Reflecting on five years of Jeweller’s Hits & Misses

Michael Mishevski

Gossipmongers went wild in June 2014 when news broke of Mishevski being asked to stand aside from his role as Showcase Jewellers CEO while an investigation was conducted into the buying group’s operations. At the time, an official statement by George Proszkowiec, chairman of JIMACO, the operating company of Showcase, explained the decision was made in response to “certain matters” raised by the group’s external auditors.

The rumour mill went into overdrive when Mishevski resigned one month later and the Showcase board took a stance of ‘no further comment’.

Two years on and an explanation has still not been provided – although rumours continue to circulate that Mishevski will return!

Selecting an overall winner for this category wasn’t easy. Jewellery chain Zamel’s was well and truly up there because it was found guilty and fined for misrepresenting savings to consumers not once but twice! We have heard of going ‘back for seconds’ but that was plain dumb.

Trade magazine Jewellery World also believed in the Power of Two. In 2011, the publication decided to announce that it would hold a new jewellery fair one week prior to the 2012 Sydney trade fair. This was a second attempt given that five years earlier, Jewellery World Show 2007 was scheduled. Neither Jewellery World fairs eventuated.

For the non-mathematically minded, two is the base of the binary numeral system, which is why it’s an important number in computer science; however, it seems it does not hold the same weight in the jewellery industry!

While these ‘two’ previous award winners are definitely worthy 'What Were They Thinking?' recipients, the overall award must go to jewellers Roger and Georgette Aznavorian.

The couple was charged in 2013 with stealing 180 jewellery items valued at $2.4 million that were left at their jewellery store for repair, valuation or adjustment. The theft allegedly involved 170 victims – it’s bad enough to be stealing from customers but 170 of them! What were they thinking?

There are numerous stories that have made the Jeweller team think WTF OMG. Who could forget the ‘Dad’s Army’ responsible for the world (in)famous UK Hatton Garden heist? The crime was reminiscent of the elaborate thefts appearing in Hollywood movies, with the thieves reportedly abseiling down an elevator shaft before drilling through a two-metre-thick vault wall to gain access to the ‘treasure’. However, it was the fact that the group of thieves were men aged 48 to 76-years-old that really made us go WTF OMG.

Closer to home, we had the two thieves who mistakenly confused a KFC store with a jewellery store – thereby, getting away with chicken nuggets rather than gold nuggets.

Although ultimately, nothing can beat the lesbian love triangle that defrauded the Kings Jewellers owners of $1.4 million. Reported in 2012, the story offered serious lessons for all jewellery businesses – the saga involved crimes that resulted in store closures and 60 people losing their jobs – but we couldn’t avoid a wry smirk when searching for images to accompany an article about a lesbian love triangle with accusations of blackmail and fraud. No need for sensationalising the truth for a good story here. It really was a journalist’s dream.

Martin Rapaport

Philippe Mellier

Our industry has witnessed some classic punch ups over the years and in 2014, Nicholson declared that the year’s Best Punch Up should perhaps be more appropriately called a cage fight. The battle was Martin Rapaport vs The Diamond Industry and it was over the rights and wrongs of diamond grading.

At the time, it was predicted that the brouhaha could go on forever because there was no referee and those predictions rang true with Rapaport being named victor of the category in 2015 as well.

The diamond maverick was forthcoming in his beliefs that rough diamond prices had been manipulated to artificially high and unsustainable levels and blamed the situation squarely on the shoulders of the then De Beers Group CEO, Philippe Mellier. Mellier stood down from his position at De Beers about six months after Rapaport’s remarks – coincidence?

That was 12 months ago. What will this year have in store? It seems there is no shortage of entrants in the local industry, which could well make Rapaport’s fight look more like a friendly bicker ... stay tuned for 2016 Hits & Misses.

