360 million. The appointment places a merchant rather than a marketer in charge of a business originally built on price transparency for loose stones, which reads as a decision about assortment and presentation rather than traffic or conversion. It is the second senior jewellery appointment in a week and close to the inverse of the first: Pandora named Andre Branch, a consumer-brands executive with no jewellery background, president of its North America cluster from 15 August, filed by this paper on 5 August. Both new presidents start in mid-August, with the American fourth quarter already substantially bought.
Deferred payment credit, the interest-free instalment model underpinning buy-now-pay-later, entered the United Kingdom's regulatory perimeter under Financial Conduct Authority supervision on 15 July 2026. The market grew from about £60 million of transaction value in 2017 to more than £13 billion in 2024, with the FCA putting British usage at around 11 million consumers. Lenders entering deferred payment credit agreements must be authorised for the relevant consumer credit activities or hold temporary permission under the temporary permissions regime, and must carry out proportionate affordability checks before extending credit and give consumers clear upfront terms covering payment dates, amounts and the consequence of a missed payment. Consumers gain access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Firms could register for temporary permission between 15 May and 1 July 2026 and have six months from commencement to apply for full authorisation. The relevance to jewellery is direct: most independents accept a provider's checkout plug-in rather than lending themselves, so the authorisation duty sits with the provider, but the January authorisation deadline is the point at which some smaller providers may withdraw. This is a three-week-old rule change filed now for its forward consequences, not news of the day.
Onyx Partners, a Boston-area private equity firm, has offered $934 million for a portfolio of 117 J.C. Penney stores covering 15.7 million square feet across 35 states, about $8 million a store or roughly $59 a square foot. It is the firm's second attempt; a higher offer of $947 million was rejected in December. Onyx states that financing is fully in place and that it is prepared to close on 25 September. The seller is Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust, a Jersey City vehicle created after J.C. Penney's 2020 Chapter 11 filing with a mandate to liquidate real estate for the benefit of investors. The relevance to the jewellery trade is the anchor position: J.C. Penney has operated fine jewellery departments for decades, and anchor ownership determines footfall past every specialist jeweller in a mall concourse. An implied price near land-and-shell levels rather than going-concern retail levels indicates a market clearing anchor space on the assumption the current use may not be the final use. The transaction has not closed.
Attentive's holiday research, conducted online among 600 United States adults and published in the first week of August 2026, finds that 67% of respondents used an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to assist with shopping in the previous three months, rising to 80% among Gen Z respondents. Among AI users the most common activities were researching specific products, comparing brands and features, seeking recommendations and finding deals, with 51% using the tools to compare brands and almost three in five asking questions about specific products. On timing, 62% of consumers will plan holiday purchases before November, 71% expect to start shopping before Black Friday, and 46% plan to begin holiday shopping before November. Two limits belong on the figures: a sample of 600 adults surveyed online is small and skews toward respondents comfortable answering on a screen, the same population most likely to have tried a chatbot, and the survey measures consultation rather than conversion, with no figure establishing that a purchase was completed through a model. Related: the Natural Diamond Council has engaged the agency Artefact on how natural diamonds appear inside large language models, filed by this paper on 5 August.
At 5:58am New York time on 5 August, Kitco's spot page had gold bid at $4,157.80 an ounce, up $81.20 or 1.99% against Tuesday's close; silver $61.35, up $1.94 or 3.27%; platinum $1,747.00, up $19.00 or 1.10%; and palladium $1,355.00, up $26.00 or 1.96%. It was the third consecutive session in which all four rose. Against the $4,048.80 print this paper carried on 4 August, gold added about $109 an ounce in twenty-four hours. The gold to silver ratio tightened to 67.8 from about 69.0 and platinum stood at 42.0% of the gold price; fine gold at $4,157.80 an ounce is $133.68 a gram against $130.17 the previous session. The move followed reports that the United States, Iran and Oman were closing on an interim agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with an announcement targeted for Wednesday; lower oil cut the inflation path and traders trimmed the odds of a September Federal Reserve increase to about 57% from about 67% a day earlier. Intraday prints were materially higher than the mark carried here, at $4,170.90 at 3:08am and $4,174.70 at 2:44am. Trading Economics printed platinum at $1,760.10 and palladium at $1,372.00, spreads of $13.10 and $17.00 against Kitco, which remains this paper's designated source. NAT1 and LGD1 both carried unchanged; the lab-grown reference was not printed because two trackers stood 28% apart, at $709 and $552, on the same week.
October 2026 gold futures on India's Multi Commodity Exchange traded at ₹1,45,359 per 10 grams on 5 August, up ₹1,060 or 0.73%, and September 2026 silver at ₹2,24,109 a kilogram, up ₹2,494 or 1.13%. The same gold contract held above ₹1,43,500 in the previous session. ₹1,45,359 per 10 grams is ₹14,536 a gram of futures-grade metal, a duty-inclusive domestic price that cannot be compared directly with the $133.68 a gram international spot mark. Context: Indian jewellery demand fell 19% in the first quarter and to 75.1 tonnes in the second from 88.8 tonnes, a 15% fall, on World Gold Council figures filed by this paper on 31 July, with the council reporting demand beginning to recover in late June after a month-long lull. Chinese gold jewellery demand fell 28% in the same quarter to 50 tonnes, the weakest since 2004. Third-quarter Indian tonnage will not be published for months; the futures print is a price expectation, not an offtake figure.
Hong Kong sales of jewellery, watches, clocks and valuable gifts reached HK$5.49 billion, about $699.9 million, in June 2026, up 20% year on year, on Census and Statistics Department figures published 4 August. Total retail sales across all categories were HK$31.49 billion, about $4.02 billion, up 5%, making hard luxury 17.4% of the city's retail spend and marking a fourteenth consecutive month of overall retail growth. Across the first half, jewellery, watches and clocks took HK$31.07 billion, about $3.96 billion, up 25%, against HK$203 billion, about $25.88 billion, up 10%, for all retail categories. The government attributed the run to continued economic expansion, rising local incomes and a steady increase in inbound visitors. The value line is flattered by a record gold price in a market that sells substantial volumes of gold by weight; Luk Fook's June quarter, filed by this paper on 21 July, showed retail value up 32% and gold same-store sales up 50% while diamond same-store sales fell 17% group-wide and 58% on the mainland.
Pandora appointed André Branch president of its North America cluster, effective 15 August 2026, succeeding Luciano Rodembusch, who left in February, leaving the seat vacant roughly six months. Branch joins from the chief executive's role at R.E.M. Beauty and previously held senior positions at Estée Lauder, L'Oréal, Diageo and Kraft Heinz across two decades in consumer brands; he has no jewellery background. Pandora describes North America as one of its largest and most important growth markets and states the brief as strengthening customer engagement, expanding reach and unlocking growth. The appointment follows a wider set of executive changes at Pandora North America reported earlier in the year. The American fourth quarter is already substantially bought by the time he starts.
Luk Fook Holdings reported net profit up 88.7% to HK$2.015 billion for the year to 31 March 2026, its highest on record, on revenue up 29% to HK$17.21 billion, with gross profit up 42.9% to HK$6.31 billion and a gross margin of 36.7%. The results were disclosed in late June. The driver, stated in the Chinese-language financial press and largely absent from English pickups, is the pricing mix: sales of fixed-price jewellery, priced by the piece, rose 50.5%, while sales of gold and platinum products priced by weight rose 22%. Weight-priced goods pass the metal cost to the customer and earn the retailer a labour charge; fixed-price goods carry the margin inside the ticket, which protects gross margin when gold is at a record but caps revenue upside when volume returns and moves the price exposure onto the buying and hedging desk. This paper filed the same company's June quarter on 21 July, retail value up 32% and gold same-store sales up 50%, and its split on 22 July, diamond same-store sales down 58% on the mainland.
