The De Beers diamonds antitrust class action aims to end an alleged 60-year conspiracy to fix the price of rough diamonds in the U.S. by the De Beers group of companies. The litigation includes several cases, including Hopkins v. De Beers Centenary A.G., et al., No. CGC-04-432954. The De Beers diamond cartel, led by South African firm De Beers, was accused by human rights groups of buying illicit diamonds from African rebels and rulers who used proceeds to help them.
De Beers has seen a stark decline from controlling 90% of the diamond industry in the 1980s to just 29 in 2019. The company is illegal in the United States, the world’s largest market for gem diamonds, and has been under constant attack by the U.S. Justice Department. De Beers has been committing its jewelry resources to natural diamonds and pivoting lab-grown diamond production to industrial uses. The dilemma for De Beers was whether to enter the market with its own synthetic diamonds or have faith that synthetics would be a viable alternative.
De Beers has also been accused of aggressively marketing diamond rings in Japan as tokens of “modern Western values”. In 2004, De Beers agreed to plead guilty to criminal price fixing before a U.S. federal court, allowing them to once again sell diamonds in the U.S. De Beers is now leaving the commercial lab-grown market, and the company is single-handedly responsible for inventing the industry by selling the romantic myth that “diamonds are forever”.
📹 Why Engagement Rings Are a Scam – Adam Ruins Everything
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Is De Beers banned in the US?
For over a century, the international diamond market has been dominated by the De Beers Corp. cartel, which has managed to maintain high diamond prices and prevent defection. The cartel has also managed to convince millions of customers that diamonds are rare and highly prized. However, the cartel is illegal in the United States, the world’s largest market for gem diamonds, and has been constantly attacked by the U. S. Justice Department.
The case focuses on De Beers’ past dealings with this issue and the potential for a new relationship with the U. S. government in the late 1990s due to changes in the African political situation and the world diamond market.
Are De Beers diamonds ethical?
De Beers Jewellers prioritizes transparency by ethically sourcing diamonds from Botswana, Canada, Namibia, and South Africa. Each diamond is inscribed with the De Beers Marque, ensuring its natural, untreated, and conflict-free nature. This ensures the positive impact of their jewellery on these countries and the thousands of people involved. De Beers Jewellers begins their jewelry with some of the world’s most beautiful diamonds, directly from the source.
Each diamond is a miraculous gift from nature, with their journey to the surface demonstrating resilience, strength, and serendipity. De Beers is privileged to be directly connected with these diamonds from the moment of discovery.
What is the conspiracy of De Beers?
De Beers has filed an antitrust class action against the company, accusing it of creating a global cartel in the rough and polished diamond markets, with a market share of nearly 90 percent. The allegations suggest that De Beers had aggressively managed supply and prices, and had collusive agreements with competitors, suppliers, and distributors. The lawsuit, which began in 2004, includes several cases, including Hopkins v. De Beers Centenary A. G., et al., No.
CGC-04-432954, and Sullivan v. DB Investments, No. 04-cv-02819, and earlier related cases that commenced in 2001. The complaint argues that De Beers had violated the Sherman Act by aggressively managing supply and prices, leading to a significant market share.
Does De Beers still control the diamond market?
The diamond industry has historically been flawed, with the De Beers monopoly controlling prices. However, with peak market share reaching almost 90 in the late 1980s, a series of events over the next 25 years led to the erosion of the De Beers monopoly. Today, market supply and demand dynamics, not the De Beers monopoly, drive diamond prices for the first time in a century. In the late 19th century, a massive diamond discovery in South Africa prompted a diamond rush, leading Cecil Rhodes to buy as many diamond-mining claims as he could, eventually becoming De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited.
De Beers expanded into every aspect of the diamond industry, focusing on monopolizing distribution. The De Beers distribution channel, operating under the name Diamond Trading Co. (DTC), gave De Beers complete control and discretion to distribute the majority of the world’s diamonds. To maintain a stable but rising diamond price, De Beers had the power to stockpile inventory in weak markets or raise prices charged to Sightholders.
Is De Beers diamond Monopoly?
The diamond industry has historically been flawed, with the De Beers monopoly controlling prices. However, with peak market share reaching almost 90 in the late 1980s, a series of events over the next 25 years led to the erosion of the De Beers monopoly. Today, market supply and demand dynamics, not the De Beers monopoly, drive diamond prices for the first time in a century. In the late 19th century, a massive diamond discovery in South Africa prompted a diamond rush, leading Cecil Rhodes to buy as many diamond-mining claims as he could, eventually becoming De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited.
