Trade Resources

According to research and consulting firm Bain & Co., the market for luxury goods in both the U.S. and Canada continues to underperform relative to the rest of the developed world, with growth for 2017 in the two markets expected to be flat at best. A decline of up to 2 percent in each market is a possibility.

U.S. Antique Shows, the world’s leading producer of indoor antique shows, recently announced their latest partnership with Polygon, the premier online community and trading platform for jewelry professionals, where members trade diamonds, jewelry, colored stones, watches, estate pieces and more.

When the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) laboratory in New York graded a 0.33 carat fancy blue diamond earlier this year, their initial evaluation didn’t reveal anything out of the ordinary. But upon closer inspection, GIA scientists noticed an odd combination of nitrogen and boron defects, as well as something extremely rare: the stone exhibited qualities of both type Ia and IIb diamond.

A new jewelry show is coming to the US Midwest in August 2017.

Denmark-based Pandora has signed an agreement to distribute the company’s jewelry in India for the first time, and also announced a plan to open 50 Pandora stores in the country by 2020.

The De Beers Group of Companies has invested a further $5 million in its International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research (IIDGR) facility, which provides diamond-related services including grading, verification and melee screening and testing in Surat, India.

Online jewelry retailer Blue Nile, which went public in 2004, is being acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street LLC for half a billion dollars.

The second installment of the U.S. Antique Shows’ LUEUR event is taking place at the Jacob Javits Center, October 28-31, 2016. At this open-to-the-public event, a highly curated group of the world’s most renowned antique, estate and vintage watch and jewelry dealers will showcase prized pieces from a wide range of jewelry history periods, from Edwardian to contemporary. Attendees can expect to see an array of rare and collectable pieces from famous names such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels and Jaeger-LeCoultre, as well as one of-a-kind diamond, colored gemstone and pearl jewelry.

Year-on-year sales of jewelry by retail jewelry stores in the U.S. grew slightly during the first two quarters of 2016, providing some much-needed good news for traditional jewelry retailers.

Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining corporations in the world, has announced a new proof-of-origin certification program for diamonds sourced from the company’s mines in Australia and Canada.