The sale of the Royal Blue necklace for a record $16.2m last week demonstrates just how rare and how desirable Kashmir sapphires are. The diamond world has its Golcondas, the sapphire world has its Kashmirs. Both are highly prized and extremely rare... Read More...

At the end of the day it was the inclusion of state-armed actors that sank the latest KP attempt to redefine conflict diamonds. Many Western nations said they should be included. Many African nations said they shouldn't. And that's why five days of talks at ... Read More...

Haven't we been here before? The Kimberley Process on the brink of redefining conflict diamonds? It's convening in Dubai as I write this, discussing exactly that. "We are almost at the finish line," Feriel Zerouki, president of the World Diamond Council (WDC) proudly ... Read More...

It's the stuff of movies. A priceless yellow diamond, part of Austria's crown jewels, vanishes without trace in 1918 when Charles I, the country's last emperor, flees for his life. The mystery of the 137.27-carat gem, recovered from India's famed Golconda mines... Read More...

That was the question Eddy Elzas asked back in the 1970s. And that's why he, more than anyone, has been credited with "inventing" the modern-day colored diamond market. At the time nobody in the industry saw the potential of colored diamonds like Elzas... Read More...

It was an inheritance from her grandmother, an unremarkable ring that she wore every day. Then for some reason she stopped. And she decided to take the ring, together with other items of jewelry, to be valued at the Aste Bolaffi auction house, in Turin, Italy... Read More...

History repeats itself. The dramatic heist at the Louvre last week was not the first time thieves broke into the museum's Apollo Gallery, smashed a display case and made off with a priceless royal treasure. It happened in December 1976. Raiders escaped with... Read More...

The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) says it has a marketing campaign that's "ready to roll" - it's just waiting for the six African diamond producers who signed up to the Luanda Accord to provide the funding. David Kellie, outgoing CEO of the NDC... Read More...

There are Fabergé eggs, and there are Fabergé eggs. The originals (there were just 50 of them) were the preserve of Russian royalty. They were the ultimate Easter gift, presented by the tsar to his wife or mother. Money was no object. They were designed and Read More...

Botswana's failure to sell a single carat at its emergency tender last week underscores a dramatic change of fortunes for Africa's diamond capital. It is a nation that has been transformed diamonds. They were discovered in 1967, less than six months after ... Read More...