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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Thursday was a poor 41-67-141. The TSX Venture Exchange fell four points to 932 while polished diamond prices dropped 0.25 per cent. Diamond prices remain well below their 2011 highs but the most expensive gems are fetching record prices. Christie's sold a 101.73-carat colourless and flawless gem at its Geneva auction on Wednesday for $26.4-million, or just over $250,000 per carat, setting another world record for colourless gems. The diamond will henceforth be known as the Winston Legacy, after its new owner, Harry Winston Inc., now a subsidiary of Swatch Group. Christie's head of jewellery sales, Rahul Kadakia, says, rather snootily, that the new name reflects Harry Winston's tradition of buying and selling only the very best, a practise he attributed to its founder, the self-proclaimed King of Diamonds. Perhaps, but that tradition got the company into trouble after Mr. Winston passed away, allowing Robert Gannicott's Dominion Diamond Corp. (DDC: $15.45) to acquire the company for just $250-million. Mr. Gannicott expanded Harry's offerings down the diamond food chain, reaping substantially higher cash flow and allowing him to sell the company seven years later to Swatch for $1-billion.

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