Precious Metals Industry Updates
Reference writing from the desk on metals, diamonds, coloured stones, watches, and the mechanics of buying and selling. The desks are listed below and stay one tap away while you read.
Buying
The Watch That Did Not Belong
A counterfeit watch inside a collection of more than 30 pieces. Follow the examination from the dial and bezel screws to the lugs, rubber strap and...
The Timepiece Times
The Timepiece Times: Rolex Still Leads. The Market Around It Is Changing.
Rolex still dominates the secondary watch market, but buyer attention is spreading across more brands, price levels and individual references.
Precious Metals Weekly
Texas Made Gold and Silver Legal Tender. Here Is What Actually Changes.
Texas now recognizes narrowly defined gold and silver specie as voluntary legal tender. Here is what HB 1056 changes, what comes next in 2027 and what...
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update: Fine Rubies Are Proving Harder to Find
Fine ruby supply, dealer demand for Paraíba tourmaline and spinel, and new GIA research on gemstone imitations.
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update: Which Shapes Are Selling?
Which diamond shapes are selling, which are harder to move, and how a new Mumbai laboratory is bringing jewelry certification closer to manufacturers.
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Industry Update: Gold and Silver Fall Sharply
Gold and silver fell sharply on September 28. This update puts the declines in dollar terms, reviews competing analyst views, and examines a gold-sourcing court case...
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market: Lab-Grown vs. Natural, and the Choice That Fits Your Life
The industry is promoting natural diamonds, while lab-grown stones give couples more room in their budgets. What the public statements mean, why neither choice deserves shame,...
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update: The Million-Dollar Surprise in a Pair of Earrings
A striking Cartier auction result, a microscopic look inside a treated sapphire, and five colored stones attracting collector money.
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update: Gold Faces Competing Pressures
Time-stamped metals prices, competing analyst interpretations and this week’s international developments.
The Timepiece Times
The Timepiece Times: GIA Is Moving Into Watch Education
GIA and the FHH announce a watch-education partnership. What it means for the trade and what it does not.
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update: More Spending, a Bigger Push for Buyer Confidence
August retail figures, practical diamond-verification tools and the Natural Diamond Council’s new identity.
Precious Metals IRA
Precious Metals IRAs: Can You Use Gold You Already Own?
Why personally owned gold cannot simply be deposited as an annual IRA contribution, and how that differs from moving existing retirement assets.
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update: A Kashmir Sapphire Carries a $1.2 Million Estimate
A Kashmir sapphire and a large Brazilian alexandrite lead our preview of Phillips’s September 29 Hong Kong jewelry auction.
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update: Jewelry Sales Improve, While the Trade Builds Connections
Modest retail growth, practical dealer education and new trading connections feature in this diamond-market update.
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update: The Pressures Behind the Price
Interest rates, refinery financing and proposed sourcing standards put the costs behind the precious-metals trade in focus.
The Timepiece Times
The Timepiece Times: Rolex Revisits a Collector Favorite
Rolex’s new Perpetual Padellone brings a vintage design into its current collection—and raises useful distinctions for pre-owned buyers and sellers.
The Timepiece Times
Swiss Watch Exports Jumped. Pre-Owned Prices Barely Moved.
Swiss watch exports rose 9.6% in July to CHF 2.63 billion, with the United States up 26.5% and the sub-CHF 500 segment recovering, yet the pre-owned...
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update | September 14, 2026
Two Questions About Manufactured Diamonds, Asked in Two Places Two developments over the past several days concern manufactured diamonds rather than mined ones, and they point...
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update | September 14, 2026
Every Lot Clears at a Jaipur Rough Emerald Auction A full clearance at the commercial end of the rough emerald market is the weekend's most concrete...
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update | September 14, 2026
Metals Open Lower Into a Fed Decision, and Platinum's Balance Is Revised Precious metals began the week lower. At 11:30 a.m. GMT on September 14, spot...
The Timepiece Times
Ten Things a Watch Dealer Sees That You May Not
Two watches can share a reference number and command very different prices. The ten details a dealer examines, from case geometry and dial originality to bracelet...
Precious Metals IRA
Before You Open a Gold IRA, Ask for This One Page
A precious-metals IRA involves three independent businesses, each charging separately, so the purchase price is only part of the transaction. The exact product, both sides of...
Buying
Should a Colored Gemstone Be Sent to a Laboratory?
Most colored gemstones are not economically worthy of a major laboratory report, which is not the same as saying they are fake. When a report changes...
Buying
What to Gather Before an Estate Evaluation
Settle the sentimental items before a dollar figure is attached to anything, because reversals get harder afterward. Then establish who can legally sell, match documents to...
Buying
One Check or Twenty Sales: Why Momentum Matters in a Parcel Sale
The desirable pieces in an estate are the reason a dealer will absorb the difficult ones in the same transaction. Why a buyer willing to take...
Buying
One Estate, Five Markets: What Happens After You Sell a Collection?
To a family an estate is one inheritance. To the trade it may belong to five different markets: jewelry that should stay jewelry, diamonds and colored...
