The Jewelry Wire Sunday list of links (week of Aug. 9)

August 9, 2026

GN Diamond: Where great prices lead to true partnerships. The diamond source that thousands of jewelers trust.

Former Tiffany exec Pam Cloud to head Blue Nile (TJW)
QVC is out of bankruptcy, headed by a familiar face (TJW)
Sasha Primak buys Gemlok (TJW)
Indian exports could be subject to 100% duty (TJW)
Diamond prices see best month since before tariffs (Rapaport)
- De Beers sees early signs of diamond market recovery (Business Weekly Botswana)
- Natural diamond jewelry sales rise, but lab-grown and colored stones rise more (TJW)
Natural Diamond Council head outlines plans to reignite diamond demand (GJEPC)
- Diamonds try to chart “new path forward” (Vogue Business; subscription)
We underestimated lab-grown diamonds, Anglo’s CEO admits (TJW)
Israel’s diamond industry collapses as veteran traders become taxi drivers and money changers (Ynet)
India proposes tax exemption for overseas rough sellers (Rapaport)
Floods in Gujarat leave industry struggling (NDTV)
Gold price hits highest level since June (CNBC)

Commentary

Luxury resumes growth, but the boom years remain elusive (AFP)
Why we splurge on small luxuries when money is tight (Psychology Today)
Why are diamond sales tanking in Vietnam? (TJW)
Why branding may never work on diamonds (Uncut)
CVD lab-grown diamond prices fall below $80 a carat (LinkedIn)
“Why I say no when someone asks me for a lab-grown diamond” (Sarah Die)
As traditional industry is battered, lab-growns switch to tech (Forbes Africa)
Economist suggests Namibia “break away” from De Beers (Mining Insight News)
Edahn Golan charts De Beers’ 158-year history (Edahn Golan)
Thinking about the “Blood Diamond” movie, 20 years later (TJW)
- The “dual realities of the diamond trade” (Danielle Keller Aviram)
World Gold Council: U.S. must crack down on illicit gold (The Hill)
How much gold is really in a solid gold luxury watch? (Forbes)
Gold is still in “explosive phase,” says Deutsche Bank (Morningstar)
The gold price is stuck, but gold miners are doing great (Kitco)
Does AI have a place in the jewelry design classroom? (Rapaport)
What makes a watch worth the money? (ScrewDownCrown)
LVMH is facing a “governance issue, not a succession one” (Forbes)
How Eddie Lampert drained $2 billion from Sears, left it with five stores (Unseen Billions)

The Diamond Dudes discuss luxury houses, mine closures, “underestimated” lab-grown (YouTube)
Jewelry ad of the week: Pandora (YouTube)
Kendra Scott CEO is seeing “surprising strength” with consumers (CNBC)
Jewelry “drives luxury rebound” (CNBC)
Podcasts with new Plumb Club president Stephen Lerche (In the Loupe and So Many Questions)
Look at Botswana president Duma Boko looking at Botswana’s very big rock (TJW)
Oprah Winfrey recalls how inspired she was watching Diana Ross sport a pair of diamond earrings (Instagram)

Pandora names new former Signet board director head of North America (TJW)
- Pandora CFO Anders Boyer steps down (PR)
Frederick Goldman appoints Beth Miller vice president of sales (LinkedIn)
Chris Watts, formerly of Watches of Switzerland, is now head of sales at Bremont Watch Company (LinkedIn)
Benjamin Siegel joins Hamilton Jewelers (TJW)
Jewelers Mutual appoints new board director (LinkedIn)
Armenian Jewelers Association East Coast names Ani Khachian as first female president-elect (National Jeweler)
Obituary**: Ellie Thompson** (TJW)
Richard Moore, co-founder of Polly’s Fine Jewelry, dies (News2)
John S. White, the former curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s department of mineral sciences and the founder of The Mineralogical Record, dies (McDougall Minerals)
Man sentenced for murdering boss at New York jewelry store (Pix11)
California woman fined $10,000 for selling counterfeit jewelry (Tribal Business News)

Brilliant Earth sales rise 5.7% in second quarter (TJW)
Jewelers Mutual, K5 invest in Luxe Software (TJW)
Etsy laying off 220 workers (TJW)
Birks to delist from NYSE American (TJW)
A growing number of Chinese luxury brands are threatening heritage houses (South China Morning Post; subscription)