Natural Diamond Council chief executive Amber Pepper, speaking at a Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council meeting in Mumbai on Monday 3 August, said at least 80% of the council's advertising spend will be directed at consumers rather than the trade, and that the council's budget is significantly larger than the prior year, without giving a figure. She set out a Diamond Desire Index tracking consideration, purchase intent, sentiment and recommendation in India, China and the United States, with a baseline due September 2026, and a Natural Diamond Mark to be inscribed on natural diamonds and jewellery globally as a consumer trust device. Six transformational pillars were named: industry unity, category marketing, organisation evolution, consumer design, cultural relevance and category protection. The council is working with the agency Artefact on large language model optimisation. Pepper said the trade must stop talking about the crisis and start promoting the desirability of natural diamonds. Context: the RapNet Diamond Index for 1-carat polished was flat in July after thirteen months of decline, and De Beers' consolidated average realised price fell 32% to $105 a carat across the first half.
Joopiter, the digital auction house founded by Pharrell Williams, opened Keeping Measure: Watches and Timepieces, the first sale from the standalone watch department it announced in July under Nate Borgelt, formerly of Bonhams. Lots close on a rolling basis through 11 August. The top lot is an Omega Speedmaster engraved for Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon, one of thirty examples of the reference produced after the first moon landing and distributed to President Nixon, Vice President Agnew and astronauts of the period; this is number 26, engraved for Bean's command of the 1973 Skylab mission, estimated at $250,000 to $350,000 with bidding at $230,000. Other lots include an HYT Moon Runner Red Magma from 2022 at $50,000 to $70,000 and a Ulysse Nardin with a Gay Frères bracelet from around 1960 at $15,000 to $25,000, alongside Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Piaget, Cartier, Ressence, Speake-Marin and Ōtsuka Lotēc. The sale runs against an empty summer calendar; the next priced offering of note is Sotheby's Gem Drop in New York, 10 to 13 August. Watch auction sales reached $680 million in the first half, up 45%, with 73 lots clearing $1 million.
Rapaport published July 2026 RapNet Diamond Index figures on 4 August. The 1-carat index was unchanged across the month, ending a decline that had run without a positive print since June 2025. The 0.30-carat index rose 1.6%, the 0.50-carat index rose 1.8%, its largest monthly gain since March 2025, and the 3-carat index rose 0.2%. It is the first month since March 2025 in which none of the four headline categories fell, making July the best month for polished prices since the April 2025 tariff schedule. Rapaport reports American demand concentrated in 2-carat rounds in G to J colour and VS1 to SI2 clarity, plus fancy shapes. The tariff schedule in force from late July keeps 10% on polished finished in India while loose natural diamonds cut in Belgium, Botswana and Namibia clear at zero. Lab-grown competition at the entry price point, weak Chinese demand and Angolan rough surplus are unresolved. Carat Capital's NAT1 line carries 5,232.00 unchanged, now for the sourced reason that the 1-carat index was flat rather than for the absence of a print.
The Fancy Color Research Foundation's index of pink, blue and yellow diamonds fell 0.1% across the second quarter of 2026, reported by Rapaport on 3 August. Pink rose 0.1% after falling 0.3% in the prior quarter, with 1 and 1.5-carat pinks each up 0.4%, 2 and 3-carat pinks each up 0.6%, fancy-vivid pinks up 0.5% and fancy-intense pinks down 0.1%. Blue fell 0.4% after falling 0.3%, with 1-carat blues up 0.7%, 1.5-carat down 0.2%, 2-carat down 1.3%, 3-carat down 0.7% and 5-carat flat; 1-carat fancy-vivid blues rose 1.5% while fancy and fancy-intense blues each fell 0.6%. Yellow fell 0.3% for a second consecutive quarter, with 3-carat yellows up 0.7% against fancy-intense yellows down 1.3%. The foundation described a market that remained broadly stable.
EveryWatch's first-half 2026 report, published 30 July and taken up by the trade press on 3 August, put global secondary watch transactions at $10.5 billion, up 37.2% year on year, compiled from sold prices at about 650 dealers and roughly 470 auction houses. Independent makers transacted $633.8 million collectively, up 89%, ahead of the LVMH watch portfolio at about $617 million. F.P. Journe accounted for $201.6 million of that, an increase of 196.9%, ranking seventh among all watch brands, on a median sale price of $215,000, up 82%, and a turnover rate above 57%. H. Moser and Cie. did $26 million, up 64%, Parmigiani Fleurier $21 million, up 60%, and De Bethune $19 million, up 2%. Rolex remained the largest single brand at $4.29 billion, about 41% of all value, with Patek Philippe at $1.51 billion and Audemars Piguet at $983 million. Rolex certified pre-owned reached $385 million, more than double the prior year. The United States and Canada transacted $4.5 billion, up 70%, while Asia fell 2.6%. The median watch sold for $5,900, up 19%, in an average of 43 days against 39.
Swatch allocated 1,969 MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon 1969 pieces through the Electronic Swatch Timepiece Application, a 32-question online form, and more than 1.2 million people completed it, about 600 applicants per available watch. The retail price is $570, derived from the gold price on 21 July 1969. JCK reports the watch carries 11 grams of 18-karat gold across dial, hands, crown and pushers, which is 8.25 grams of fine gold, worth about $1,074 at Kitco spot of $4,048.80 an ounce on 4 August. The mechanic followed the May Royal Pop collaboration with Audemars Piguet, which required police outside stores in New York, Paris and London, closed 15 American stores on a Saturday and traded at four to five times retail before falling below $400 by August. Swatch Group stock rose about 15% in the two weeks after the Royal Pop launch.
EveryWatch's first-half 2026 report put watch auction sales at $680 million, up 45% year on year, inside a total secondary market of $10.5 billion. Seventy-three lots cleared $1 million, close to three times the same period a year earlier, and three lots passed $10 million. The highest was an F.P. Journe Chronometre a Resonance Souscription number 007, which made $13,922,000 at Phillips New York on 14 June 2026, the highest auction price for a watch by an independent maker. Phillips also placed a Resonance Souscription number 18 at $6.3 million and a Resonance Pisa at $3 million across the spring season. The median watch across all channels sold for $5,900, up 19%, and took an average of 43 days to sell against 39 a year earlier.
At 5:59am New York time on 4 August, Kitco's spot page had gold bid at $4,048.80 an ounce, down $5.70 or 0.14% against Monday's close; platinum $1,655.00, up $28.00 or 1.72%; palladium $1,266.00, up $22.00 or 1.77%; and silver $58.63, up 56.3 cents or 0.97%. The gold to silver ratio tightened to about 69.0 from 69.8 the previous session and platinum stood at 40.9% of the gold price. Trading Economics, quoting a different print time on the same session, showed platinum up 2.56% and silver up 1.83% while agreeing with Kitco on gold at minus 0.14%; it put gold down about 2.8% over the past month and up 19.8% on the year, silver down 5.3% on the month and up 55.3% on the year, and platinum up 26.8% on the year. The ADP national employment report is due Wednesday and non-farm payrolls Friday, the first full read on American hiring since the Federal Reserve held rates on 29 July with three dissents. Gold at $4,048.80 an ounce is $130.17 a gram of fine metal.
Vicenzaoro September runs from 4 to 8 September 2026 at Fiera di Vicenza, organised by Italian Exhibition Group, with roughly 1,300 exhibiting brands from 38 countries and buyers expected from more than 130 countries, on figures IEG gave JCK on 13 July. The show was reported close to sold out in late May. The new Hall 2, a two-storey central hub connected by covered walkways, is fully operational for the first time, and T.Gold, the machinery and technology section for precious-metal production, has moved inside the expo centre grounds into Hall 4; Jewellery Outlook confirmed both through interviews published 31 July. CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, holds its centenary congress in Vicenza from 4 to 7 September, one hundred years after its founding in 1926, with its Assembly of Delegates and sectoral commissions meeting and amendments to the Blue Books introduced. The scheduled agenda covers the state of the diamond industry, lab-grown diamonds, the supply chain, pearls and coloured gemstones. Russia's Resolution 657, which bans the word diamond for synthetics sold there, comes into force on 1 September, three days before the congress opens.