De Beers expanded into every aspect of the diamond industry, focusing on monopolizing distribution. The De Beers distribution channel, operating under the name Diamond Trading Co. (DTC), gave De Beers complete control and discretion to distribute the majority of the world’s diamonds. To maintain a stable but rising diamond price, De Beers had the power to stockpile inventory in weak markets or raise prices charged to Sightholders.
Is De Beers a cartel?
De Beers, a diamond producer, had to maintain control of the world’s rough diamond supply to maintain the DTC system. However, as new world-class mines were discovered in Russia, Australia, and Canada, it became increasingly difficult for De Beers to control global supply. The biggest risk to the survival of the De Beers cartel was for these mines to begin selling directly to the market, bypassing De Beers. Russia began producing diamonds in the 1950s, initially agreeing to sell production to De Beers.
However, the arrangement was weakened in 1963 due to Anti-Apartheid legislation and the Soviet Union’s collapse in the 1990s. De Beers’ market share began to fall from almost 90, and the Argyle Mine in Australia broke away from De Beers due to the cartel’s inflexibility. In an effort to maintain control, De Beers began buying diamonds in the secondary market at a premium, but the strategy was short-lived as the cost was prohibitive.
By the end of the 1990s, De Beers’ market share had fallen from 90 in the 1980s to less than 60. In 2000, De Beers announced a shift in strategic initiative focused on independent marketing of the De Beers brand, implying they no longer had control of the market.
Is De Beers legit?
De Beers is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), ensuring high standards in the jewellery supply chain. Their expert Brand Ambassadors provide guidance and information, presenting suitable options for both individuals and groups. To find a store near you, use the online store locater. If not, the Client Services team can arrange a virtual appointment or explore shipping options. Visiting any store at a convenient time is not required, but requesting an appointment with a Brand Ambassador will guarantee a tailored service.
Are De Beers diamonds banned in the US?
De Beers, the world’s largest diamond market, has been banned from directly distributing and selling diamonds in the U. S. since 1948. In May, the company paid $295 million to settle antitrust lawsuits with the U. S. De Beers has been selling diamonds and jewelry indirectly to the U. S. through a separate entity with luxury retail conglomerate LVMH, which has 10 stores in the U. S. De Beers has been distributing rough diamonds to its network of dealers through “sights” in London, where they purchase a selection of diamonds of different sizes and quality for a predetermined price.
Does Tiffany use De Beers diamonds?
In 2002, Tiffany & Co. established Laurelton Diamonds, a rough diamond sourcing arm. In 2003, the company initiated the laser inscription of diamonds with unique serial numbers in a database, thereby providing information regarding the provenance of the diamonds from the mine to the market. The objective of this initiative is to disseminate information regarding the provenance of diamonds to consumers.
Are blood diamonds illegal?
Diamonds are often admired for their size and sparkle, but there is a darker side to them. Conflict-free diamonds, known as blood diamonds, are illegally sold to finance wars and terrorism. In the U. S., it is illegal to buy or sell blood diamonds, but some retailers do not comply. To avoid buying blood diamonds, it is recommended to buy new diamonds instead of vintage or antique stones. Countries worldwide monitor diamonds from their mine to their retailer’s inventory to ensure they are not being sold to fund war or terrorism. To avoid buying blood diamonds, it is essential to buy new diamonds instead of vintage or antique stones.
Are De Beers diamonds GIA certified?
De Beers Jewellers offers a certificate of authenticity for all purchases, including white diamonds between 0. 20 and 2. 99 carats, accompanied by a De Beers Institute of Diamonds grading report. For colored diamonds and white diamonds 3 carats and above, a GIA certificate is provided. The company personally selects the finest diamonds, going beyond conventional assessments to source rare, exceptional beauty. The De Beers Institute of Diamonds experts meticulously hand-select each diamond for three key characteristics: Fire, Life, and Brilliance.
Fire refers to the dispersion of light in diamond facets, while Life refers to bursts of light that scintillate with every move. Brilliance relates to a diamond’s natural transparency, ensuring its ultimate sparkle.
📹 The Truth About Diamonds
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Jeweler’s glass is $20 for a half carat “stone”. It is used in jewelery stores for display rings. I bought a platinum ring and had it put in. My wife loved it. The jeweler who cleaned her ring didn’t believe someone would buy a setting to put in a piece of glass and that my wife would accept it. Best decision ever. WE used the money for a vehicle and a house.
