David Bennett works with the biggest and the brightest in the business, the best-known jewels in the world. As the chairman of Sotheby's Jewellery Department for Europe and the Middle East, Bennett recently visited Emirates Palace to preview his latest treasures, two rare coloured diamonds which will hit the auction block in Geneva on Wednesday.
When I was young, I wanted to go into filmmaking - not as an actor, but as a director. Then my father, who at the time thought that was not really the right thing for a young man to do, had a friend who was a director at Sotheby's; this was 30 odd years ago. I was talking to this chap and he made it sound so interesting. He said, "Well come and do this course with us." The last real recession was in 1974 and everybody was without jobs. It was terrible. This friend of my father's said, "Look, there's a job in the jewellery department and I think it would be good for you; take it." I said, "I don't know anything about jewellery!" and he said, "Fake it." Straight after that, the whole thing began - I did two years of gemmology and I just learned.
Anybody can educate themselves about anything, the question is how much you want to do it. We all have time, it's just that we choose to use it differently. But if you're passionate, you'll learn. I firmly believe that I was going to spend my life doing one thing, and let's face it, we do spend most of our lives working, I felt like I wanted to know all about it because otherwise, why would I be doing it? Then, 20 years ago, I wrote a book with a colleague that has become a sort of classic. It's called Understanding Jewellery. It's been as much used by private people as the trade and for me, it's wonderful having a jeweller say, "Oh I love your book and I use it a lot."
Yes. I've been coming here for jewellery for some years. The first time I came was about eight years ago, but we've been having exhibitions since 2004 in Abu Dhabi. We have a lot of important collectors here in the region and we're determined to build that. I sometimes give talks about the jewellery, so there's also a sort of educational aspect.
Most people think of diamonds as being white, and they are. But the really rare diamonds are the ones that are coloured, particularly blue and red. They are some of the rarest objects in the world. Then you get a combination of over 10 carats like the blue one on display: fancy, deep blue, flawless, and the cutting is excellent - then you're into the Rolls-Royce of coloured diamonds. The other one is a fancy red diamond, and it is pure red, which makes it beyond rare. This stone weighs just under two carats but it's estimated at $2.5 million (Dh9.18 m). To give you an idea, in May last year, we sold the three carat vivid blue diamond for around $1.3 m (Dh4.8m) per carat. I calculate that it makes it certainly the rarest object by weight in the world, rarer probably than weapons-grade uranium.
The blue diamond, the red diamond - they're one-offs, which I think is what makes them special and really why auctions are the great treasure houses where you're going to find these things. Even for people who maybe aren't going to buy now, the pre-sale exhibition is a great way of learning, comparing and so on. I mean, where else are you going to see these?
swolff@thenational.ae
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Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
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Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Paatal Lok season two
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Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
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The%20specs%3A%20Panamera%20Turbo%20E-Hybrid
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The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
