Family sues Christie’s over $39m diamond sale

he son of a high-flying Italian senator is taking Christie’s to court in New York City this week (WEDS NOV 6) over the sale of one of the world’s most expensive diamonds, which he claims was stolen from his family.

Amedeo Angiolillo, who now lives in New York, argues that the auction house proceeded with the sale of the $40 million gem (£31m) despite his raising concerns about its provenance. The Princie Diamond, as it is known, as bought by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Christie’s, however, insists that the family members have no proof the diamond belongs to them and, furthermore, their client – who bought it from another family member – had every right to sell the stone.

The story began 300 years ago, when the 34-carat pink diamond was first recorded, in India. It came from the famed Golconda mines near Hyderabad, 400 miles east of Mumbai. The diamond was from a fine “family” – other celebrated Golconda stones include the Agra Diamond, the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, the Koh-i-Noor, which forms part of the Crown Jewels.

The diamond was first known as being part of the collection of the Nizam, or king, of Hyderabad.

It was passed down through the generations until the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, decided to sell it in the late 1940s through Sotheby’s. It was bought by a Paris jeweller, and then sold on.

In 1960 a flamboyant Italian senator, Renato Angiolillo, purchased the diamond at Van Cleef & Arpels – the same year he married his second wife, Maria Girani Angiolillo,

It had been named “Princie” in honour of the 14-year-old Prince of Baroda, a former state of India, who came to a party that year at the Van Cleef & Arpels store in Paris, along with his mother.

Candida Morvillo an Italian investigative journalist who has been following the story of the diamond for years, said that Angiolillo’s son Amedeo told her that his father bought the diamond in Paris.

“My father bought the diamond in the ‘60s,” he reportedly said.

“He had lost a lot of money at the casino in Monte Carlo, about 700 or 800 million lire.

“My father wanted to prove that they are still rich and solid, so he bought that diamond.”

Angiolillo, founder of Italy’s Il Tempo newspaper, died in 1973, aged 72.

His glamorous widow, known as “the queen of the Rome salons” for her lively soirees of political debate, died in 2009.

When Amedeo Angiolillo went through his stepmother’s extensive art and jewellery collection, he was shocked to find the diamond missing.

Unbeknown to him, his stepbrother – Girani’s son from a previous relationship – Marco Milella had taken the stone.

The question is whether the diamond was rightfully Mr Angiolillo’s or Mr Milella’s.

Under Italian law at the time, as court documents explain, all of the late senator’s possessions should have gone to his children, not his spouse, unless they were explicitly left to her.

His will said his wife should keep their home near the Spanish Steps in Rome and its lavish furnishings. But nothing else was mentioned.

So the lawsuit argues that the rest of the estate, including the diamond, belongs to his descendants – Mr Angiolillo and four grandchildren are the plaintiffs in this case.

But the auction house and its co-defendants said that the diamond, set in a ring, was a gift to Mr Milella’s mother and so was owned by her when her husband died. And even if the transfer of ownership between them was not official, the defendants argue, the way she kept control of the ring in the decades that followed his death made it legally hers.

By 2013, the diamond was long gone. Mr Milella had sold it years earlier for nearly $20 million to a prominent gems dealer in Switzerland named David Gol.

Mr Gol, who has said he believes Mr Milella had clear title to the diamond, then worked with Christie’s to sell it as part of a jewellery auction in 2013.

“Prior to the 2013 auction of the diamond, the two main representatives of the family expressly withdrew any objection to the sale,” Christie’s said.

“Then two years after the successful sale they sued to claim inheritance rights to the proceeds without providing any significant new information to support a title claim.”

The auction house described the matter dismissively, as an “inheritance dispute among family members.”

Source: DCLA

Family sues Christie’s over $39m diamond sale

he son of a high-flying Italian senator is taking Christie’s to court in New York City this week (WEDS NOV 6) over the sale of one of the world’s most expensive diamonds, which he claims was stolen from his family.

Amedeo Angiolillo, who now lives in New York, argues that the auction house proceeded with the sale of the $40 million gem (£31m) despite his raising concerns about its provenance. The Princie Diamond, as it is known, as bought by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Christie’s, however, insists that the family members have no proof the diamond belongs to them and, furthermore, their client – who bought it from another family member – had every right to sell the stone.

The story began 300 years ago, when the 34-carat pink diamond was first recorded, in India. It came from the famed Golconda mines near Hyderabad, 400 miles east of Mumbai. The diamond was from a fine “family” – other celebrated Golconda stones include the Agra Diamond, the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, the Koh-i-Noor, which forms part of the Crown Jewels.

The diamond was first known as being part of the collection of the Nizam, or king, of Hyderabad.

It was passed down through the generations until the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, decided to sell it in the late 1940s through Sotheby’s. It was bought by a Paris jeweller, and then sold on.