My wife and I didn’t do an engagement ring for this very reason. In fact, our wedding bands aren’t even gold, they’re tungsten, a lot tougher than gold, much less expensive, and they look as fabulous as the day we bought them. They’re kind of a metaphor for our relationship–understated and durable, but as fresh as day one.
Everybody knows there is no better way to start your future together than by blowing all your savings on shiny shit. Engagement ring, wedding dress, honeymoon. Forget about setting up a fund for your house, your future children’s health care, your retirement, a reserve in case you lose your job. That’s what boring people would do
The most valuable (to me), meaningful, and important gem I own is a herkimer diamond I wear on a necklace. Herkimer diamonds are natural. They’re a type of quartz, so they’re not actually a diamond. They’re just called that because of how they shine like diamonds, they can be water clear, and grow naturally double terminated in dolomite. They’re called Herkimers, because they ONLY come from Herkimer county, NY. There are crystals that look like it from Pakistan known as Pakimers. Those are pretty, and they are natural quartz, but they’re not Herkimers. My little stone would retail for about $40 max because of its size, near perfection, and AAA clarity. I got it years ago for $18 from the Ace of Diamonds mine in Herkimer county, NY. You can take my entire crystal collection, but keep your mitts off my herk.
while diamonds arent actually rare, suitable ones with enough clarity to use in jewelry are. not to mention the tedious work of extracting, sorting out every single tiny gem while testing to see the clarity and karats, precisely cutting every one to look nice, then there is the whole process of getting the rest of the ring…
Adam you saved my friend $36,000 when his at the time crazy and entitled gf wanted a ring. After seeing this episode and asking the salesperson if he were to buy that ring and return it, would he get his 36k back penny for penny, and that’s whem he realized the stupidity of an engagement ring. Suck it DeBeers and your blood diamonds.
Like I love Adams stuff but I gotta say that diamonds values are not determined solely by supply but also by cut, clarity, colour and carat (weight for those that don’t know). And those are just the basic value determination factors, the value also relates to the setting, the craftmanship put into cutting the stone, the fluorescence, inclusions and a boatload of other things; it is a science, an art form and a culture. Still loved the article!
It’s too bad that there’s not something in existence that looks exactly like a diamond. Something that could fool anyone without a microscope. Something that costs almost nothing. Something you could fool all your stupid diamond loving friends with, by making them think it’s a princess cut diamond. I’m sure, one day, we will have such an item.
Wow you didnt do research did you? Yes a company did push diamonds for the engagement ring in the 1930s however engagement rings are older then that. To say ‘diamonds are inherently worthless” is false. There are two reasons why diamonds are so expensive the first is what was said in this article they are worth so much because that is the emotional value we placed on it the same exact reason a 100 dollar bill is worth 100 dollars. However unlike a 100 dollar bill a diamond has uses in engineering construction and other important tasks.
As much as I love my engagement ring I would never ask my fiancé to spend thousands of dollars on it. I only told him to spend between $100 and $1,000 because the price tag on a ring should not matter at all. I told my fiancé to not tell me how much he spent because 1) I hate when someone spends a lot on me (it’s a thing I have bout people spending money on me) and 2) I don’t need to know and nor do I care. The point is that I love him with all my heart regardless if he got me a ring or not.
Oh, I love you! I’ve always said these things about diamonds. Well, that’s after I’ve gotten two guys to pay a buttload of money for diamonds. Broke up with the first guy before the wedding was even *planned*, divorced the second guy. I’ve been married to the right guy for 20 years in October, got married with a CZ. That got destroyed in the garbage disposal, so I replaced it with a $20 aquamarine. Outgrew that ring, so I just replaced it with a beautiful moissanite. Why? Because it was pretty and I liked it.
I’ve always hated the materialism around marriage. To prove you love someone you have to spend a shit ton of money on rings, dresses, cake, everything. Why? Why does any of that matter? Because someone who wanted to make money said so? If you really love each other why isn’t it enough to just get the peice of paper and celebrate like we do everything else (without spending thousands of dollars!!). It’s not that I’m cheap. It just seems crazy to me.
