Psycho Killers Tonight
Posted on | November 20, 2009 | No Comments
Going to see Psycho Killers tonight. It’s pretty cool to see your buddies play in a band that rocks. I have the privilege of frequent jams with lead guitar/vocalist Jon Wood and percussionist Mikey Barnstein.
Large and Rare Colored Diamonds Are Still Strong
Posted on | November 19, 2009 | 3 Comments
The US retail jewelry market is still a little weak, but the super high end/investment quality diamonds are very strong with both Christie’s and Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels Auctions doing very well in Geneva this week.
From Diamonds.net:
Sotheby’s Jewels: Jewels of historical significance garnered strong prices at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale, held in Geneva on November 17. The Roxburghe Rubies suite (pictured) brought in $5,719,290 against a presale estimate of $618,000 to $1,097,000, with the necklace selling for $4,299,974 and the earrings going for $1,469,335. Overall, the Magnificent Jewels sale generated $36,682,714 (CHF 37,011,375), with 79 percent sold by lot.
Sotheby’s called its 2.52-carat, vivid green diamond the largest of its kind to appear at auction and it sold there for $3,078,914, which was slightly below the corresponding presales estimate. Another rare find was a fancy intense blue, brilliant-cut, 3.17-carat diamond ring, which Chatila acquired for $2,523,500, within its presale estimate. A fancy pink, cushion-shaped, 6.63-carat diamond fetched $1,413,833, which was also within the presale estimate range.
David Bennett, Sotheby’s chairman of jewelry for Europe and Middle East, said: “The Roxburghe Rubies, a magnificent suite, comprised of a ruby and diamond rivière necklace and earrings, the property of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, attracted extraordinary presale attention at exhibitions around the world, both for the quality of the rubies and the significant historical provenance, and sold for $5.7 million (CHF 5,821,000), five times the high estimate and a world-record price for a ruby suite.
“A remarkable array of colored diamonds was led by the price of $3.1 million (CHF 3,162,500) for a very impressive fancy vivid yellow diamond and included two new world-record prices per carat for green and intense blue diamonds,” Bennett added.
Chatila bought the fancy vivid yellow diamond, a 74.80-carat, cut-cornered, rectangular, modified brilliant-cut stone that was mounted in gold, for $3,134,417, which fell within the presale estimate range.
Christie’s Jewels: The Geneva Sale was 82 percent sold by lot and totaled $32,281,500 earlier today. Jean-Marc Lunel, head of the sale, said, “With $70 million of jewelry changing hands in two days at the Geneva auctions, the star lot of the week at Christie’s was an exceptional D flawless diamond of 62.30 carats purchased by Aleks Paul of Essex Global Trading for $8,051,000. This shows the clear resurgence of the jewelry market and we look forward to exciting sales in Hong Kong, New York and London in early December.”
Paul acquired the top three lots at the sale, starting with that 62.30-carat diamond, which was a type IIa pear, for $129,230 per carat. The second lot was comprised of a 3.30-carat, rectangular-cut, fancy intense blue and a 3.90-carat, E, VS2 diamond ring by Wolfers, which sold for $2,675,000. Paul offered the top bid for a fancy vivid, fancy intense and fancy blue diamond clasp: $2,675,000. The top three lots all sold well above their presale estimates.
Other sale highlights included a 24.92-carat, pear-shaped, light blue, type IIb, VVS2 diamond ring, mounted by Cartier, that sold for $1,555,000. A 13.91-carat, oval-shaped D, VVS2 diamond ring fetched $1,203,000.
Selling slightly above its presale estimate was a 7.03-carat, oval-shaped Burmese ruby and diamond ring designed by Graff, which sold for $1,131,000. The final lot that sold for more than $1 million was a 65.20-carat, cushion-shaped, fancy intense yellow, VS2 diamond pendant that went for $1,035,000, which was within its presale estimate range.
Christie’s also noted that a 19.13-carat, briolette-cut, fancy grayish-yellowish green chameleon diamond-pendant necklace set a record price for a chameleon at auction: $987,000.
The rare colored diamonds and BIG stones brought the big bucks. We love large and colored diamonds down here, so please let me know if you would like to invest in one of these diamonds. They are what will make you money over the long term.
Tags: auction > blue diamonds > Christie's > diamonds > geneva > green diamonds > magificent jewels > rare gems > rings > sotheby's
I Don’t Like The Redskins, But I Love Washington DC!