Buying
The Dos and Don'ts of Selling an Estate or Collection
Evaluating an estate takes time, judgment and access to several markets, and dealers who can buy across all of them are uncommon. What preserves that relationship:...
Precious Metals IRA
Who Is Actually Advising You on a Gold IRA Rollover?
Courts vacated the Department of Labor's 2024 Retirement Security Rule and the five-part test was restored effective April 20. Not everyone discussing a Gold IRA rollover...
Precious Metals IRA
IRA Contribution Limits Increased for 2026
The 2026 IRA contribution limit is $7,500, up from $7,000, and $8,600 for those 50 and older, applied across all traditional and Roth IRAs combined. The...
Precious Metals IRA
A Federal IRA Match Is Coming in 2027
The federal Saver's Match begins with 2027 contributions, paying eligible savers as much as 50% of the first $2,000 contributed to an IRA or employer plan,...
Precious Metals IRA
New IRS Guidance Could Make Gold IRA Rollovers Simpler
IRS Notice 2026-49 provides optional sample forms and procedures for moving money between employer retirement plans and IRAs, though not for IRA-to-IRA transfers. What that means...
The Timepiece Times
Pre-Owned Watch Prices Moved Higher, Quietly
The WatchCharts Overall Market Index rose 0.4 percent in August, with Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet posting small gains after a flat July. A broad...
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update | September 9, 2026
Sotheby's September 17 sale prices a 7.52-carat Brazilian Paraiba above a far larger Mozambique pair, a direct test of what origin is worth. Plus SSEF's warning...
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update | September 9, 2026
Independent U.S. jewelers collected more diamond revenue in August while selling fewer pieces. CIBJO affirmed synthetic as the sole Blue Book descriptor for non-mined diamonds, a...
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update | September 9, 2026
Gold eased while platinum gained and palladium fell. China added 650,000 ounces to official reserves in August, its largest monthly addition since October 2023 and a...
Buying
Understanding Colored-Gemstone Laboratory Reports: What They Can and Cannot Tell You
A report may identify the material, separate natural from synthetic, disclose treatments and offer an origin opinion. It does not decide whether a gemstone is beautiful,...
Buying
Gold Is Up. Payouts Are Changing.
When gold rises, sellers expect the percentage to rise with it. It often does not. What the spot price actually measures, why settlement time is the...
Buying
What a Diamond Grading Report Cannot Tell You
A report lists weight to the hundredth of a carat and appears to settle the question of whether a diamond is good. It does not. What...
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update | September 3, 2026
The Ethereal Jadeite Necklace brought HK$200.2 million at Christie's Hong Kong, with strong ruby, sapphire, emerald and Paraiba results alongside it. Plus GIA laboratory findings on...
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update | September 3, 2026
U.S. jewelry revenue rose 11% in July on fewer units and higher spending per item, while GIA and IGI now describe laboratory-grown diamonds in two different...
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update | September 3, 2026
Gold rose 0.9% to $4,425.83 with silver, platinum and palladium all higher. The Dutch central bank moved 86 tonnes of gold from New York and Ottawa...
The Timepiece Times
Secondary-Market Transactions Reach $10.5 Billion
The secondary watch market recorded $10.5 billion in transactions in the first half of 2026, up 37.2%, with Rolex accounting for 41% of value. But the...
Buying
How Pryce House Buys
One evaluation, one written offer, clear terms. What Pryce House asks for first, why a mixed collection is evaluated through more than one market, why the...
Buying
Offer vs. Appraisal vs. Insurance Replacement Value: What Is the Difference?
A purchase offer, a formal appraisal, and an insurance replacement value answer three different questions about the same piece, so the figures should not be expected...
Precious Metals IRA
How a Precious Metals IRA Actually Works
A self-directed IRA can hold qualifying gold, silver, platinum and palladium, but four separate parties each play a defined role: the account owner, the custodian, the...
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update | September 2, 2026
The 1-carat RAPI was unchanged in July, ending 13 consecutive months of declines, with the 0.30, 0.50 and 3-carat indexes higher. De Beers reported $665 million...
Gemstone Weekly
Gemstone Market Update | September 2, 2026
Sapphire, ruby and emerald jewels brought seven-figure results at Christie's June 9 Magnificent Jewels sale in New York. GIA now offers country-of-origin determination for opal, peridot...
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update | September 2, 2026
Spot gold traded at $4,304.01 and silver at $63.60 in early trading on September 2, gold's lowest level since August 7. Gold-backed ETFs added $3 billion...
Gemstone Weekly
Colored Gemstone Market Update | August 31, 2026
Gemfields' May auction of higher-quality rough emeralds from Kagem generated $26.8 million at $146.08 per carat, its first Trade Select auction of rough rubies and sapphires...
Diamond Market Weekly
Diamond Market Update | August 31, 2026
Natural polished asking prices were flat or higher across all four tracked RAPI sizes in July, ending 13 straight months of declines in the 1-carat index....
Precious Metals Weekly
Precious Metals Market Update | August 31, 2026
Spot gold closed August at $4,433.19 and silver at $66.24, with gold up 9.7% and silver up roughly 15% for the month. Central banks bought 288.9...
Nothing published in that topic yet.