Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Andre Messika, the victim of a well-publicized theft during opening hours at the Basel watch and jewelry fair in early March, has been paid $10 million by insurers, according to Idex, an international diamond exchange. The fair’s insurers, Malca-Amit and its subsidiary insurance broker Mira, were on the scene shortly after what has been called by police a highly professional job, and within a week the insurance investigation was completed and underwriters had agreed to pay Messika the full amount of his claim.
Idex cites Malca as saying professional thefts like this are on the rise at jewelry and watch fairs worldwide.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A group of what police are calling highly professional thieves stole four diamonds from a stand at the Basel watch and jewelry fair Wednesday 30 March.
The gang of possibly five got away despite the alert being raised quickly and the hall being sealed off within minutes to prevent them from leaving.
The diamonds belonged to an Israeli dealer who was distracted by three would-be clients while two others broke into the display case, which they appear to have checked out in advance, according to a statement by the Basel public attorney.
Fingerprints have been lifted by investigators and video surveillance footage is being examined.
The value of the jewels is in the millions, but was not specified. Baselworld has attracted thieves in the past: one was caught in 2009 attempting to steal CHF13 million in jewels and he is now serving a three-year prison term.
TSR reports that one exhibitor had a a case of his goods stolen from a trolley at Zurich airport last week.
Baselworld closes today, 31 March.
Links to other sites: AFP, TSR (Fr)
Rock candy takes on a new meaning in Geneva, with $2.3m candy swap diamond heist (photo, Mario Sarto, wikipedia)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 61-year-old Israeli man accused in Geneva of stealing $2.3 million in diamonds from Alldiam, a Geneva diamond dealer, can be extradited to Switzerland to stand trial. A court in Jerusalem made the ruling Monday 21 February, according to Israeli media.
The man was arrested at his home in Ramat Gan in July 2010, after reportedly entering Israel under a false identity. His partner in the supposed crime had earlier been arrested in The Netherlands.
The two are suspected of replacing real diamonds they were being shown with candy ones, then smuggling the real jewels out of Switzerland. The theft, according to the extradition request, occurred in April 2009 at a meeting at Alldiam in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva.
It is not clear if the diamonds were rough or already cut and polished.
Alldiam was created by Jean-Pierre Hofmann in Geneva in 1979. The company cuts its own diamonds in Surat, India and sells them.
The Israeli man’s wife says he is being detained in Israel under poor conditions and that he is in weak health, arguments his lawyer used to no avail in the extradition hearings, according to Ynet.
Swiss aid group calls for Zimbabwe to be barred from Kimberly Process diamonds, cites State torture, child and forced labour
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Indian ministry of commerce is the latest to move against the Zimbabwe diamond trade, asking the country’s traders and jewelry exporters Thursday 9 December to “bide their time” until the Kimberly Process (KP), which certifies diamonds, clarifies Zimbabwe’s compliance, according to SouthWest Radio Africa. Monday the Swiss group Bread for All, a humanitarian alliance of the country’s Protestant churches, called for the Swiss market not to accept Zimbabwe diamonds, citing continued human rights abuse in the Marange diamond area. Switzerland imports $676 million in rough diamonds a year and exports close to $1 billion, in addition to its finished diamonds market.
India imports more diamonds than any other country in the world, based on 2009 KP statistics.
Zimbabwe was barred from KP trading in November 2009 because of alleged human rights abuses at its Chiadzwe mines in the east of the country. The KP’s 49-member group, of which Switzerland and India as well as Zimbabwe are members, ruled in July 2010 that Zimbabwe could resume limited exports, following a visit by a monitor in September. The Indian government’s call to its diamond business is reportedly based on ongoing negotiations between Zimbabwe, which threatens to ignore the KP certification process, and the KP, which wants Zimbabwe to limit exports to better monitor the trade there.
The Kimberly Process describes itself as “a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds–rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these illicit stones has fuelled decades of devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.”
Bread for All has appealed to the Swiss government to insist as a member of the KP not only that Zimbabwe be barred from certification by the Kimberly Process but also to push for a change to the KP rules, which currently define “blood diamonds” only as those handled by rebel groups to finance their wars against governments.
The Swiss organization says it has evidence from its Geneva-based partner, Zimbabwe Advocate, of daily instances of human rights abuse since 2008 by the Zimbabwe government’s army in mines in the east of the country, around Marange. The “human rights violations include forced labour, child labour, torture, beatings and rape. In addition, soldiers are forcing minors to work for them and they are organizing illegal trafficking in diamonds,” according to Bread for All.
Zimbabwe minister berates visiting Norwegians for questions over abuse
Duchess Roxburghe's ruby and diamond earrings, sold for more than 10 times their estimated price at Sotheby's, Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The annual Sotheby‘s sale of “Magnificent Jewels” was an extraordinary event Tuesday evening 17 November in Geneva, reassuring investors that the jewelry market is alive and well, with sales close to the impressive CHF40 million of May 2009: CHF37 million, with sales spread across several lots. In May, one blue diamond alone sold for CHF10.4 million, accounting for over one-quarter of the auction value.
Several items were bought for sums dizzyingly higher than their estimates Tuesday night. Diamond rings in particular went for double their estimates, for the most part.
The November 2008 sale, at a point of great gloom over the global financial crisis, brought in CHF18 million and some of the top items were not sold because of bids that were too low for the sellers.
The top items Tuesday night included (from catalogue descriptions):
Alrosa, a giant Russian diamond mining company in trouble because of the lack of demand in the world’s gem industry, is to receive help worth $1 billion to allow it to service debts totaling $3.6b. The help is in the form of purchases of rough diamonds from the State Precious Metals and Gems Repository, Gokhran. Alrosa is based in Sakha (Yakutia), and produces almost 20 percent of the world’s gems and almost all of Russia’s production of rough diamonds. Gokhran sells diamonds to the US, Belgium, and Israel. The announcement came as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Mirny, Sakh Republic, which is home to the company’s largest mine. A week previously, Alrosa announced that it was selling oil and gas assets for $600 million. Moscow Times, Reuters
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Fears that the jewelry market might be floundering in this economic crisis appear to be unfounded, with Sotheby’s selling CHF40 million worth of diamonds, rubies and other fine jewels as rings, necklaces, bracelets and tiaras Tuesday 12 May.
The rare fancy vivid blue diamond ring that was the centrepiece of the auction went for CHF10,498,50, ($9,488,754), comfortably above the estimated CHF6.8-10 million pricetag. The diamond was found in 2008 in South Africa’s famed Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan mine.
No new home for this beauty: Fancy Deep Blue Diamond
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sotheby’s November auction of fine jewels, which in 2007 set price records, failed to raise bids to a level where it could sell the three highest priced items Wednesday night in Geneva. David Bennett, chairman of jewelry for Europe and the Middle East at the auction house said “Tonight’s sale was assembled in the wake of our near-all-time record Geneva jewels sale [May 2008] and most of the property was consigned and valued prior to the turmoil in the financial markets.