After perusal this, I bought a pre-owned 350 dollar engagement ring for my wife. She loved it, there is no reason you need to spend months of salary on a ring. We put that money towards a down payment on a house. We got married a couple months ago and it was wonderful. These multi thousand dollar diamond engagement rings are just unnecessary and a waste. If your fiancée/bride to be feels she needs a big expensive diamond ring, that should be a red flag right there.
i not sure i buy the whole diamond monopoly thing…but its worth saying that while De Beers is the one that started pushing the diamond ring and capitolizing on the idea,they didint exactly invent the tradition.. Diamond rings as tokens of engagement date back to the 15th century,most famously known for this being Archduke Maximillian of Austria (its believed he was the first but its possible it could have gone back earlier). which in turnn was inspired by an even older Roman traditions of men giving thier betrowthed golden rings adorned on keys,though this was more a a practice of nobility than common folk. the simbolism with diamonds and romance also wasnt anything new…as diamonds,alnong side rubies have both been ascociated with power,passion and devotion for many centuries…diamonds being favored among the two in europe due to its harder surface seen as perfection and durrable,and its clear color being reveared by christains as a sign og sincerity and purity.
What cracks me up is how all people are acting smart because they now won’t pay for “artificially bloated value diamonds”, while still constantly falling for the exact same trick. Diamonds aren’t the only thing that’s sold for much more than it’s worth. Most luxury items are sold this way. Many non-luxury items are sold this way too.
Interesting diamond story: Kimberlite, a type of rock usually sitting on top of diamond deposits, was found in northern Canada. De Beers rushed agents to Canada to secure the rights to the land where the Kimberlite was found. However, a Canadian company purchased the rights to land situated to the north of the find. This is because glaciation, something that doesn’t happen in South Africa, would have pushed the Kimberlite to the south of its original location. De Beers, digging straight down, found no diamonds but the Canadian company did.
I went with a lab made ruby. My husband and I compromised: I wanted something from Walmart or Amazon for cheap, he wanted something nice for me, and so we compromised by getting a nice lab made ruby ring. It pains me how expensive diamonds are because there are so many good scientific and industrial uses for them. Stupid greedy cartels.
My mother worked for a jeweler about twenty years ago, and to this day will still try to discredit man-made stones as somehow being fake or deceptive. In trying to convince customers that the more expensive natural diamonds were somehow preferable, she convinced herself too. I’m surprised more commenters aren’t mentioning moissanite as an alternative to traditional diamonds. It’s a pretty fascinating stone, with a cool history — not to mention it’s superior to a diamond in almost every way, for a fraction of the cost. For anyone looking for an engagement ring or other sparkly gift, look for moissanite jewelry. It’s been around for quite a while, but most jewelers like Jared’s or Kay don’t carry it, because it competes with the much more profitable diamond. Etsy sellers and independent jewelers are a much better bet for quality moissanite jewelry. Plus, it’s always nice to buy something from an independent craftsman than a massive corporation.
Thirty-one years ago, my then wife won a diamond ring at a department store jewelers. The ring retailed for $500. Maybe a year later, we had it appraised. The new jeweler said it was worthless, but he’d buy the band itself for $10 (and remove the diamonds and give them to us.) This started a conversation where he explained in detail why the diamonds in the ring were worthless and used a microscope as part of his “lecture.” It was interesting.
I have always hated the idea of wearing a big diamond ring. Just for all of the ethical and practical reasons available. My now husband was more than happy to comply. When we got married, I got a beautiful ring with an aquamarine center surrounded by white sapphires. It is simple, attractive, and it cost us next to nothing. I just wish more couples were comfortable taking the more practical approach to engagement. Seriously, save the money because nobody is going to notice or care what your ring looks like.
Diamonds can be produced in a laboratory with complete perfection and indistinguishable from natural diamonds for relatively low cost. There is absolutely no benefit of natural diamonds over fabricated diamonds other than social perception. After all, all a diamond is, is just a bunch of carbon atoms in a tetrahedral structure.
I think if you’d touched on blood diamonds and what role the diamond trade currently plays in the ongoing warfare in Africa this article would have been complete. Still, as it is, this article is very useful to show any woman expecting a diamond from her mate. Better to show her this than to only say, “You’ve been conditioned through decades of clever marketing to think this chunk of rock is valuable.”
I never wanted a diamond for many reasons. When my hubs proposed to me he gave me a very cute man made emerald ring. The reaction from quite a few women was shocking, like I had been cheated out of a big diamond I never wanted. Reactions are pretty different since I switched to the huge Russian alexandrite ring I inherited from my Mom. I did wind up with man made diamonds on my wedding bands because it was hard to find a band that worked around a large stone. I love the continuity of wearing the ring my Mom wore everyday and that it’s unique.