In 1960 a flamboyant Italian senator, Renato Angiolillo, purchased the diamond at Van Cleef & Arpels – the same year he married his second wife, Maria Girani Angiolillo,

It had been named “Princie” in honour of the 14-year-old Prince of Baroda, a former state of India, who came to a party that year at the Van Cleef & Arpels store in Paris, along with his mother.

Candida Morvillo an Italian investigative journalist who has been following the story of the diamond for years, said that Angiolillo’s son Amedeo told her that his father bought the diamond in Paris.

“My father bought the diamond in the ‘60s,” he reportedly said.

“He had lost a lot of money at the casino in Monte Carlo, about 700 or 800 million lire.

“My father wanted to prove that they are still rich and solid, so he bought that diamond.”

Angiolillo, founder of Italy’s Il Tempo newspaper, died in 1973, aged 72.

His glamorous widow, known as “the queen of the Rome salons” for her lively soirees of political debate, died in 2009.

When Amedeo Angiolillo went through his stepmother’s extensive art and jewellery collection, he was shocked to find the diamond missing.

Unbeknown to him, his stepbrother – Girani’s son from a previous relationship – Marco Milella had taken the stone.

The question is whether the diamond was rightfully Mr Angiolillo’s or Mr Milella’s.

Under Italian law at the time, as court documents explain, all of the late senator’s possessions should have gone to his children, not his spouse, unless they were explicitly left to her.

His will said his wife should keep their home near the Spanish Steps in Rome and its lavish furnishings. But nothing else was mentioned.

So the lawsuit argues that the rest of the estate, including the diamond, belongs to his descendants – Mr Angiolillo and four grandchildren are the plaintiffs in this case.

But the auction house and its co-defendants said that the diamond, set in a ring, was a gift to Mr Milella’s mother and so was owned by her when her husband died. And even if the transfer of ownership between them was not official, the defendants argue, the way she kept control of the ring in the decades that followed his death made it legally hers.

By 2013, the diamond was long gone. Mr Milella had sold it years earlier for nearly $20 million to a prominent gems dealer in Switzerland named David Gol.

Mr Gol, who has said he believes Mr Milella had clear title to the diamond, then worked with Christie’s to sell it as part of a jewellery auction in 2013.

“Prior to the 2013 auction of the diamond, the two main representatives of the family expressly withdrew any objection to the sale,” Christie’s said.

“Then two years after the successful sale they sued to claim inheritance rights to the proceeds without providing any significant new information to support a title claim.”

The auction house described the matter dismissively, as an “inheritance dispute among family members.”

Source: DCLA

De Beers Lowers Global Diamond-Jewelry Estimate

De Beers has restated its estimation of global diamond-jewelry sales following a new study valuing the diamond content in jewelry purchases since the 2008 recession. The group also revised its production data to reflect lower output than previously believed, stemming from an overestimation of the artisanal mining sector.

Global diamond jewelry demand rose 2.4% to $76 billion in 2018, driven by growth in the US and China, De Beers said in its annual Diamond Insight Report published last week. However, that figure was below the $82 billion it had originally reported for 2017, as the company gained new insight relating to the elements that are included when valuing jewelry, De Beers explained.

The company revised its estimation for 2009 to 2018 following studies it conducted with retailers relating to the content of diamond-jewelry purchases and the structure of the trade, as well as its “Diamond Acquisition Study” with consumers. The revised figures reflect mainly the value of sales in the US, and are more consistent with the total jewelry retail value stated by the US Commerce Department, De Beers noted. The government agency last year revised down its estimation of US jewelry retail sales.

De Beers maintained its assessment of global polished-diamond demand, which saw a 2% rise to $25.3 billion for 2018, a figure that is included in the jewelry sales total. That suggests there was an overestimation of other elements contributing to the overall jewelry value, such as the value of the metal used, a company representative explained.

De Beers used third-party researchers to obtain information from retailers about their diamond sales, including the description of the diamond, the metal used and the full breakdown of the piece. From that information, the company calculated the price per carat of the diamonds and was therefore able to understand the value of the diamond content and the proportion of the total for which it accounts.

“The study revealed that the share of the polished wholesale value in the overall jewelry retail value had increased in the US after the financial crisis of 2008,” the company noted in the report. “The adjustments made resulted in a new lower diamond-jewelry market estimate for the US and globally.”

Sales in the US grew 5% to $36 billion in 2018, accounting for 49% of the total, according to the research. In China, consumer demand for diamonds rose 3% in local currency and 5% by dollar value to $10 billion, with growth slowing considerably in the second half of the year when the US-China trade war escalated, De Beers noted. Demand also grew in Japan, buoyed by the appreciation of the yen against the dollar, while the market declined in India and the Gulf.

