Articles and News
INDUSTRY NEWS: MARANGE BAN MAY BE LIFTED, TAKE JA’S BUSINESS SURVEY, NEW JEWELRY WEB EXTENSION, MORE June 23, 2011 (0 comments)
Antwerp, Belgium--Avi Paz, president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), says he’s confident that barriers preventing export of rough diamonds from the controversial Marange deposits in Zimbabwe will be removed during this week’s Kimberley Process meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Paz said that while WFDB, as the industry watchdog, would support a KP decision to allow Zimbabwe to resume rough diamond exports from all mining areas in the country, Zimbabwe's government needs to do its part.
“The Zimbabwean authorities will have their work cut out to meet and uphold the criteria to enable the country to export its diamonds and benefit from the resources it so desperately needs. The world at large will scrutinize Zimbabwe carefully, as its leadership will need to assure that its mineral resources lead to genuine sustainable development and increased prosperity for its people."
He also said that reports of the death of the Process are greatly exaggerated "In fact, in spite of the numerous and difficult obstacles the KP has encountered during the past year, [it] is very much alive, and its participants across the board are strongly motivated to assure that it continue to fulfill its mandate." Regarding Zimbabwe, he says he’s been encouraged in the past few weeks by the constructive and positive comments heard from the KP chair, members, and participants across the board, and also by World Diamond Council President Eli Izhakoff's statement that the issue remains mostly a procedural matter.
But Paz reiterated that until a formal announcement is made, all members of the WFDB are to continue to follow the KP's and the WFDB's directives not to trade in rough diamonds from Marange, or any other rough diamonds that do not have KP certification.
New York, NY--Jewelers of America has extended its annual Cost of Doing Business Survey till the end of June, and asks all jewelers to please participate. Data from the survey is the most complete financial benchmarking resource available to retail jewelers across the United States, but its success depends on participation, says JA’s David Peters. The online survey is easy to complete and entirely confidential. The survey also is available as an Excel document that can be downloaded, completed offline, and returned via Participants will receive a free custom copy of the report, a $150 value. New this year, the report will include customized results for each survey participant, making it easier to benchmark a store’s operations against competitors. Key performance measures include net sales per store, sales by merchandise category, profit margins, space productivity, inventory performance, gross margins, personnel performance, operating expenses , and more. Contact david_peters@nielsencomm.net.
New York, NY—The Diamond Dealers Club announces a new member service called Boomerang that allows diamond dealers to manage the return shipments of high-value parcels, including goods supplied on memo.
Called "Boomerang," the service—offered through an alliance with TransGuardian—permits the sender to pre-select the return carrier, class of service, return address, and return insurance amount when preparing the outbound shipping label.
Moshe Mosbacher, DDC president, says it’s a solution to a major problem. Because buyers often need to inspect diamonds—more so than metal or jewelry—about 50% of all shipments come back. To date, however, diamond dealers have struggled to ensure that goods were returned securely.
With Boomerang, pre-set return label parameters are embedded in the outbound packing slip. When an insured return is required, all the consignee need do is log onto Boomerang.transguardian.com, and follow instructions. The consignee gives the package to his mail carrier or FedEx, UPS, or OnTrac courier, and the parcel is sent back securely.
Shippers can set Boomerang defaults, such as overnight shipping for outbound and two-day shipping for return, and using different carriers for outbound and return. The service also can be used when sending stones to grading labs.
New York, NY—Jewelry trade organization Prestige Promenade has contributed more than $30,000 to Jewelers for Children. As a sponsor underwriter for the organization’s Facets of Hope dinner held June 5, Prestige Promenade members contributed nearly $25,000. A silent auction during the JCK Show garnered an additional $6,500. Lots were donated by Asch Grossbardt, Gem Platinum, Makur, RSP Media, I. Reiss Co., Charles Garnier, Varna, Andrea Candela, Garavelli Aldo, Cordova, A. Link, Rudolph Friedman, Food & Wine magazine, Leslie Greene, Bergio, GemFind, and Malca Amit.
Separately, JFC announces its annual Jewelers on the Fairway charity golf outing. The 2011 date is Tuesday, August 2, at Trump National Golf and Country Club in Bedminster, NJ. Designed by award winning architects Tom Fazio and Tom Fazio II, Trump National has been ranked as one of the top courses in the U.S. by Golf magazine's panel of experts.
This year’s event is made possible, for the second year in a row, by the generous sponsorship of Johnson Matthey; with special thanks to Tim Murray and Mark Danks of Johnson Matthey. To sponsor or participate, click on this attached form or visit www.jewelersonthefairway.com.
New York, NY—The sale of Important Jewels at Christie’s New York on June 14 fetched US $ 1,727,625. It was 94% sold out by lot. The top lot was a magnificent oval-cut E-color 46.51 carat diamond, which sold for US $4.2 million. The bidder, by telephone, was anonymous.
New Orleans, LA—GJB Partners plans to secure, operate and market the top-level domain name “.Jewelers” based on the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registration system for websites.
“We are thrilled the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Board of Directors has approved the Applicant Guidebook and Application Window and are eager to move forward,” said Ann Glynn, managing partner.
The soft launch of the “.Jewelers” initiative at the Continental Buying Group (CBG) Show in Las Vegas two weeks ago showed strongdemand and potential for the new extension. “We felt these jewelers would either validate it for us quickly or tell us we had it all wrong. Lucky for us, they loved the idea!" Glynn said.
The plan to launch “.Jewelers” follows ICANN’s decision to expand the domain space beyond the standard .com, .net, .org and country code extensions. The move is expected to open the top-level domain space to an unlimited number of extensions. GJB Partners will apply for the .Jewelers top level domain through the ICANN gTLD application process.Applicants will be subject to approval by ICANN’s governing board. For more information, visit http://DotJewelers.com and follow dotJewelers on Twitter at: http://twitter/dotJewelers.