Tag Archives: Diamond

Interview: Dato’ Sri Meer Sadik Habib talks gemstones, vision for 2020 and more

Over the years, Habib has established its Diamond Festival as an annual spectacle that sets the benchmark for the local jewellery industry.

This year, however, the group signalled a turn in the tides as it introduced its first-ever Gem Festival. Habib had occupied the centre court of Putrajaya’s IOI City Mall and put on display over 1,000 pieces of precious gemstones jewellery from the many brands under its wings including Hearts On Fire and Stephen Webster.

And as we join the festival, we took the chance to sit down with the man behind this ingenious project, Dato’ Sri Meer Sadik Habib, the managing director of Habib Jewels for a chat about jewels, his plans for the company and more:

What’s unique about Gem Festival and how does it differ from the previous Diamond Festivals?

Firstly, people buy jewellery for two reasons: investment and adornment. Gold and diamond jewellery has been very popular among buyers and has the value of an investment. Gemstones, on the other hand, have always been there but they haven’t been so exposed to Malaysians.

We’ve done a lot of research on this and we found that gemstones are becoming very popular and it’s becoming a trend going into 2020. People are no longer looking for only investment pieces; they also look at the trends.

How do you see the people’s perception of gemstones with regards to their investment value?

Gemstones may or may not be a good investment but people aren’t worried about that anymore. That said, real gemstones do have value and they are certainly better than costume jewellery. That’s why we’re exposing our customers to all these different gemstones — spinel, tanzanite Paraiba.

And some of these Paraiba stones are even more expensive than diamonds.

What’s a normal starting point for customer relationship? Is it always bridal?

We have a collection called My First Habib, which carries trendy jewellery items for young women. The alphabet pendant is one of the most popular pieces; it comes with a chain and an alphabet with diamonds, and it’s offered at a competitive price. So, it’s not necessarily bridal; it can start anywhere.

What can we expect from Habib in 2020?

You can expect a lot of different gemstones coming out in the next few months — new collections – and Habib is also working with all kinds of different stone cuts and fantastic designs that I can’t disclose just yet.

 

This article was originally published on www.lofficielmalaysia.com.

‘The Okavango Blue’ is a rare 20-carat blue diamond discovered in Botswana

Formed between 500 million and 3 billion years ago, this unique gemstone was discovered as a 41.11 carat uncut, rough stone in the Orapa mine and it is one of the rarest natural diamonds in the world. While the Okavango Blue is not the world’s largest blue diamond, it’s definitely its clearest, giving the larger Hope diamond a run for its crown with its amazing clarity. The newly mined Okavango Blue was then precisely cut, polished, retaining 20.46 carats in its final form.

Named in honour of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the country’s wildlife-rich world heritage site, South Africa, is one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds. These precious stones are its main source of income, accounting for about 80 percent of its exports and providing approximately half of government revenue and contribute to the economic growth and well-being of the entire country through employment creation, the funding of schools and hospitals and other critical infrastructure.

Apart from its rarity, the oval-shaped blue diamond has a rating of “VVS2” clarity rating from the Gemological Institute of America. This means that its imperfections can only be seen by a skilled grader using 10x magnification due to its minute imperfections. According to specialists, the clarity of a diamond pertains to the visual characteristics of the stone. Called inclusions, these “defects” are the result of solids, liquids, gases or other impurities that were trapped in the mineral as the diamond was forming. The Okavango Blue is among the world’s clearest diamonds, adding immense value as a result.

Blue diamonds are sought after by collectors for its rarity and unique colour. In 2016, a massive intense blue diamond, known as The Cullinan Dream, sold for $25.4 million at a Christie’s auction in New York, breaking all records and becoming the most expensive gem of its kind ever sold at auction. In 2018, a 6.16-carat blue diamond, secretly passed down through European royalty over three centuries, fetched $6.7 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva — $1.4 million more than what experts expected it to be sold for.

The Farnese Blue fetched $6.7 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva

Arguably, the most famous is the fore-mentioned Hope Diamond, also known as Le Bijou du Roi (“the King’s Jewel”), Le bleu de France (“France’s Blue”), and the Tavernier Blue. The massive, 45.52-carat, deep-blue diamond is now kept at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.Ho

The Hope Diamond is now kept at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

The Okavango Blue is expected to fetch a higher premium due to its rarity. The company says the diamond is expected to be sold near the end of the year and could rival the Hope Diamond, which is insured for $250 million.

Okavango Diamond Co. will be planning a global marketing campaign among high net-worth buyers and collectors in London, New York, Geneva and Hong Kong this year, the Managing Director of Okavango Diamond Co. said. The company could also team up with an international auction house if market forces dictated that was the best way to sell the diamond.

By Angelyn Tan