Vietnamese investigators now put the transnational diamond-smuggling network at $73 million of stones moved into the country, of which about $57 million have been identified, with more than 30 people arrested or detained. The stone count is unchanged from earlier reporting at more than 28,000 diamonds carried on 141 separate occasions since 2024. The figure in the charge sheet reported on 16 July was 280 billion dong, about $10.65 million, against 22 people charged. Couriers carried stones in luggage, shoes and clothing on commercial flights from Hong Kong into Vietnamese airports, with orders and prices arranged over WhatsApp, and released goods only to a recipient holding a US dollar bill whose eleven-character serial number matched one agreed in advance. Goods typically moved at about a third below market. State-owned Saigon Jewelry Company, which sets Vietnam's benchmark gold price, bought more than 3,400 of the stones for about $19 million. Police believe the operation was directed by an Indian national living in Hong Kong, sourcing in India and consolidating in Hong Kong. The former director of P-Lab, the grading subsidiary wholly owned by Phu Nhuan Jewelry that handles about 70% of Vietnamese certification, is among those charged.
The World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends for the second quarter of 2026, published 30 July, put mainland Chinese gold jewellery demand at 50.0 tonnes, down 28% from 69.2 tonnes a year earlier and the lowest second-quarter figure since 2004. First-half Chinese demand was 136 tonnes, down 30%, while the value of that demand rose 11% to about $21 billion. India took 75.1 tonnes in the quarter, down 15% and its lowest second quarter since the pandemic, on first-half demand of 141 tonnes worth about $21 billion, up 26% by value. The Middle East fell 19% to 32.2 tonnes and the United States fell 25% to 22.2 tonnes, the sharpest percentage decline among the major markets. Global jewellery fabrication was 278.2 tonnes against 335.3 tonnes a year earlier, which the council described as one of the weakest second quarters in its data series. First-half global jewellery value reached about $86 billion, up 22% from $71 billion.
The first session since Friday's close opened higher across the precious complex. At 6:01am New York time on 3 August, Kitco's spot page had gold bid at $4,053.30 an ounce, up $11.60 or 0.29% against the 31 July 5pm close of $4,041.70, on a range of $4,045.80 to $4,083.50. Silver bid $58.05, up 61.1 cents or 1.06%, on a range of $57.68 to $58.76, the largest percentage gain of the four metals and a gold to silver ratio of about 69.8. Platinum bid $1,647.00, up $3.00 or 0.18%, on a range of $1,641.00 to $1,676.00. Palladium bid $1,259.00, up $3.00 or 0.24%, on a wide range of $1,257.00 to $1,322.00. The week holds the ADP employment report midweek and non-farm payrolls on Friday, the first complete read on American hiring since the Federal Reserve held rates on 29 July with three dissents. This tape prints the live quotation rather than the settlement because Friday's close had already been carried through two editions.
Michael Hill reported group revenue of A$654.7 million, about $459.5 million, for the financial year to 28 June 2026, an increase of 2%. Same-store sales rose 3% across the group: 7% in Canada, described by the company as a record, on segment revenue of C$169.3 million; 4.8% in Australia on A$364.6 million; and 3.6% in New Zealand on NZ$108.9 million. The chain closed eight stores over the year, four in Australia and two each in Canada and New Zealand, and opened two, one in Australia and one in Canada, ending with 281 stores: 157 in Australia, 81 in Canada and 43 in New Zealand. Chief executive Jonathan Waecker said growth was significantly accelerating in Canada and New Zealand in the second half. Earnings were not disclosed alongside the sales figures.
The National Retail Federation's Impact of Retail Theft and Violence study, published in late July 2026, found shoplifting incidents down 12.4% in 2025 and merchandise theft down 8.1% against 2024, while 69% of retailers reported an increase in phone scams, 42% in gift-card theft and fraud, 40% in organised retail crime driving shoplifting, 36% in cargo and supply-chain theft, and 50% in repeat offenders. Jewellery, gold and watches rank among the categories generating the highest dollar losses to organised retail crime groups. The Jewelers' Security Alliance annual crime report, published 13 May 2026, counted 1,233 crimes against United States jewellery firms in 2025, down 13% from 1,420, on total dollar losses of $144.7 million against $142.5 million. On-premises burglaries fell 14% to 262 and robberies were flat at 218. Robberies involving guns, mace or vehicles rose to 27% of the total from 17%; mace or pepper-spray incidents went from 3 to 14; vehicles driven into stores went from none reported in 2024 to 13; crimes at jewellers' homes rose from 4 to 11; and two people in the industry died in 2025 against four the year before.
Duncan Wanblad, chief executive of Anglo American, said the De Beers disposal is in the final phases of its process and that this is also the most challenging phase because several parties must move together. He put completion in the second half of 2026, with regulatory approval taking roughly a year after signature. Wanblad said Anglo is not exclusive with any consortium and retains multiple active bidders, contradicting reports that the group assembled by former De Beers chief executive Gareth Penny had been selected as front-runner. He also ruled out a public listing, saying the market lacks the capacity to absorb a De Beers flotation, confirming that the exit will be a private sale with no continuing disclosure obligation. De Beers reported first-half revenue of $1.6 billion, down 19% year on year, and an underlying EBITDA loss of $113 million, narrowed from $189 million in the first half of 2025 on cost reductions rather than recovered demand. Reports in late July put a prospective sale near $1 billion with about $750 million payable up front.
The Section 301 tariff schedule that took effect at midnight on July 24, 2026 applies duties of 10% to 12.5% to roughly 60 countries on forced-labour grounds, but exempts loose natural diamonds cut in the European Union at 0%, along with rough and polished coloured gemstones and natural pearls from the bloc. Lab-grown diamonds received no exemption from any listed country. Raw and semi-manufactured gold, silver, platinum and palladium are exempt from all 60. Karen Rentmeesters, chief executive of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, said the exemption follows from there being no US mining or cutting industry to protect. Belgium exported $2.1 billion of polished diamonds to the United States in 2024. The Belgian flow has been repriced three times in eleven months: a 10% reciprocal duty from September 2025 until it was ruled unlawful in February, a 10% Section 122 surcharge from February to July 24, and the Section 301 schedule since. India, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom pay 10%; Angola, Australia, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Israel, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE pay 12.5%; Brazil carries 37.5%; Canadian polished diamonds face 50% separately from August 19.
The World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends, published on 30 July 2026, put central bank net purchases at 289 tonnes in the second quarter, up 62% on the 177.9 tonnes bought a year earlier and a record for any second quarter. That was a fivefold increase on a first quarter revised down to 57 tonnes, leaving the first half at 345 tonnes, the smallest first half since 2022's 241 tonnes. The National Bank of Poland was the largest buyer at 51 tonnes, taking its half-year total to 82 tonnes against a self-set reserve target of about 700 tonnes. The People's Bank of China added 33 tonnes, its largest quarterly addition since the fourth quarter of 2023, lifting reported holdings to 2,346 tonnes. Uzbekistan took 16 tonnes, Kazakhstan 15, and Jordan and the Czech Republic 6 each. The Bank of Russia was the largest seller at 22 tonnes, attributed to a federal budget deficit, with Turkey selling 4 tonnes and reducing swaps from more than 80 to around 60, and the Bundesbank 1 tonne. The council's survey has 89% of reserve managers expecting official holdings to rise over the next twelve months.
Total gold demand in the second quarter of 2026 was unchanged year on year at 1,269 tonnes, and the first half reached 2,522 tonnes, up 2% on the same period of 2025. Measured by value rather than weight, the first half set a record of roughly $380 billion, the gap between the two measures being entirely the price. The composition was a substitution: central banks took 289 tonnes, up 62%, while jewellery fabrication fell to 278 tonnes, the weakest quarter since the pandemic, with Indian jewellery demand down 15% by weight to 75.1 tonnes even as the value of that demand rose about 50%. Gold closed July at $4,041.70 on the Kitco 5pm New York close, its first monthly gain since February, so the second half opens with a cost base above the average that produced the record first-half figure. No session has traded since; the tape carries unchanged into a week holding the ADP employment report midweek and non-farm payrolls on Friday.
