2003

JA Show Uphill Indicator

Summer 2003

The mood at the last JA Show in New York was much better than in previous years, and all in all the show was generally positive. People were buying — mostly in the lower end — but they were buying. One of the biggest lines we saw was for a booth selling inexpensive Hong Kong-manufactured merchandise. People were literally jostling each other to get in that booth and filling up baskets like they were in a supermarket.

The one particularly notable item we saw was someone openly selling HPHT fancy yellow diamonds in small sizes (no whites though). While the gentleman said he sells the stones with disclosures, unlike the Lazare Kaplan “Bellataire” stones, they do not come with an inscription on the girdle, leaving the door open for possible misrepresentation down the line.