De Beers observed that consumers were increasingly tending toward smaller center diamonds in their engagement-ring purchases, but with more side stones and accents. Other trends influencing demand included a shift toward branded products, with 36% of diamond engagement rings by volume being branded, compared to 22% five years ago. Greater confidence in online buying is also spurring growth, helping chain stores and prestige brands gain market share at the expense of specialist independents, the report stated.

De Beers expects growth to continue in 2019, supported by macroeconomic fundamentals. However, dissipating fiscal stimulus and rising recession fears could prove to be a drag on growth in the US in 2020, the company cautioned.

Production levels down

Meanwhile, global diamond production in 2018 fell 2.7% to 154 million carats, with its value up an estimated 2.4% to $17.4 billion in 2018, according to De Beers. In last year’s Insight Report, the company said 2017 output stood at 164 million carats valued at $17.5 billion. De Beers lowered its estimation of global rough production after it commissioned a third-party study of the artisanal mining sector.

“The nature of the informal sector is such that there is less information available to accurately estimate production to a high level of confidence,” a spokesperson explained in an email. “The report concluded that our previous estimates of informal production were likely too high, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

The report outlined growth in global diamond production, rough sales, polished wholesale demand and diamond-jewelry sales, as presented in the following table:

De Beers insight report

Data from 2019 De Beers Insight report, with Rapaport estimates for percentage growth where it wasn’t provided.

Source: DCLA

De Beers Lowers Global Diamond-Jewelry Estimate

De Beers has restated its estimation of global diamond-jewelry sales following a new study valuing the diamond content in jewelry purchases since the 2008 recession. The group also revised its production data to reflect lower output than previously believed, stemming from an overestimation of the artisanal mining sector.

Global diamond jewelry demand rose 2.4% to $76 billion in 2018, driven by growth in the US and China, De Beers said in its annual Diamond Insight Report published last week. However, that figure was below the $82 billion it had originally reported for 2017, as the company gained new insight relating to the elements that are included when valuing jewelry, De Beers explained.

The company revised its estimation for 2009 to 2018 following studies it conducted with retailers relating to the content of diamond-jewelry purchases and the structure of the trade, as well as its “Diamond Acquisition Study” with consumers. The revised figures reflect mainly the value of sales in the US, and are more consistent with the total jewelry retail value stated by the US Commerce Department, De Beers noted. The government agency last year revised down its estimation of US jewelry retail sales.

De Beers maintained its assessment of global polished-diamond demand, which saw a 2% rise to $25.3 billion for 2018, a figure that is included in the jewelry sales total. That suggests there was an overestimation of other elements contributing to the overall jewelry value, such as the value of the metal used, a company representative explained.

De Beers used third-party researchers to obtain information from retailers about their diamond sales, including the description of the diamond, the metal used and the full breakdown of the piece. From that information, the company calculated the price per carat of the diamonds and was therefore able to understand the value of the diamond content and the proportion of the total for which it accounts.

“The study revealed that the share of the polished wholesale value in the overall jewelry retail value had increased in the US after the financial crisis of 2008,” the company noted in the report. “The adjustments made resulted in a new lower diamond-jewelry market estimate for the US and globally.”

Sales in the US grew 5% to $36 billion in 2018, accounting for 49% of the total, according to the research. In China, consumer demand for diamonds rose 3% in local currency and 5% by dollar value to $10 billion, with growth slowing considerably in the second half of the year when the US-China trade war escalated, De Beers noted. Demand also grew in Japan, buoyed by the appreciation of the yen against the dollar, while the market declined in India and the Gulf.

De Beers observed that consumers were increasingly tending toward smaller center diamonds in their engagement-ring purchases, but with more side stones and accents. Other trends influencing demand included a shift toward branded products, with 36% of diamond engagement rings by volume being branded, compared to 22% five years ago. Greater confidence in online buying is also spurring growth, helping chain stores and prestige brands gain market share at the expense of specialist independents, the report stated.

De Beers expects growth to continue in 2019, supported by macroeconomic fundamentals. However, dissipating fiscal stimulus and rising recession fears could prove to be a drag on growth in the US in 2020, the company cautioned.

Production levels down

Meanwhile, global diamond production in 2018 fell 2.7% to 154 million carats, with its value up an estimated 2.4% to $17.4 billion in 2018, according to De Beers. In last year’s Insight Report, the company said 2017 output stood at 164 million carats valued at $17.5 billion. De Beers lowered its estimation of global rough production after it commissioned a third-party study of the artisanal mining sector.

“The nature of the informal sector is such that there is less information available to accurately estimate production to a high level of confidence,” a spokesperson explained in an email. “The report concluded that our previous estimates of informal production were likely too high, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

The report outlined growth in global diamond production, rough sales, polished wholesale demand and diamond-jewelry sales, as presented in the following table:

De Beers insight report

Data from 2019 De Beers Insight report, with Rapaport estimates for percentage growth where it wasn’t provided.