TAGS reported four summer tender outcomes that describe two different rough markets. A Zimbabwean parcel offered in Dubai in early June cleared 100%, with prices firm in higher qualities and slightly lower in the bottom ranges. An Angolan sale of stones 10.8 carats and above, drawing material from ten deposits plus the full run-of-mine output of one further seller, cleared 95% and realised $21.7 million. South African run-of-mine goods sold through June and July in Johannesburg cleared about 75% per tender despite record participant attendance. The most recent Dubai sale, of large South African production, cleared better than 80% and realised $15.2 million on extremely high attendance. The house said prices again exceeded the participating mines' expectations. The pattern places large sorted stones sold internationally at or near full clearance and smaller variable parcels, the segment most exposed to lab-grown competition, a quarter unsold.
NY Now's summer market opened at the Javits Center on August 2 and runs to August 4, the first edition since Rockview Management Group acquired the show from Emerald, with chief executive Dorothy Belshaw leading. More than 70 exhibitors are new or returning after a hiatus, and over 90 brands and makers from 19 countries are exhibiting. Fine jewellery sits in the Luxury Lifestyle section, carrying Brooke Gregson, Heather B. Moore, Bondeye Jewelry, Eden Presley, Carolina Neves, Dana Kellin and Annette Ferdinandsen, and in Curated for emerging designers; exhibitors include Dilamani, Hine Fine Jewelry, J Fields Jewelry, Jacob Keleher Jewelry, Lauren Newton Jewelry, Tacit Fine Jewelry, Jewels by Sanjam, Jessica Liu Designs and Yael Sonia. Attendance figures were not published. Separately, the spring Bain and Altagamma Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study put personal luxury goods at €358 billion in 2025, down from €364 billion, and forecast €365 billion to €373 billion in 2026, growth of 2% to 4%, within a total luxury market of €1.44 trillion to €1.47 trillion growing between nothing and 2% at constant rates. Jewellery was named the strongest category, with US luxury brands up 10% to 15% year on year in the first quarter, Europe the weak link on tourism, China recovering slowly and Japan slowing.
Russian Government Resolution No. 657, signed on May 30 and taking effect on September 1, 2026, prohibits the word diamond and all its derivatives in consumer-facing descriptions of synthetic stones sold in Russia. Tags must carry the word synthetic or the abbreviation Synth., and the approved term is cut synthetic diamond. The words precious, real, genuine, natural, mined, mineral and eco-friendly are struck from all consumer information, along with colour and clarity descriptors borrowed from natural grading. Weight must be given in grams; carat weight is prohibited for synthetics, making a one-carat stone a 0.2 gram stone. Tags must also carry product name, maker or importer, country of origin, model number, total weight, metal and fineness, stone particulars and a unique identification number matching a two-dimensional barcode. Deputy finance minister Alexey Moiseev said the aim is to improve transparency and protect consumers. CIBJO is expected to mandate the same single term at its September 4 congress.
Kitco's 5pm New York close on July 31 put spot gold at $4,041.70 an ounce, down $60.90 or 1.48% on the session, the weakest day of the week, as the dollar rebounded from a six-week low and traders unwound the rally that followed the Federal Reserve's hold. Across July the metal still finished about 0.5% higher, its first monthly gain since February and the end of a four-month losing run. Trading Economics puts gold 20.22% above a year earlier. The white metals fell harder: silver $57.44, down 2.45%, platinum $1,644.00, down 0.60%, and palladium $1,256.00, down 3.38%, putting the gold-silver ratio near 70.4 and platinum at roughly 41% of the gold price. From this edition the tape carries the Kitco 5pm close as its single reference point, replacing mixed intraday prints.
DMCC will hold the second edition of Dubai Diamond Week from October 26 to 29, 2026, four days of conference sessions alongside a sourcing exhibition co-hosted with the Italian Exhibition Group, with governments, producers, manufacturers, retailers, traders, investors and technology firms invited. Dubai's diamond trade reached a record $41.7 billion and 359.5 million carats in 2025, with natural stones accounting for 95.8% of traded value, and the Dubai Diamond Exchange now anchors an ecosystem of close to 1,400 companies and the largest tender facility in the business. The event follows a year in which the 41st World Diamond Congress met in Dubai, Okavango Diamond Company signed a tender arrangement with the exchange, and Qatar's new bourse joined the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.
Hermès reported first-half 2026 watch revenue of €269 million, down 4.2% as published but up 0.2% at constant exchange rates, with second-quarter watch sales of €134 million up 3.0% published and 4.4% at constant rates. Other Hermès sectors, the segment carrying jewellery and home, took €1.065 billion in the half, up 0.8% published and 5.4% at constant rates, with the second quarter up 4.0%. Group revenue was €8.2 billion, up 6.1% at constant rates, with recurring operating income of €3.4 billion, an operating margin of 41.0% and net profit of €2.2 billion. The Americas grew 15.3% at constant rates and Japan 11.0%, while the Middle East fell 4.2%. Separately, Bucherer confirmed it will operate Rolex's Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan, reported by WatchPro at 43,000 square feet over four floors.
De Beers India launched the second edition of its Love, from Bestie campaign for Friendship Day, running August 1 and 2 across 60 retail partner stores including Forevermark outlets in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Kanpur, Kochi, Coimbatore and Nagpur. The collection is four natural diamond bracelet designs made to be worn in pairs, including a signature piece spelling BFF in Morse code with baguette and round stones, supported by a three-station in-store experience. The backdrop is Indian jewellery demand down 15% by weight in the second quarter, to 75.1 tonnes from 88.8 tonnes, with the value of that demand up about 50% on record gold prices. Separately, supplier Sy Kessler launched a watch battery starter kit from $235 on the arithmetic that a cell costs about $1 and the job sells for more than $15.
Anglo American's interim results put De Beers revenue at $1.58 billion for the first half of 2026, down 19% year on year, with an underlying loss of $188 million, 23% narrower than a year earlier, and an underlying EBITDA loss of $113 million, 40% smaller. Sales volumes fell 20%. The consolidated average realised price fell 32% to $105 a carat on a lower-value sales mix and a rough price index 16% below last year, but the index barely moved within the half at 68 in the first quarter and 69 in the second. Unit costs fell 26% to $64 a carat, capital expenditure fell 33% to $115 million, and annual overheads are more than $100 million lighter than in 2024. The trading division swung to $30 million of underlying EBITDA from a $260 million loss. Anglo's chief executive said the sale process is in its final and most challenging phase and declined to name a buyer.
Spot gold fell about 1.19% to $4,054.68 an ounce on July 31 after prints earlier in the session held above $4,086, as the dollar rebounded from a six-week trough and traders booked the previous day's gains. Thursday had seen the metal crest $4,100 following the Federal Reserve's hold. Gold finished the month roughly 1.4% higher and is 20.57% up year on year. Silver fell 1.72% to $57.99, platinum 1.46% to $1,636 and palladium 1.53% to $1,288.50, putting the gold-silver ratio near 69.9. Fine gold at that level costs about $130 a gram before making charges.
World Gold Council figures published on July 30 put global gold jewellery demand at 278 tonnes in the second quarter, down 17% year on year and the lowest quarterly volume since the pandemic, while the value of that demand rose 14% to $40 billion. Total demand was flat at 1,269 tonnes: bar and coin steady at 307 tonnes, central banks buying 289 tonnes in a sharp recovery from the first quarter, and exchange-traded funds shedding 45 tonnes. The quarter's average London price was $4,506.29 an ounce, roughly 10% above where gold traded at the end of July, and the first half set a record for the value of gold demand at $380 billion.
Indian gold jewellery demand fell to 75.1 tonnes in the second quarter from 88.8 tonnes a year earlier, a 15% decline by weight, while total Indian gold demand fell 6% and the value of that demand rose about 50% on record prices. Investment demand held up as jewellery gave way, the same split visible in the global figures. The context is a counter running on recycled metal and price-led revenue: Indian gold fell about 10% in June to a six-month low near 141,000 rupees per 10 grams, listed jewellers reported 30% to 60% revenue growth, old-gold trade-ins now fund up to 55% of counter sales, and June gem and jewellery exports rose 26.5% to $2.21 billion with gold jewellery up 54.5%.