You wanna know how valuable (er worthless) a diamond is? Try selling it back to the seller, if you lost your receipts, records of authentication and proofs … you’re diamond is worth nothing. Try it, go there and pretend you don’t have any records, AND IF YOU THINK are lucky because you have authenticated papers, they will only pay 20% of the purchase price. I learned it the hard way in 2007.
This article makes me both happy and pissed off. I love these random nuggets of info! De Beers is one of the greatest single cartels in modern times. (Another is Luxotica.) I personally would want to buy my love something truly unique/precious, but diamonds have been engrained in the minds of most woman. I think Rubies, Emeralds, or even Garnets are more beautiful IMO.
all of this, plus all the human rights concerns re: diamond production (even “certified” ethical ones are really hard to verify), had me decided against diamonds years ago. I mean, I’m not too keen on the idea of my partner spending thousands on something for me without 1) talking to me about it first, and 2) me at least contributing to the expense – that kind of money should go to something for us, our relationship, and our future life, rather than a piece of jewellery… besides, I’ll most likely be working in a hospital setting and I haven’t ruled out surgery or emergency med yet, so that ring would spend most of the time on a chain around my neck or in a locker anyway! I’d rather not carry around $100k that I can’t even keep in one place for a full 24 hours – I’m stressing out just thinking about it 😅😅😅 besides, it seems to me that a gold band w/o stones would be a much better investment, depending on where you buy it (gold is very expensive in Sweden, but in Kurdistan (most of Middle East I think & probably at least India too) you pay for the gold (items are literally weighed and sold according to current international gold prices) plus a fee for the goldsmith’s work which varies depending on the complexity of the piece… and if you buy second hand stuff, you don’t pay for the designer’s work, just for the gold (and ofc a very small additional fee so the store makes a profit)…
Ah the diamond trade… keeping slavery alive and well into the 21st century, and yet people actually want them for some strange reason. Also there’s de Beers being a cartel, which is what turned me off to them as a kid, finding out about the children enslaved to mine them or fight wars over them just cemented it for me.
If one is interested in gold and gems, it would be worth their time to study these things a bit. In addition to the things Simon just said, I want to say that all my experiences with gold, when I was in Asia, were spurious. Anyone not schooled in these things is liable to get cheated. Or, to have regrets later. Not all gold jewelry is the same quality. My first wife, who has since passed on, told me that she didn’t mind if her engagement ring had a cubic zirconium stone in it. It would look the same. And we are not fancy people anyway. And it didn’t seem to mean that much to her when I was able to tell her it was a real diamond. Next, look in scripture for ancient ideas about gems. In the book of Proverbs chapter 31, it is declared that the precious wife has a value more than rubies! No other stone. It may be worth your time to include rubies in your studies.
One day, after our Sun has expanded into a red giant, run out of fuel and blown off its outer layers, what will be left could very well be a diamond the size of the Earth. Other stars out there almost certainly have already done this, however, it would be awkward having a diamond quite that big, and who would you get to cut and polish it?
Diamond rings: A gilded “keep off” sign to telling suitors of your favourite person to sleep to keep away from your mate (Sorry for the bluntness but that basically all it does and if you need a ring to tell the person you love how much you love them then you need to reassess you life because if they really loved you then they wouldn’t care if they got a useless heap of carbon and a bit of metal but then hey I’m no relationship advisor so take my words with a pinch of salt.) Before the 1930’s if you loved someone enough and wanted to get married.You didn’t spend months of your salary on a hunk of metal and a shiny lump of carbon. Wedding are also a scam. In the 1700’s, most brides didn’t wear white dresses, they wore plain dresses that they could wear multiple times.This was because only the rich could afford the white fabric and only wear it once because white dresses are easily stained and it was expensive to make.Wearing it was just a way to show of your wealth if you were nobility. (Fun fact but weddings back they also where commonly at public events like corn festivals.) In fact it wasn’t until Queen Victoria with her stunning white dress that they actually became popular.Women saw the dress of their queen and also of their wealth and with it the wedding industry was born selling over priced junk to couples.There also a “wedding tax” where every thing with the word wedding in in is ludicrously more (I.e. wedding cake from a baker will cost you a completely different price from what you would have paid for a birthday party with the same number of people attending) here’s the funny thing, your forced to buy their over priced junk because society forces you to because if you refused one thing they’d shun you because you didn’t play along with they’re little game.
