24 Hours of Industry Education for $50
from the AGTA
The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) recorded the AGTA GemFair™ Tucson Seminar Program for the first time this year using a new technology that combines audio recording synched with the speaker’s PowerPoint presentation. The Association is distributing complimentary copies of the 25-seminar DVD-Rom to every member company and is making the recordings available to non-members for a nominal fee. More

Dubai Pearl Tender a Success
from AME
Some of the world's rarest and most sought after natural and cultured pearls were offered for sale at Dubai's first-ever pearl trade tender, and many items sold for well above the estimated price, demonstrating the resilience of the top end of the market. More

Tiffany Forecasts 2009 Profit Below Expectations
from The Associated Press via Forbes
Jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. forecast fiscal 2009 earnings below Wall Street's expectations on Monday, after reporting that its profit tumbled more than 75 percent in the fourth quarter. For fiscal 2009, Tiffany predicted earnings from continuing operations between $1.50 and $1.60 per share and a full-year sales decline of 11 percent. More

Color at Christie’s
from IDEX
Among the colored diamonds offered at the Christie’s Jewels Sale in New York is a fancy grayish yellowish green "chameleon" briolette-cut diamond pendant necklace of 19.13 carats, estimated at $800,000 - $1.2 million. The color of this diamond changes temporarily when gently heated or when left in the darkness for a period of time, and is therefore referred to as a “chameleon” diamond – the largest briolette-cut chameleon diamond in the world to be offered at auction. More

New Trend: Shoe Jewelry?
from FabSugar
Your neck gets jewelry, your arms get bling, so do your fingers and ears. Heck, even your ankles get decked out every so often, so why not your shoes? If your footwear needs a jolt of sass, turn to Litter SF's shoe jewelry collection. Here are six ways to turn your heels and boots into one-of-a-kind pieces. More

Featured Article:   Identifying and Pricing HTHP Diamonds In a diversion away from colored gems, this article will delve into the most recent of diamond enhancement methods - HTHP. The last issue discussed clarity enhanced diamonds and this one will focus on a different enhancement. Colored gem dealers often encounter diamonds in the jewelry that their colored gems are mounted in, therefore, the need to recognize all the issues in the industry. More info

Kinross to Buy Stake in Harry Winston Mine
from Bloomberg
Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third- largest gold producer, will spend $150 million for a 19.9 percent stake in Harry Winston Diamond Corp. and an interest in a diamond mine the jeweler owns with Rio Tinto Group. Kinross will buy 15.2 million treasury shares to be issued by Harry Winston for $3 each and will pay $104.4 million for 22.5 percent of the jewelry retailer’s interest in the Diavik mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Toronto-based Kinross said today in a statement. More

Pantone Unveils 2010 Color Direction for the Home Furnishings and Interior Design Industries
from PR Inside
Pantone, the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, has announced PANTONE®VIEW home + interiors 2010, the eight most directional color palettes, plus an additional palette of tinged neutrals for 2010 home furnishings and interior design. “Color trends are not conjured up using a crystal ball. They are the result of much observation of our surrounding natural world as well as the influences that will impact our world in the future,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. More

Can Kobe Sell Swiss Watches?
from The Wall Street Journal
Nubeo, a high-end watch brand known outside the U.S. for its jellyfish-shaped watches, has teamed up with basketball star Kobe Bryant to create a limited-edition line of high-tech sport watches starting at about $21,000 and topping out at $285,000. The Black Mamba series -- a play on Mr. Bryant's nickname -- will be unveiled this coming week at Baselworld, the watch and jewelry show held annually in Basel, Switzerland, and will go on sale in the U.S. this fall, the watchmaker's American debut. Nubeo is making just 1,074 of the Kobe watches, some adorned with sapphires. More