Gemfields reported auction revenue of $102.9 million for the first half of 2026, up 72% year on year. Kagem in Zambia held premium emerald output, and its higher-quality rough auction in May took $26.8 million, selling 36 of 37 lots and 183,385 of 185,135 carats offered at an average $146.08 a carat. A mixed-quality ruby sale in February added $53 million from 121 of 135 lots. At Montepuez in Mozambique, premium-grade ruby recovery ran at 0.025 carats per tonne; the company is redirecting mining to higher-potential areas and has commissioned a new processing plant expected to reach full capacity later in 2026. Net debt stood at $44.2 million on June 30, before $33.3 million of auction receivables. Full results are due on September 25.
Bloomberg reported on July 29 that the Global Diamond Consortium, led by former De Beers chief executive Gareth Penny and including the governments of Namibia and Angola, would pay about $1 billion for Anglo American's 85% stake: roughly $750 million on closing and $250 million deferred, plus some $500 million of working capital injected into the business. De Beers carried a book value of about $2.3 billion earlier this year after $3.5 billion of write-downs, against a $17.6 billion valuation at the 2001 take-private. Botswana holds the remaining 15%. Terms are not final; Anglo still expects to close by the end of 2026.
Spot gold rose about 0.22% to $4,074.98 an ounce on July 30, roughly $46 above Wednesday's post-FOMC level of $4,029 and back inside its pre-meeting range; the metal is 23.84% higher year on year. Silver eased 0.25% to $57.79 from $57.94 and the gold-silver ratio widened to 70.37 from 70.22. Central-bank buying of 244 tonnes in the first quarter and 41 tonnes in May continues to underpin the dips.
Platinum rose 1.62% to $1,628.20 an ounce, up 1.77% on the month and 26.13% year on year, with palladium 2.51% higher at $1,284.00 — a reversal of Wednesday's cooling in the white metals. Analysts still forecast a fourth consecutive annual supply deficit; January's all-time high was $2,923.70. Against that, global platinum jewellery demand is expected to contract about 6% in 2026, led by China, with India facing tariff headwinds. Platinum Guild International USA announced on July 28 that senior vice president Kevin Reilly had retired at the end of June after twenty years there and a thirty-nine-year career, having established platinum programmes at GIA, Pratt, SCAD, RISD, the 92Y Jewelry Center and the Miami Jewelry School.
Heritage Auctions took more than $1.41 billion in the first six months of 2026, up 47% year on year and the highest midyear total in its fifty-year history. Its Spring Fine Jewelry Signature auction on May 4 realised $9,713,640, the highest-grossing jewelry auction in the firm's history, beating the $9.2 million set in September 2025. The top lot was a platinum ring set with a 6.59-carat octagonal Kashmir sapphire at $906,250, more than $300,000 above its high estimate. Across the majors, first-half global sales at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips rose 70% to $6.8 billion with fees, with Sotheby's alone at a record $4.4 billion.
Morgan Stanley's second-quarter index of Swiss watch secondary-market prices rose 1.5%, and all four groups it tracks are now positive year on year for the first time since early 2022: Swatch Group up 5.4% and Richemont up 4.2%. Sequentially in the quarter, Richemont gained 1.3% and Swatch 1.0%. April had been the market's best single month since March 2022 at plus 2.5% on the WatchCharts overall index, ahead of Watches and Wonders, before dealer supply reached record levels and demand lagged through May and June.
The FOMC held rates on July 29 with three presidents — Hammack, Kashkari and Logan — dissenting for a quarter-point hike, and Chair Kevin Warsh's statement again omitted forward guidance. Gold slipped from about $4,046 to near $4,029, cushioned by central-bank buying of 244 tonnes in Q1 and 41 tonnes in May. Silver eased to ~$57.90, platinum to ~$1,597 and palladium to ~$1,248.
LVMH's Watches & Jewellery arm posted €5.23 billion in first-half sales, up about 9% organically with an 11% second quarter and recurring operating profit up 9% to €831 million, led by Tiffany and Bulgari across the US, Asia and Japan. Overall group revenue fell 3% to €38.6 billion, making jewelry the standout as fashion, leather, beauty and spirits softened.
Kering's jewelry division (Boucheron, Pomellato, Qeelin, DoDo) lifted first-half revenue 14% to €521 million, up 20% on a comparable basis, with operating income doubling to €32 million and directly operated retail up 28% comparable. Boucheron reached record levels on Japan and the Quatre XS launch. Group revenue fell 3% to €7.22 billion.
Petra Diamonds reported fourth-quarter FY2026 revenue of $38 million, down 44% from $68 million, on weak tender prices and a small-goods mix. Consolidated net debt rose to $322 million from $298 million; a R300 million facility runs to early 2028 and $6 million of July interest was deferred to January 2027. The Finsch mine was suspended and placed in business rescue in June.
Gem Diamonds' Letšeng mine kept producing high-value stones as the broader market stayed soft, lifting the average price in the first quarter of 2026 about 17% to roughly $1,501 a carat from $1,288 the quarter before. Recoveries included a 191.82-carat Type IIa white and a 100.71-carat faint yellow; a parcel of ten stones over 10.8 carats brought $7 million and one 52.24-carat white sold at $32,908 a carat, the mirror image of Petra's quarter. Corrected 24 August 2026: this entry and the article carried the $1,501 average with no period label. It is a first-quarter figure and was correct for that quarter. Gem Diamonds' first-half average, published 28 July 2026, is $1,395 a carat on 42,624 carats sold, up 38% from $1,008.
Spot gold traded in a tight $4,021–$4,080 range into the July 28–29 FOMC, with CME FedWatch pricing a 62% chance of a hold at 3.50–3.75% and 38% of a quarter-point hike, and roughly 81% odds of a September move. Second-quarter GDP, personal income and spending, and core PCE near 3.3% follow on Thursday. Palladium jumped ~3.3% and platinum ~1.7% on Monday; silver held near $58.50 with $60 in view.
Titan Company reported roughly 41% revenue growth for the quarter to June 2026, its third consecutive quarter above 40%. The jewellery division (Tanishq, Mia, CaratLane) grew about 39% with plain and studded each up in the mid-thirties and strong coin demand; watches rose 23% (analogue high-twenties, smart watches down low-teens), eyewear 23%, emerging businesses 19% and the international business 128%. Buyer growth was in the early double digits while average ticket sizes rose in the high double digits amid stable gold prices.
The California watch retailer, joined by spice importer Burlap & Barrel and backed by the Liberty Justice Center, sued to challenge the Section 301 duties, arguing the US Trade Representative applied a near-uniform tariff across dozens of countries without the country-by-country analysis the 1974 Trade Act requires. Swiss watch imports have run at least 12.5% more expensive since April 2025; Collective says it is owed more than $164,000 in refunds from the vacated IEEPA tariffs, on top of Section 122 and 301 duties paid.
The Qatar Free Zones Authority launched the Qatar Diamond Exchange, a Kimberley Process-compliant hub near Doha offering trading licences, on-site sorting and independent valuation, secure vaulting, specialist insurance and participation in rough and polished tenders. Qatar became a full KP member in 2021 and in 2025 named the free-zone authority the sole authorized entry and exit point for rough. CEO Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Faisal Al-Thani framed it as bringing the full value chain into one regulated ecosystem — a Gulf rival to Dubai's record $41.7 billion 2025 trade.
The colored-stone pricing service raised Mozambique ruby prices sharply on strong demand for unenhanced, untreated material sold by tender, and abandoned its traditional one-to-ten scale for unenhanced Burmese ruby, pricing only four grades — Middle Commercial, Lower Good, Upper Fine and Upper Extra Fine. Research director Stuart Robertson said fine Mogok material is now so scarce that availability matters more than price. The revisions are live in the app and appear in the July–August issue.
Nissim Zuaretz stepped down after two years as first-half 2026 diamond exports fell to $2.4 billion, the lowest on record and a fraction of the roughly $7 billion shipped at the 2015 peak. He cited dealers and goods relocating to Dubai, lab-grown competition, weak demand and a new US tariff effective July 24. Corrected 25 August 2026: that duty is the Section 301 forced-labour tariff and Israel's rate under it is 12.5%, not the 10% originally printed, which was the Section 122 surcharge sunsetting the same day, warning that without change the exchange could disappear. A successor election is expected in November.