There have been some crazy winners of this award. Remember the famous yet reclusive Kiwi journalist Ken Raumati? Raumati shot to fame in 2011 when he declared he was writing an “investigative article” about the New Zealand jewellery industry. He claimed to know a lot of people in the industry but no one seemed to know him! 

Raumati disappeared as quickly as he ‘arrived’, leading many to believe he was really the famous Dick Diver masquerading as Ken Raumati. Given Dick Diver is a fictitious character, like Ken Raumati, we were all left none the wiser. Ken are you still out there?

As if that wasn’t wacky enough, along came the story in 2013 about a Brisbane thief who fled after stealing two diamond rings by swallowing them and who was then captured by staff after a chase through a shopping centre. This incident definitely comes up trumps in the Weird and Crazy Stuff category.

Police were called and the alleged thief, David Watts, was taken into custody and charged. However, what to do about the missing (swallowed) jewellery valued at $62,000? 

Well, Watts was held in custody until he was able to ‘pass’ the evidence. The $27,000, 1.53-carat yellow diamond ring was ‘recovered’ a few days later but the other, more expensive ring had disappeared. Wait, that’s not quite correct, it just never ‘came out’ in police investigations ... if you get our drift? 

It’s believed the authorities mistakenly discarded the second ring, valued at $35,000! What a crappy error, huh? 

Jeweller’s conundrum at the time was whether to declare the winner as the thief for swallowing the rings, the police officer who had to ‘handle’ the evidence or the storeowners who later decided to conduct an online charity auction for the ring!

Three years on and we still can’t decide. If that’s not weird and crazy then we don’t know what is.

Contrary to what some might believe, journalists love a feel-good story. So it is that there can only be one winner of this category. With all the doom and gloom pervading the current retail market, it was pleasing to report in 2015 of an independent jeweller who transformed his store into a vibrant and profitable business after facing closure two years earlier.

Jeweller first became aware of the retailer’s dire financial predicament in September 2013 when the owner wrote a heart-felt letter to Nicholson. The business had an annual turnover of around $1.6 million and was facing liquidation; however, two years later he had turned the business around and was approaching $3 million in revenue while generating healthy profits.

Jeweller recently caught up with the storeowner who said although he expected business to be down 30 per cent for this calendar year, the result was comparatively positive given the market conditions in his region.

It confirms the saying, ‘If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.’ 

This category has two standout stories, both of which involve industry magazine Jewellery World. Even at the expense of being accused of taking shots at a competitor, it would be remiss to not call out Jewellery World for causing enormous industry confusion. In 2013, the magazine published a 16-page “Hot 100 Suppliers” feature. The author wasn’t identified but the story stated, “We asked our readers to tell us who their best suppliers are – and the votes are now in.” 

It was not lost on many readers that jewellery business Tuskc – which had previously closed its doors – received two awards in the Hot 100. No disrespect to Tuskc but one has to wonder how a business could be endorsed as a ‘best’ and ‘hot’ supplier one month and cease operations the next. The confusion didn’t stop there; while promoting the industry’s Hot 100 jewellery suppliers, only 70 businesses were listed. Whoops!

As if that confusion was not bad enough, the magazine’s communication skills were again called into question last year when it was announced Jewellery World would close after 34 years of publication. The magazine was purchased by another publication, Jewellers Trade, and the industry was advised in a statement that from July 2015, the magazine would merge under one masthead ‘Jewellers Trade incorporating Jewellery World’.

That was fairly straightforward until one month later the exact opposite was announced. A second industry statement declared that, actually, Jewellers Trade would close and become “one with Jewellery World and be published as Jewellery World”.

There’s that Power of Two again – two magazines would become one; however, not the one you thought but the other one! Say what?

Other mishaps and confusion transpired following the ‘merge’.

The media are supposed to be communication experts and so it’s a sad day when the media can’t accurately report stories about itself or themselves!

Overall winner: Jewellery World
Hit or Miss? Miss, as in mistakes and mishaps galore