Posted on | November 13, 2009 | No Comments
We just had our first Buying Event at White Flint Mall in Bethesda, MD. It went very well. We’ve cultivated a big following in DC though our website, with customers coming to our store from DC and Northern Virginia on a regular basis. So we teamed up with my cousin, David Samuelson, who happens to own a jewelry store in White Flint Mall (the Samuelson Family knows jewelry), and rocked it out. We booked a ton of appointments, reaching out to our customers via email, and bought some nice stuff. So many people were happy that we came down and everyone left with CASH.
So a shout out from BaltimoreDiamonds.com to all of our DC peeps, “We love you and we’ll be back hon!” Maybe in a BIG way…
Tags: alexandria > bethesda > chevy chase > diamond buying > fairfax > gold buying > jewelry buyers > jewelry buying > mclean > nothern virginia > redskins > rockville > silver buyers > tysons > tysons corner > washington dc > white flint mall
Introducing BaltimoreDiamonds.com!
Posted on | November 4, 2009 | No Comments
We are so excited here at Samuelson’s to announce the launch of our new updated website, with a new URL, BaltimoreDiamonds.com. I want to thank our team for a job well done. David and Garth did a great job! You’ll notice a new homepage, history page, diamond specials link, and more. We have a little more to do (don’t we always?) but overall it’s there and we’re ready to rock! I want to give a special shout out to the crew at Emagine Web Consulting for hookin up the slides for us. The rest was done IN HOUSE and I’m very proud of the Samuelson’s Diamonds team for a job well done! Please look around and contact us with any comments or suggestions. This site is for you, our great customers and friends, so enjoy!
The Diamond World is Changing
Posted on | October 27, 2009 | 3 Comments
I knew it! The brands are breaking down. I just ran across this article from The Wall Street Journal about Tiffany and Co and other big retailers cutting and polishing their own diamonds in Botswana. Graff has owned Safdico Diamonds for a while, but he doesn’t sell to the masses like Tiffany. What jumped out at me was the fact that Tiffany was lowering their diamond prices for the first time in recent memory:
Tiffany is also feeling the pressure. Its inventory has swelled to $1.54 billion this year, up from $1 billion in early 2005. For the first time in recent memory, Tiffany says, it has lowered its prices for diamonds. The engagement rings it sells in the U.S. are priced 10% lower than last year. In all, the company expects a “high teens” decline in sales this year at U.S. stores open at least a year.
Tiffany acknowledges its lack of mining expertise. Although it reaped a large financial gain from its 2004 sale of a minority stake in the 40%-owner of a Canadian mine, it recently disclosed that it wrote off a $12.4 million investment in a small mining project in Sierra Leone. It also has written off loans of about $44 million to a former supplier whose mine has ceased operations. “I think we want to let the miners do the mining,” said Chief Financial Officer James Fernandez.
Here’s an interesting video on diamond mining:
It’s a conflict to their brand but let me let you in on a little secret…I found the biggest diamond mine in the world and it’s people just like you who want to sell their diamonds!!
Tags: botswana > buy diamond > diamond mines > diamonds > graff > sell diamond > tiffany > tiffany and co
Heller Highwater Rocks Heller’s Wedding
Posted on | October 19, 2009 | No Comments
Check out what Heller Highwater would sound like if we had a great singer and a funky sax player. Mazel Tov Steve and rock on!
Allman Brothers Band 10/6/09
Posted on | October 12, 2009 | No Comments
The Allman Brothers rocked it last week at Merriweather Post Pavillion. Gregg is getting old though – he’s got Gov’t Mule’s keyboard player helping him out, but his voice still sounded good. Check out this video I took of Woman Across The River. Warren and Derek are trading some tasty licks – enjoy!
Tags: allman brothers band > derek trucks > gregg allman > warrenhaynes
Stockbrokers and Business Consultants…Worth It?
Posted on | October 10, 2009 | No Comments
My father always said to me regarding stockbrokers, “If they knew so much they’d be millionaires.” I get that. Here these guys are picking stocks for clients and they have no idea what they will do. That would be like me advising people on what the gold or diamond market will do (and charging them for it). Well, I don’t have a crystal ball. The only difference is that when I take a partner in on diamond, it’s a no lose. I’m buying it for less than the cost of production.
So let’s get back to the theme.
Stockbrokers:
My broker doesn’t pick stocks anymore. He puts it in diverse investments, handles 401K’s and finds ways to beat the market. Then again, who the hell has beat the market in the past few years? Oh yeah, those who bought gold! So all we can do is stay invested and hope it comes back, or stick money under our pillow and just save it…not such a bad idea given the instability of the past couple years.