The world jewelry confederation expects to strike 'laboratory-grown' and 'laboratory-created' from its Blue Book and require 'synthetic' for man-made stones, with a formal decision at its September 4 congress. Charles Abouchar of the colored-stone commission framed the goal as protecting consumer confidence through clearer language. The move follows Russia (from September 1), the African producers (May), India's BIS and the GIA's 2025 update.
The RapNet Diamond Index for 0.30-carat stones rose 4.2% in June, up from 2.1% in May, and half-carat goods added 1.3%, while the one-carat slipped 0.7% and three-carat edged up 0.4%. Inventory reductions, steady US retail demand and firm Hong Kong counters drove the correction; De Beers cut rough under 0.75 carats, and 2025 global rough production fell 8% to 98.8 million carats.
The bank's Q2 read (WatchCharts, June 29) put value retention at 15.4% above retail for Patek Philippe, 9.8% for Rolex and 3.0% for Audemars Piguet, with every other tracked brand below list — Cartier −27.4%, Omega −32.3%, IWC −37.9%. Patek's Aquanaut trades ~90% over retail and the Nautilus 74%; Rolex's Oyster Perpetual 35% over. Gains remain modest outside the big three.
China's June bullion imports reached roughly 173 tonnes, the strongest monthly inflow since March 2024, lifting first-half imports toward 820 tonnes as softer prices revived demand. The buying helped gold defend the low $4,000s into the Federal Reserve's July 28–29 meeting, which sits alongside second-quarter GDP and core PCE inflation seen near 3.3%.
US retail jewelry revenue rose 8.6% over the first half of 2026 and 13% year on year in June, with the average purchase price up about 19% for the half and 20% in June (Tenoris). Bracelets (+14%) and pearls led; natural-diamond unit sales fell while higher average prices held margins; lab-grown revenue grew on volume with flat average spend. Broader US retail sales rose just 0.2% in June.
For the quarter to June, Chow Tai Fook's retail sales value rose 15.1% year on year; Hong Kong and Macau jumped 44.8% and the mainland 10.7%. Same-store weight-based gold jewelry rose 38% in the mainland and 63.7% in HK/Macau as softer gold revived demand, while fixed-price jewelry slipped ~1%. The group closed a net 258 mainland stores to 5,434 points of sale. Luk Fook +32%, Chow Sang Sang +16%.
Rio Tinto processed 33,000 carats from Diavik's remaining ore in Q2, months after the Canadian mine closed in March 2026. Diamond output fell 97% year on year; first-half production was 1.1 million carats, down 51%. Diavik was Rio's last diamond asset, following the closure of Argyle (2020) and exit from Fort a la Corne (2023); final production and sales continue through end-2026.
Anglo American selected the Gareth Penny-led consortium as its leading bidder for De Beers, with the sale expected to finalize by end-2026. De Beers reported an estimated first-half loss; Q2 rough sales fell 44% to $665M and the average realized price dropped 32% to $105/ct, even as production rose 88%. A two-year production pause is planned at the Venetia mine.
Silver rose about 2% on Friday July 24 to roughly $58 an ounce while gold held near $4,061, compressing the gold-silver ratio to about 69.5 from 70.7 at midweek. The Federal Reserve meets July 28–29 with a hold widely expected; crude hit six-week highs on Iran and Red Sea risk, and two-year Treasury yields reached a 17-month high. Coin and bar premiums held firm.
Effective July 24, new duties of 10% (India, Canada, UK, Mexico and others) and 12.5% (China, Hong Kong, Israel, Thailand, Turkey, UAE) apply to jewelry, diamonds, gemstones and precious metals, after the Supreme Court struck the earlier IEEPA tariffs. Diamonds and gemstones polished in the EU keep their exemption; goods in transit are spared. The bands stack onto country measures already in force, including 50% on Canada.
India, which cuts and polishes roughly 90% of the world's diamonds by piece, faces a 10% tariff on polished goods entering its largest market just as De Beers' realised rough price sits about a third below a year ago. The EU-polished exemption creates an incentive to route finishing through Antwerp rather than Surat.
Gold held a high plateau below $4,100 into a Federal Reserve meeting (July 28–29) widely expected to leave rates unchanged, echoing the ECB's Thursday hold. Jobless claims of 187,000 undercut the 212,000 forecast. Silver rose 1.2% to $58.22; platinum fell 1.1% to $1,574.
Total platinum demand is seen falling 9% to 7,674koz, with jewelry demand down 12% and automotive off 2%, while industrial rises 9% to 2,238koz and bar-and-coin investment jumps 27% to 718koz. Above-ground stocks would cover under three months of demand by year-end, yet spot sits at $1,574.
Marking the centenary of the 1925 Paris Exposition, the São Paulo house translated 1920s geometry into straw marquetry, Japanese inlay, abalone, coral and iridescent beetle-wing rather than diamonds and platinum. The couture-level collection, debuted at Couture in Las Vegas, argues craft over carat weight as stones lose their scarcity.
Second-quarter rough production reached 7.8M ct (H1 14.91M, +46%), led by Botswana +107% to 5.5M ct, but the average price fell 32% to $105/ct and the rough index 16%. Q2 revenue fell 44% to $665M. Full-year guidance holds at 21–26M ct with a Venetia pause in H2; Anglo American is progressing a sale, with a Gareth Penny consortium reported as front-runner.
Spot gold held near $4,028 on July 24, just above the $4,000 floor, after sliding from a two-week peak above $4,160. Brent crude cleared $100 and the 10-year yield reached 4.70%; Fed-funds futures now imply an 80% chance of a September rate rise, up from 68% a week earlier. Roughly 45% of surveyed central banks plan to add gold.
The gallery reopened July 22, nine months after the October 2025 heist in which a crew took more than $100M in French royal jewels in about seven minutes. The Louvre will no longer display royal jewellery there, moving surviving pieces to a secure location. Four suspects are in custody; no stones have been recovered, and France has announced a national museum-security plan.
The London sale (4–21 May, reported this week) cleared 36 of 37 lots — 97% by number, 99% by weight — at an average $146.08/ct. Managing director Adrian Banks called demand stable but cautious; a ~10% rupee slide since September 2025 pressured Indian cutters. The company, which posted a $51M loss for 2025, is pacing its ruby offering.
Corrected 18 August 2026: this entry described the sale of 13 June 2025, printed here without a year. The 13 June 2025 sale was led by a Graff 35-ct D-colour diamond ring at $3.2M, a Marcus & Co. sautoir with a 9.6-ct Burmese ruby and a 2.02-ct fancy vivid blue diamond at $1.8M each, and an 8.62-ct Colombian emerald JAR ring at $1.6M. Phillips withdrew a 3.03-ct fancy intense pink (est. $1.2–1.6M) after bids missed the reserve.
Effective August 19 under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, the 50% duty covers six jewelry HTS codes including loose polished diamonds (7102.39.00), stacks on existing tariffs and overrides USMCA duty-free treatment, per the JVC. Rough diamonds are exempt — Canadian rough cut abroad enters under the cutting country's rate.
The expedited Section 301 investigation's preliminary findings cover India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Australia among others, with resolution expected by end-July. A second review spans 16 partners; Brazil's definitive 25% on loose polished color is in force. The temporary 10% global surcharge expires July 24.
H1 revenue CHF 3.12B (+2% reported), watches and jewelry CHF 2.95B; US +27%, Japan +20%, Spain +28%, China incl. HK/Macau +9%. Net profit fell 6% to CHF 16M. The group expects a stronger second half on May–July momentum.
Spot slipped 0.6% to $4,103.39 Thursday morning from Wednesday's $4,165.87 high; oil hit a six-week high, two-year yields a 17-month high, and CME FedWatch put 77% odds on a September hike. Silver $58.90 (−1.3%), platinum $1,628.63, palladium $1,274.96.