My wife wanted a sapphire ring, the one she liked ended up being about $650. She did not want me to pay that much for a ring. She chose a men’s wedding band that was about $300 for me. She liked that band and she got the same wedding band. We ended up getting those rings on the weekend the jewelry store had %25 off all rings. $225 for each ring. Good enough for me and her. Never liked diamonds.
Female friend: An engagement ring has to be diamond. Me: Why? It just has to. Why? Because diamonds are the hardest substance, and therefore the most precious. You know DeBeers artificially creates a shortage in the world diamond market, right? Yes. Can it be a cubic zirconia if you can’t tell the difference with the naked eye? No. Why not? Because cubic zirconias are cheap. So it’s about how much he spends? No, diamonds are special. What if someday manufactured diamonds are identical in every way to mined diamonds but 1/10 the price. No. Then it is about the price, and you can’t pretend different. How about I get her a manufactured diamond and write her a check for the difference?
Interestingly, the diamond prices have dropped significantly since this article was made. Especially if you are trying to sell one that you own, of course. My father recently wanted to sell a diamond ring with over one carat (a family heirloom) and the estimated value of the ring dropped almost two thirds from when it was appreciated last time about 10 years ago.
I bought my girlfriend (now wife) a wire gold ring, a couple books on diamonds, and a couple hundred dollars in gift cards for book stores. Still have the books…and more books…and she lost the ring before our first wedding anniversary. So I had a custom ring made with her preferred gym, more valuable than any diamond.
Gem quality, near flawless diamonds are what are rare. Cloudy diamonds are abundant. Most diamonds today are NOT blood diamonds and are from Russia. People really pretend that there’s nothing special about diamonds but omit the fact that nearly everything can be artificially overvalued and undervalued. Being that diamonds are the hardest natural gem, one could say that’s pretty special.
it’s mortifying how many women have bought into diamond propaganda, hook-line-and-sinker. the girl i marry won’t be concerned with this trifling deception. thats the one worth marrying. not because im too stingy to shell out for a diamond (i’ll probably spend more on the custom non-diamond ring thani would on a simple diamond and gold band) but because this woman is smart enough to see the truth and independent minded enough to not fall prey to irrational social pressures, this woman is the one who can reliably make good decisions about parenting. its also mortifying how many men cant see beyond their crotch when they settle on a life partner. then again i know more than a few married guys that baffle me that anyone at all would marry them. TLDR the dating cess pit is looking more like a full fledged sewer in this modern era. maybe it always was.
How far down your comments do you guys actually read? This is not the first article I’ve watched where Simon has butchered South African pronunciation (although I can’t guarantee that it wasn’t on Biographics or TopTenz). Reading through the comments, there are more than enough South African subscribers, that can help you with pronunciation… and I wasn’t the only one who took issue with how you pronounce “Boer” (although your mispronunciation of “Cullinan” seems to have mostly slipped under the radar). You guys have a very loyal subscriber base so put us to use.
Spending a lot of money on a wedding, along with a ring is a complete waste of money in my opinion, because if a lady truly cares about you, she would be happy with even a cup of coffee and a kiss. Now let’s not forget that sadly many marriages do end up in an ugly divorce. I would rather spend all that money on a romantic holiday and the rest on a house and furniture. As one gets to a certain age in life, one does learn many things, it’s called wisdom.
Just to clarify: At 2:40 in the phrase “In 1866 a young boer, a South African term referring to a farmer of Dutch or German descent…” that word “boer” is an Afrikaans word that is pronounced ‘b-oo-r’ with a hard ‘r’ sound, not ‘bow-uh’ as in the article. I’m a South African. I actually grew up in Kimberley close to the Big Hole.
Forget diamonds. I’d take a genuine Burmese ruby over a diamond any day. And…something interesting. I used to know a guy from Capetown (in South Africa) and he mentioned that while snorkeling off the coast he saw boats pouring buckets of what looked like gravel into the ocean. Turns out it was raw diamonds being disposed of to prevent them from making it to market. He also mentioned there are places where people can go and the river beds sparkle with diamonds, but it is illegal to collect them. The diamond industry is definitely shady.