Source: DCLA

Drake buys himself $500K heart-shaped diamond ring for his birthday

The “Hotline Bling” rapper can’t stop buying more and more diamond rings to add to his collection. The latest? A 22 carat heart shaped ring set in platinum to celebrate his 33rd birthday.

Created by Gemma Fine Jewelry, Drizzy’s insane design features one enormous bezel-set diamond and also includes three hearts in the bridge underneath the massive rock. The love centric theme could be a testament to just how much the Toronto native adores himself, but jeweler Ori Vechler also called him “the King of Hearts.”

According to Ajay Anand, CEO of Rare Carat, Drake’s new sparkler could have cost around $500,000. “Heart shaped diamonds are one of the most unpopular diamond shapes, because they are so tricky to cut right,” Anand said. “This is a great example of one cut very well, which is quite rare.”

Drake Heart Shape Diamond

It seems like the unconventional shape is enjoying a bit of a comeback; Offset also recently gifted wife Cardi B with a similar design for her 27th birthday.

Drake debuted the bling at his star studded mobster themed birthday party last week, where he was also sporting his custom Toronto Raptors championship ring, which boasts more than 30 carats of diamonds.

Suffice it to say that Drizzy’s heading into his 33rd year with a lot more sparkle.

Source: DCLA

Drake buys himself $500K heart-shaped diamond ring for his birthday

The “Hotline Bling” rapper can’t stop buying more and more diamond rings to add to his collection. The latest? A 22 carat heart shaped ring set in platinum to celebrate his 33rd birthday.

Created by Gemma Fine Jewelry, Drizzy’s insane design features one enormous bezel-set diamond and also includes three hearts in the bridge underneath the massive rock. The love centric theme could be a testament to just how much the Toronto native adores himself, but jeweler Ori Vechler also called him “the King of Hearts.”

According to Ajay Anand, CEO of Rare Carat, Drake’s new sparkler could have cost around $500,000. “Heart shaped diamonds are one of the most unpopular diamond shapes, because they are so tricky to cut right,” Anand said. “This is a great example of one cut very well, which is quite rare.”

Drake Heart Shape Diamond

It seems like the unconventional shape is enjoying a bit of a comeback; Offset also recently gifted wife Cardi B with a similar design for her 27th birthday.

Drake debuted the bling at his star studded mobster themed birthday party last week, where he was also sporting his custom Toronto Raptors championship ring, which boasts more than 30 carats of diamonds.

Suffice it to say that Drizzy’s heading into his 33rd year with a lot more sparkle.

Source: DCLA

De Beers Cuts Diamond Prices by About 5% as Industry Crisis Deepens

De Beers is taking more drastic steps to stem the crisis in the diamond industry by cutting prices across the board for the first time in years.

The company, the world’s biggest diamond producer, lowered prices by about 5% at its November sale, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The move is aimed at helping improve profits for the middlemen of the diamond industry, a group of traders and polishers that buy rough gems from De Beers. Many of these customers, which includes family run traders in Belgium, Israel and India, as well as the subsidiaries of Tiffany & Co. and Graff Diamonds, are running on wafer-thin profit margins because of low prices and an oversupply of polished gems.

“De Beers is a price setter and has not made any price cuts thus far, despite the open market price for rough diamonds falling by about 9% year to date,” said Edward Sterck, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. “The most important market participant finally taking action after holding out for so long feels like a fairly typical indication that things may be about to improve.”

The price cut is unlikely to trickle down to the retail market and consumers shouldn’t expect to see diamond prices getting cheaper anytime soon.

Part of the problem in the diamond industry is that prices have stagnated as other luxury offerings, like shoes, handbags and resort vacations, crowd the field. It’s also harder for diamond trading companies to find financing because banks are abandoning the sector after being hit by frauds and bad loans.

Still, De Beers has insisted that the current weakness doesn’t mean demand has softened. Last week, the company released data that showed demand for diamond jewelry rose 2.4% last year. In the U.S. market, where almost half of all diamonds are sold, the increase was 4.5%.

The Elite Club That Rules the Diamond World Is Showing Cracks

De Beers sells its gems through 10 sales each year in Botswana’s capital of Gaborone, and the buyers known as “sightholders” have to accept the price and the quantities they’re offered. It’s a system that originated in the 1890s and is designed to benefit both miner and customer, who receives the diamonds at a discounted rate. But the discount has been shrinking. Some sightholders now struggle to make money from a business that was once highly lucrative.

De Beers has offered its buyers more flexibility about their purchases, but it hasn’t been enough. The company made less than $300 million in each of the past three sales, which is the lowest in data going back to 2016.

The November sales data, due next week, could indicate whether the price cuts are helping drive demand.

Anglo American Plc, which owns De Beers, closed up 1.8% at 2,080 pence in London on Monday.

Source: DCLA