FY2026 (ended March 28): net loss CAD 3.4M vs. CAD 12.8M, sales CAD 205.4M, comparable stores +2.6%, lifted by the European Boutique acquisition and Birks-branded jewelry. A mono-brand store opens at Vancouver's Oakridge in fall 2026.
Kitco's late-Tuesday board read $4,131 (+1.33%) after a $3,998.80–$4,142.70 session — nearly $144 low to high and roughly $130 above Monday's $4,000.30 close. Silver touched $60.11 (settling 59.64, +1.67%), platinum added 2.28% to $1,660, palladium 2.85% to $1,297. Kitco credited short covering and renewed haven demand tied to the US-Iran conflict, through a firmer dollar and rising yields.
April–June retail sales rose 32% y/y (group SSS +39%; HK/Macau +41%, mainland +22%). Gold SSS gained 50% (HK/Macau +55%) while diamond SSS fell 17% group-wide and 58% on the mainland. Net 148 stores closed, leaving 2,857. Chow Sang Sang's retail value rose 16% (SSS +17% China, +30% HK/Macau), with 776 doors after 49 net H1 closures.
A 25% Section 301 tariff effective 12:01 a.m. July 23 layers on the existing 10% for 35% total on cut/polished stones and finished jewelry from Brazil; rough (HTS 7103.10.20/.40) and unwrought precious metals are exempt. A pending 12.5% forced-labor duty would take the stack to 37.5%. JVC's Sara Yood called the metals carve-out broad; polished gets no relief.
The 2026 Real Weddings study found 61% of engagement rings for couples married in 2025 carried lab-grown center stones. Lab-grown wholesale fell 14–15% y/y in Q1 2026; a premium 1ct retails $800–1,200. Analyst Sherry Smith argues the market is bifurcated — value versus luxury — rather than either/or.
The National Union of Mineworkers formally condemned De Beers' two-year Venetia halt — 1,134 mine employees plus 80 DBSSSA staff in Section 189A consultation — accusing the company of presenting a predetermined decision and proposing executive cost reviews, retraining and top-down cuts instead. Chief negotiator Masibulele Naki: workers are not disposable tools.
The FH reported June exports of CHF 2.4 billion on 1.3 million pieces (+11.7% volume) — the strongest month of 2026 after April's −16.6% and May's +0.4%. The US took CHF 349M (+12.7%), France doubled to CHF 250M (+103.5%), and the CHF 200–500 band grew 54.1% while CHF 500–3,000 fell 4.7%. H1 stands at CHF 12.8B, −0.7%.
With the Northwest Territories mine closed since March, Q2 yielded 33,000 carats from remaining surface ore, down 97%. H1 output fell 51% to 1.1 million carats; final sales run through end-2026, completing Rio Tinto's exit from diamond mining after Argyle (2020) and Fort à la Corne (2023). Angola exploration continues.
The NUM said De Beers' two-year production halt places 1,134 permanent Venetia workers and 80 DBSSSA staff into large-scale retrenchment consultation, demanding reviews of executive costs, retraining, and alternatives to dismissal. The pause was announced July 13 as a cash-preservation measure.
Tenoris data shows first-half revenue up 8.6% and June up 13%, driven by average purchase prices rising 19–20% while unit sales fell, especially under $1,500. Bracelets led categories at +14%; lab-grown grew double-digit on units while natural diamonds grew single-digit on price.
Spot gold closed Friday 17 July at $4,017.30, up $42.10 on the day, after touching $3,959.30 — within five dollars of the triple bottom at $3,964. Monday opened at $4,018.20 with December hike odds near 82%, Brent at $90.40 and the Fed's July 28–29 meeting ahead. Silver led the complex at $56.76, +1.67%.
Gross gems and jewellery exports reached $2,212.6M in June per GJEPC data: gold jewellery +54.5% to $1,087.7M, cut-and-polished diamonds +8.7% to $846.7M. The quarter stayed flat (+0.04% at $6,612.2M) with polished value −4.1% on volume +8.9% — $681.70 a carat; rough imports −32.4% by value.
Minister Moeti Mohwasa told parliament on 17 July that the state's 15% carries 'complete freedom': partner with Anglo's preferred bidder — the Gareth Penny-led Global Diamond Consortium, with a Qatari fund and Nir Livnat — pre-empt alone, or bid with a third party. Two bidders remain from six; close eyed by Q4.
The miner's first 'Trade Select' auction — a broader mix of Mozambique ruby qualities plus debut sapphire categories — sold 348,409 of 374,008 carats (93.2%) for $23.1M, 82 of 89 lots. May's higher-quality emerald sale made $26.8M at $146.08/ct with buyers cautious and the rupee ~10% weaker since September.
TÜV Austria verified the Russian miner's operations and full 2025 production as carbon-neutral: footprint −1.18 kg CO2e per carat (60% better), facilities absorbing 126,000 tonnes more CO2 than emitted, 76% renewable electricity. G7 import restrictions still bar the goods from Western markets.
Spot closed 17 July at $3,985.80, down ~3.4% on the week as a sixth day of strikes on Iran drove oil to one-month highs and CME December hike odds to 73%; Dallas Fed's Logan called for a hike. Silver $55.20; platinum $1,599; palladium $1,244.
No. 022/99R — 38mm platinum, one owner since 1999, serial chosen to match his birth date — estimated CHF 500,000–1M for 7–8 Nov. Phillips' three historic Résonance sales in 2026 total $23M+, incl. Souscription No. 007 at $13.9M.
2025 accounts show £7.8M operating profit on £105M sales; Manchester AP House booked £7.4M sales and a £738K loss in year one; UK property and fittings rose from £2.8M to £17.6M. Clifton Street AP House opened Feb 2026.
Counterfeits, Frankenwatches, misdescriptions and stolen goods; Omega 13%, Tudor 6%, Cartier 5%, most others 2–3%. Rejected Rolexes are 43% of refused value; Patek 22%. Rolex is 28% of Bezel sales and 34% of wish lists.
Effective 6 July; the 1984-founded International Colored Gemstone Association counts ~700 members in 47 countries. Dallow arrives via De Beers, Rio Tinto Diamonds, RJC, Grandview Klein and the Women's Jewelry Association.
Announced to Botswana's parliament 17 July by minister Moeti Mohwasa; three shortlisted bidders; consortium plans Angola and Namibia as partners; Botswana (15%) weighs matching rights; close eyed Q4 2026. De Beers carried at $4.9B after $3.5B impairments.
CETA effective 15 July; UK scraps duties on 96.8% of tariff lines (97.7% of trade value); first zero-duty gold, silver and diamond jewelry consignments shipped 16 July. India→UK goods exports $13.44B in FY25–26; 900+ jewelry firms expected to benefit.
Morgan Stanley × WatchCharts: launch-era ~40% premium now 22.6% median; Q2 program sales $186M; 157 of 712 retailers enrolled; top-three inventory share down from 63% to 48%; median participating retailer's H1 CPO revenue $899k, from $578k.
Latest sale: 1,850 bidders from 60 countries; 45% of lots beat high estimates (double y/y); sales at 200%+ of combined low estimates. Recent prints: Paul Newman 6263 $1.14M, Journe Vagabondage II 'Brady' $1.02M, Brette Artisans Rose $512k.
B.C. court order 14 July at the NWT government's request; PwC receiver; production stops mid-August after an eight-week sale found no buyer. ~340 workers remain (2024: 700 + 542 contractors); C$326M reclamation security shielded; last sale C$27.4M, C$2M short.
Confirmed by CEO Ganga Júnior; De Beers carried at $4.9B after $3.5B of impairments, 17 months into Anglo's exit. Botswana (15%) holds the right to match; President Boko calls it a matter of economic sovereignty; ex-De Beers executive groups also bidding.
Edahn Golan's Q2 price list: 2ct rounds −20%, squares −21% (some VVS ranges −25%+), fancies −17%, 1.50–1.99ct −11%; one-carat rounds the only riser at +1%. Rough LGD prices rising — pass-through to polished is the next-quarter question.
Fifth straight day of US strikes on Iranian sites with the Strait of Hormuz closed: gold fades from a 4,068.90 open to 4,041.10 Thursday (+21.8% YTD); silver 57.07, −16.8% on the month, +53.1% on the year; platinum 1,634.90.
