Alrosa to hold 30 international auctions for sale of ‘ special size ’ diamonds
Festive footfall disappoints despite increase on New Years Day
Goldsmiths ’ Craft & Design Council celebrates 60 years with Cartier
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AUCTION
Alrosa to hold 30 international auctions for sale of ‘ special size ’ diamonds
Alrosa is planning to hold 30 international auctions for the sale of ‘ special size ’ natural rough diamonds over
10.8 carats in 2018 .
Five auctions will be held in Q1 , 10 in Q2 , six in Q3 , and nine auctions in the final quarter .
Two auctions will be held in New York where Alrosa ’ s trade office will resume its full-scale operation .
The largest number of auctions , 11 , will be held in Moscow . In April and September , the company will also hold auctions in Vladivostok .
It is also planned to hold auctions in the largest international diamond trading centers where Alrosa ’ s sales offices operate . Two will be held in Antwerp , four in Dubai , six in Ramat Gan and three in Hong Kong .
Yevgeny Agureev , director of the united selling organization of Alrosa , said : “ Russian laws stipulate that special size rough diamonds over 10.8 carats can be sold only at auctions . Such diamonds are traditionally in high demand both on Russian and international markets as a rule , 60 to 100 companies from different countries take part in auctions for their sale .
“ Preliminary figures indicate that in 2017 the company sold 153,000 carats worth almost USD 365 million at international auctions for special size rough diamonds .”
The complete schedule of international auctions for the sale of special size rough diamonds in 2018 is posted on Alrosa ’ s sales website : http :// sales . alrosa . info / roughdiamonds / auctions / tenders-schedule /
FOOTFALL
Festive footfall disappoints despite increase on New Years Day
Footfall dropped by -10.5 % on New Year ’ s Eve compared with the previous year , according to new retail footfall data .
Springboard , a provider of automated footfall monitoring services , reported footfall dropped significantly and unexpectedly on New Year ’ s Eve across the UK , declining by -10.5 % over the 24 hours and by -7.2 % between 7pm and midnight .
This poor performance follows drops seen on Boxing Day ( -4.5 %) and over the period from 27th December to 30th December with a drop in footfall of -2.3 %.
Over this four-day period post Boxing Day , retail parks remained the most resilient with a decline of -1.7 % against drops of -1.9 % in high streets and -3.8 % in shopping centres .
However there was some recovery on New Year ’ s Day , with a rise of + 16.8 % from New Year ’ s Day last year .
Yet Springboard suggests that at least part of this uplift will have been due to the fact that it fell on Monday this year .
Despite this noticeable uplift from last year , the rise of + 16.8 % is not as great as the drop of -23.8 % on New Year ’ s Day last year resulting in an overall drop of -7 % over the two-day period as a whole .
Despite the annual rise in footfall on New Year ’ s Day , footfall dropped away markedly from 30th December - declining by -14.4 % between 30th December and New Year ’ s Eve , and then by a further -9.7 % between New Year ’ s Eve and New Year ’ s Day .
Diane Wehrle , insights director at Springboard , said : “ The drop in footfall on New Year ’ s Eve was unexpected , and particularly the magnitude of the decline . Last year footfall rose on New Year ’ s Eve , but this was a response to a significant drop in 2015 which saw severe weather conditions ”.
EVENT
Goldsmiths ’ Craft & Design Council celebrates 60 years with Cartier
The Goldsmiths ’ Craft & Design Council will be hosting an event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its partnership with Cartier .
Jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy will lead the ‘ In Conversation ’ event , which will provide an opportunity to hear from two experienced individuals working with Cartier and take a behind-thescenes look at Cartier ’ s design studio and workshops .
Guests will also see be able to view the GCDC ’ s 2017 exhibition of award winning work , in addition to a feature showcase of Cartier jewellery .
The event is set to take place on 13 February 2018 at Goldsmiths ’ Centre , London .
Preliminary figures indicate that in 2017 the company sold 153,000 carats worth almost
USD 365 million at international auctions for special size rough diamonds .
Yevgeny Agureev , director of the united selling organization of Alrosa
6 JEWELLERY FOCUS
February 2018 | jewelleryfocus . co . uk