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Live from Israel, the Jovella Jewelry Show, Day Five (Diamond Bourse Tour)
July 8, 2008
On Thursday I toured the Israel Diamond Exchange with Yulia Runova, editor, Jewellery Russia; Sigal Shidlovsky, director of the Jewellery Division for the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Labor, Diamonds, Precious Stones & Jewellery Administration; and Sharon Gefen, president, Sharon Gefen Marketing & Communications.
The four buildings of the Israel Diamond Exchange.
A bridge that connects bourse buildings.
The entrance to the Exchange.
This bourse is one of the largest facilities in the world for cutting, trading, and selling diamonds (primarily stones that are .30cts. t.w. and up as the smaller stones are cut in India and China where labor is less expensive); a visit to the Bourse also reveals the vast differences between Israeli and U.S. diamond sales.
For starters, an increasing number of transactions take place in the independent diamond offices around 47th Street, though some still occur in the New York Diamond Dealers Club. To visit the Israeli bourse, you must be invited by someone who works there (in New York, you can travel unencumbered between offices). At the Israel Diamond Exchange you leave your passport at the front desk and have an escort at your side at all times while inside; in New York, identification is necessary in the Club, but escorts aren’t. Upon entry to both bourses, however, you pass through metal detectors.
In Israel, some four huge buildings, housing about 1,000 offices, comprise the bourse. All are connected by interior bridges. A range of everyday conveniences like a grocery store, hair dresser, Synagogue, dentist, and more, operate so that diamond dealers needn’t leave the premises carrying stones.
The Israel Diamond Exchange even has its own Customs office; when planes land at the nearby airport, packages of diamonds are immediately brought to the bourse where they’re opened in the presence of the owner and a customs employee. All stones must be accounted for and values must match invoices; Kimberley Process documentation is also mandatory. If a dealer is caught with a non-conflict-free diamond, he or she is thrown out of the bourse for good.
This pair is opening a parcel of diamonds. He owns the stones, while she is a customs official.
Even the elevators in the Exchange have diamonds.
The trading floor is big and busy.
This board features postings of new members and diamantaires from around the world who are in trouble for some sort of dealer misconduct.
This woman settles disputes between dealers over stone weights. Her word, and stone weight, is final!
All of the security is in place because Israelis strictly regulate the purchase of diamonds to prevent money laundering and financial malfeasants. Purveyors of diamonds must have one of three different licenses—to buy rough diamonds, to buy loose diamonds, and to buy diamonds and set them in jewelry—to operate diamond businesses. In the United States, anyone may buy diamonds by walking into dealers’ offices, unannounced, and requesting to do so.
In the last 10 years, Israel has become mainly a cutting center for significant stones (.30 points and up, according to Gefen) cut. The move is an effort to compete with low-price labor and cutting centers in China and India; some firms even go as far as to set up their own cutting centers in these countries while keeping the bigger stones at the bourse in order to oversee every aspect of a stone’s transformation from rough to faceted.
The Sarin is a remarkable machine which suggests how to cut rough stones in order to get the biggest and most brilliant cuts. Pop the rough inside, and see what it suggests on screen.
Actually, the Sarin also prints out its suggestions.
Another brand of a similar machine also suggests how to cut rough.
A rough diamond is valued at $15,000. This machine evalutes the size of rough diamonds only, because some folks only want to buy rough.
This fellow specializes in heart-shape stones. For a suitcase full of cash (no checks, I asked) this 4ct. t.w. stone can be yours!
Finally, we toured the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum. It was really nice.
This display is in the "Wow Room," called that because it's quite high tech and entertaining.
This set of stones is a color guide for graders.
Did you know that carat weights are based on the original method of weighing carob seeds? It's true.
Diamond dust is a fun exhibit for tour groups of children. Plus, the stuff looks pretty when set in pendants.
Stones and objects on display in the museum.
Gemmy specimens on display.
Posted by Jennifer Heebner on July 8, 2008 | Comments (1)