Census advance estimate; tax-refund tailwinds faded, online led category gains. Jewelry's H2 setup: a deliberate consumer, gold's 21.8% YTD climb as the value script.
Q1 to June 30: group sales €6.3B, +20% constant currency (+17% actual); Americas +27% to €1.7B; direct retail +24%; specialist watchmakers return to growth at +8% to €873M after a -4% FY26.
P-Lab ex-director Dang Ngoc Thao among 22 charged over a ring that smuggled 28,000+ diamonds ($10.65M, 141 shipments since 2024) into Vietnam — allegedly swapping GIA inscriptions for P-Lab certificates. PNJ offers free re-certification.
H1 2026: Christie's $4.5B total (public auctions +71%, 91% sell-through, luxury $539M +15%); Sotheby's $4.4B with a record $826M in private sales (+58%). Younger buyers' average watch spend +60% YoY to $129,000.
June ChronoPulse: Cartier's secondary-market heat builds 3.5× faster than any tracked brand (+5.9% MoM, ~+10% over six months); 10 of 13 brands up in June, all 13 positive over the half; pre-owned Cartier still ~28.1% under retail.
65-piece high jewelry collection: Mandala Chromia necklace with 99 fancy-cut sapphires (~45ct), Drops of Paraíba choker (21 pear Paraíbas, 20.15ct), Ipnotica earrings with 540 diamonds, openwork with gold-lace artisan Sara Bran.
July 13: Lucara recovers a 1,305.4ct white gem diamond, unbroken, via XRT sorting — the tenth 1,000ct-plus stone in the mine's history (Motswedi 2,488ct, Lesedi La Rona 1,109ct). No other mine has produced one.
2025 diamond trade up 16% to $41.7B on 359.5M carats (+43%) — first simultaneous value and volume records; polished +25% to $18.7B; colored gemstones +48% to a record $1.1B.
Bharat Diamond Bourse VP Mehul Shah wins the World Federation of Diamond Bourses presidency in a three-way Singapore vote over Dubai's Ahmed Bin Sulayem and Shanghai's Lin Qiang, succeeding Yoram Dvash.
FY26 revenue +11% to $2.44B; US sales +18% to $1.24B — over half of group revenue and profit. Guidance: +5–10% for FY27. Results land a day after news of rebuffed takeover approaches.
Boucheron shows a 1,500ct-plus morganite necklace (~3,200 workshop hours); Messika sets the 20.46ct Okavango Blue on a 500-diamond rivière; Chanel debuts 85 pieces; Graff's 12 butterfly brooches convert to pendants.
July 14: gold +1.8% to $4,072.60, silver +2.4% to $58.88, platinum +2.4% to $1,636, palladium +4.1% — the whole board rallies on cooler June inflation a day after gold's $3,985.70 intraday stab.
H1 diamond exports fall 70–80% YoY as alluvial miners re-rig for bullion; 85% of Guyana's rough value sits in stones of 0.50ct and under — supply leaving the exact category leading the recovery.
All top-10 lots beat high estimates July 8; David Morris pearl-and-diamond necklace makes $54,894, a natural pearl strand roughly 4× its estimate, a three-stone ring 3.5×.
Navajo silversmith Enoch Platero (Enoch Michael) becomes the first traditional Native American jewelry artist to win the emerging-jeweler award — $7,500 cash plus supplies, judged on a full business plan.
Arena Club launches mystery 'Time Boxes' (published odds, 90% instant buy-back; Rolex, Patek, AP, Cartier) while The Heritage Club adds AI photo-to-offer valuations with 30–60-day repurchase in the UAE.
First sale under the new contract brings official rough prices down from 5–50% above market to near-market levels, sold to a roster cut from ~70 to 45–50 sightholders. Days later De Beers announces a two-year production pause at Venetia — 4,400 jobs at risk, >40% of South Africa's output.
US–Iran escalation and Fed nerves knock silver to ~$57–58 (from $70+ in late June), platinum to $1,595 (−45% from January's record), and push gold as low as $3,985.70 intraday before it steadies near $4,000.
Reuters: private equity and strategic buyers held talks in recent months; no formal offer. Shares +55% YTD to £7.50 (£1.75B market cap); management wants significantly more. FY26 revenue +11% to £1.8B.
Pharrell Williams' auction platform launches a standalone watch division under Nate Borgelt, ex-head of watches for Bonhams Americas and a specialist in the $24M Graves Supercomplication sale.
The miner arrives in Gaborone prepared to cut official book prices or widen discounted deals — sightholders put the book 20–30% above market in sub-carat rough. A new sightholder contract takes effect against the backdrop of Anglo American's divestment.
Bullion consolidates near the World Gold Council's H2 base case (±5% around $4,100) after June 25's $4,001.80 trough; 30-day volatility cools from 50%+ to under 30%.
Brandee Dallow (ex-De Beers, Rio Tinto Diamonds, RJC) begins as chief executive of the International Colored Gemstone Association on July 6.
Combined Geneva–Hong Kong–New York sales top $235M at a 99.8% sell-through across 937 lots; an F.P. Journe Souscription Résonance makes $13.9M in New York, a record for any independent watchmaker.
Independent jewelers' sales rose 12% YoY on a 22% higher average ticket with 9% fewer units; diamond average prices +21%.
Alrosa suspends Severalmaz mining for ~3 months from July 1; Storm Mountain puts Lesotho's Kao mine on care and maintenance (~750 workers); Petra's Finsch enters business rescue (~1,800 jobs).
Spot touches $4,001.80 on June 25 — the H1 low — and holds the level; YTD the metal is down ~7% from a $5,405 January 29 peak yet remains a top-performing asset over 12 months.
From September 1, lab-grown jewelry tags must read 'synthetic' — the words 'diamond', grading terms, and descriptors like 'natural' or 'eco-friendly' are banned; weights in grams only.
Signet Q1: $1.55B (+0.7%), same-store +1.8%, guidance floor raised to $6.7B. Chow Tai Fook FY: revenue +5% to HK$94.4B, profit +52% to a record HK$9.08B; Luk Fook revenue +29%, profit +89%.
CHF 2.11B — US +12%, France +57% (logistics hub), UK +25%, China −21%; CHF 200–500 watches +24% while the CHF 500–3,000 middle falls 17%. YTD −3.1%.
Christie's Magnificent Jewels makes $49.7M at 100% sell-through — the 31.62ct Azure Blue at $8.4M. Sotheby's answers with $43.4M at 98%, led by a 10.02ct fancy intense blue at $8.7M.
Christie's Stream Family Collection realizes $17.3M at 99% sold; a 49.91ct light green-yellow diamond quadruples its low estimate at $2M.
Alrosa logs record May client viewings — double last year, busiest in eight years — with 2–10ct prices up 6–9% since January; TAGS Dubai tender clears 80%.
The State of the Colored Gemstone Industry panel reports engagement customers choosing sapphire, spinel and garnet first; margins beat diamonds; Tucson 2026 ranked among dealers' best shows ever.
Marion Fasel's Vegas read: mechanicals (transformable pieces), creative alternatives to gold (beads, cords, small scale), and narrative jewelry as the feature customers pay for.
Lab-grown collections expand to Spain and Italy via Barcelona and Milan flagships — eight markets globally.
De Beers' US study: average natural-diamond spend up 25% to $4,063 vs 2023; 75% of value demand is non-bridal; Gen Z takes 23% of value demand vs 18% of population.
Bain–Altagamma puts 2025 global luxury spending at €1.44T with jewelry the leading category; personal luxury +1% in H1 2026, 2–4% forecast for the year.
Phillips' Geneva Watch Auction XXIII realizes $96.3M — the highest-grossing watch auction in history — with a Patek Philippe Ref. 2523 at $10.2M and dozens of world records.
FY2026 (ended March 31): group sales €22.4B (+11% constant); Jewellery Maisons €16.5B (+14%) at a 30.5% operating margin; net profit €3.5B (+27%).
First female president in the bourse's 86-year history — believed the first woman to lead any diamond bourse worldwide.
Carat