Tzoffey's 1818 auction concludes US/International Diamond Week

Tzoffey's 1818 held an auction of spectacular white and colored diamonds and gemstone jewelry, at the close of the US/International Diamond Week at the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE). Over 30 lots went down the hammer at the well-attended sale.

The US/International Diamond Week was held between March-17-20. IDE President Yair Sahar praised Tzoffey's 1818 owner Avner Sofiov successfully holding the auction in less than two months. He added that 1 percent of the proceeds from the auction would be donated to the IDE's Friends for Friends organization to help people in need. IDE Vice President Ilan Samuel bought a heart-shaped brown diamond weighing 1.96 carats and put the diamond back into the auction and donated the money from the sale to Friends for Friends.

A 1.27-carat fancy intense purple pink cushion cut GIA certified diamond of SI1 clarity was a highlight of the auction and was bought for US$242,000. The lots on offer also included a platinum ring set with a 10.19-carat cushion-cut diamond pave set with brilliant-cut diamonds, a man's ring set with a cabochon sapphire weighing 7.83 carats and mounted in yellow gold and signed by French designer Reza, and an outstanding oval-cut fancy color diamond weighing 11.56 carats set in white gold, an emerald and diamond ring, with the square-cut emerald weighing 13.91 carats and set among 3.02 carats of pear-shaped diamonds in white gold, a 6.22 carats cushion-cut ruby set in white gold and with white pave-set diamonds on either side.

Before the auction, Chaim Even-Zohar, President of Tacy Ltd. presented insights on the state of the global diamond industry, to the attendees. In his opinion rough prices in 2013 and 2014 would not rise "meaningfully," and added that prices would continue to be volatile. He further added that annual rough sales globally were $15 billion, while polished sales were $22 billion, meaning manufacturers added value is just $7 billion. "Although manufacturers lost money in 2011 and 2012, their financial situation has never been better. As a result of the financial crisis they had injected equity into their companies, and borrowing had fallen, Even Zohar noted. Stressing on the need for banks to provide credit to the industry, he said that ‘The business cannot grow without credit.’ Even Zohar also noted that the industry faces its dangers from synthetic stones, (he noted that $22 billion of polished goods last year at least $500 million were synthetics) and recycled diamonds and stones being sold to the ever-expanding pawn business in the United States which he estimated to have an annual value of $1.2 billion.