Business Consultants:
I do want to try to understand business consultants. Man they are all over twitter – those “guru’s” with marketing books and videos. Business consultants that I have come across really blow my mind. Usually they are people who used to have businesses and failed, so now they tell others what to do. How can you do this? I pose the question again, if you’re so smart, why don’t you have an extremely successful business? Why are you selling air? Wouldn’t it make sense that if you’re going to advise/speak to people how about to run a business, you are a business owner/executive yourself? If you run a computer software company, isn’t Bill Gates or an executive at Microsoft gonna be the best person to listen to? If you run a hardware store, don’t you want to take advice from Arthur Blank? If I’m running a jewelry store, shouldn’t I want to hear from Laurence Graff? That’s who I want to talk to. Do you get my point?
Maybe it’s me. Maybe I think I’m too smart for these people. Or then again maybe I’m too stupid to take advice from others who aren’t business owners. What do you think?
BTW, I am available for small business owners and jewelry stores looking to get their name out there via Social Media…CAUSE THAT’S WHAT I DO!!
Tags: arthur blank > bill gates > Business > consultants > financial advisor > laurence graff > stockbrokers
Petra Diamonds Finds HUGE 507 Carat Stone
Posted on | October 2, 2009 | 3 Comments
They found some big ones this week in South Africa, most notably a 507 carat white Type II clean diamond. I’m sure they’ll try to get a 200 carat out of it, and I can’t wait to see what this thing looks like finished!
From Reuters:
LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – AIM-listed Petra Diamonds (PDL.L) said on Tuesday it had recovered one of the world’s 20 largest, high-quality white diamonds at the Cullinan mine in South Africa.
The massive 507.55 carat diamond, found on Sept. 24, could be worth about $20 million, and is expected to cover costs at the mine for two years, Finance Director David Abery said.
“Initial examinations indicate that it is of exceptional colour and clarity,” Petra Diamonds said, adding it was found alongside other large white diamonds of 168 carats, 58.50 carats and 53.30 carats.
“The Cullinan mine has again given the world a spectacularly beautiful and important diamond,” said Chief Executive Johan Dippenaar, noting Cullinan was the source of the world’s largest gem diamond ever recovered, at 3,106 carats rough.
Here’s a video of this big rock:
Tags: 507 carat diamond > cullinan mine > perta diamonds > petra > rough diamonds
Guest Blog Post: To Bid Or Not To Bid
Posted on | September 21, 2009 | 2 Comments
This is an awesome guest blog post by Dana Kiyomura, expert in estate and antique jewelry. Dana has an office in NYC where she buys and sells vintage jewelry and you can follow her on Twitter @winebrilliant.
“Bidding at a jewelry auction is time consuming and can be dangerous.
First you have to preview the jewels. For professionals, that often means sitting down at a table with viewing assistants showing you all the lots you are interested in. This is where I got my start – as a viewing assistant. Now I am on the other side of the table. Loupe and pen in hand I look at each piece and decide on what to bid. Taking notes in the margins, a calculator is imperative to figure out what to pay including the buyer’s premium. For many auctions, this premium can be between 15-20%. Pretty steep in my opinion – the auction makes money from both the buyer and the seller.
The day of the auction, I am often on the phone. Someone from the salerooom calls a few lots before the lot I want to bid on, and then acts as my agent, raising a paddle for me. This is the most dangerous part. Auction fever. Of course, there is competition for most lots. Once I get my bid in and then someone else raises the bid, I have the option of bidding again. When I am maxed out – there is always that little voice in my head that says, “if you go one more bid you may get it.” When I listen to that voice, I almost always am sorry I pushed. Must learn DISCIPLINE.
In other scenarios, I pick things up for way below my mark – a pleasant surprise and most times a score. Jewelry professionals are drawn to auctions hoping to find that little overlooked item – literally a gem that is the “sleeper.” However, these days, I am finding there are no secrets anymore and the days of identifying a signed piece of jewelry that no one else has recognized is now passed.
After the sale, the items are shipped or picked up and then you can access the damage. It’s almost like the morning after, and the beer googles come off. “What was I thinking?” Somehow things look better when other people want it too. Now, it’s mine and I have to hope someone still wants it after me!”
Tags: auction > Christie's > estate jewelry > guest blog post > jewelry auctions > sotheby's
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