I gotta pause you at around the 30 second mark. Diamonds are in fact rare. They are brought to the surface by Kimberlite pipes. In the transport to the surface via Kimberlite or Lamproite pipes and lots of diamonds get destroyed. There’s only a few places in the world that have the diamondiferous pipes for that reason. Also, to anyone saying diamond is a rock, you are wrong!! Diamonds are minerals. Minerals are an inorganic solid that occurs naturally and has a definite crystal structure. Diamonds have a repeating formula of C (carbon) and sometimes other trace elements.
Diamonds originally got their value because it was a rare item in the world. Today its one of the least rare things on the planet yet retain their ridicules value. Consider this: I live in Southeast Michigan. There are 1,000’s of jewelry stores here with probably 1,000’s of diamonds in each store. Take into consideration the millions of people walking around with diamonds on their finger or in various pieces of jewelry at home. Add that all up & there are shitloads of diamonds around here. Now add that same dynamic to other areas like Hong Kong, London, New York & literally every other large & small city throughout the entire world. Even the jewelers don’t want one back, they’ll buy the gold back but not the diamond. In reality they’re worthless.
I was a bit busy while listening to this, so I didn’t get all of it. Did Simon go into the rise of gaslight being the main reason women actually wanted to wear them? (This was before the engagement ring thing.) Seems diamonds don’t really look like much in candlelight or firelight, but when gaslight came along, the brightness of the light made the diamonds much more sparkly and noticeable, and thus they became a stone that people actually found beautiful, as opposed to just white and rather dull.
When I got engaged, I told my fiance I did not want a diamond but a colored stone instead because I think they’re prettier. He didn’t like that idea because he thought people wouldn’t think I was married without a diamond ring on my finger. Decades later, as a divorced woman, when my boyfriend popped the question, I told him I wanted a colored ring because I didn’t want that whole “blood diamond” thing on my conscience. He accused me of not wanting anyone to know I was married. Obvs, there were some other issues there; but my point is that women aren’t the only ones convinced diamonds are a must-have. I just think that’s interesting.
My husband knows I would throw him out if he ever spent that much money on something so worthless. My engagement ring had a garnet in it and cost 30$, I lost it (I can’t keep up with jewelery, it gets in the way of working) and both our wedding rings together cost $150 and came from a local pawn shop. They are antique, unique and we like them. Mine does have a little Diamond in it, but that was just sort of incidental. Ladies, any and I mean ANY shmuck can spend money on a rock. Will he be a good, open, emotionally available parent and partner? Is he loyal and responsible? Is he mature? An expensive rock doesn’t answer any of these questions. Don’t marry a man who is willing to spend on something so pointless. And men, if she “has to have” that rock, it’s really that important, you can find a smarter one.
A tip for people who want to have that nice, shiny engagement ring without contributing to the appalling practices of the diamond industry. Lab-grown white sapphires are a thing. So are lab diamonds, but they are more expensive than white sapphires. They are so similar to diamonds it takes a professional assessment to tell the difference, and are incredibly cheap in comparison and since they were created in a lab you can be damned sure there was no slavery or murder involved in getting that pretty rock. But I’m gonna be real with you here: There are others types of stones that are jaw-droppingly cool looking and dirt cheap that really deserve to be put in a ring rather than the generic clear, shiny rocks. Check out agates. There is an incredible variety that look absolutely gorgeous, like landscape agates and plume agates. There are also copper-replacement agates. which look hella steampunk. Check out opals, or better yet, opalized fossils. Lightning Ridge Black Opals in insanely gorgeous. There are varieties of rocks out there than literally have visible water trapped in them from when they formed millions of years ago. There are so many more options out there than plaid diamond and I think it’s tragic that so few people bother to think outside the box when there are just so soooo many beautiful types of stones out there being ignored.
At the time I got married, my 1-month salary and my 2-month salary was the same. Even if I was employed at the time, I could not justify paying 2 months worth of a salary on a ring. As it was, I spent $1000 on a diamond ring, gold ring for her, and a gold ring for me. And I ended up using her cash to pay off the credit card purchase. (But she loved me and I more than make up for it now.) The thing is, she no longer wears the diamond ring for fear of losing it.
My brother, today on his birthday, informed he’s working to get the engagement ring and wedding rings for his girlfriend to propose by the end of the year. I didn’t criticize him, though I said that as his sister, I would never expect a guy to get me a ring to show affection. I couldn’t stand someone spending that much on jewelry when we’re far from being able to afford it. I would probably be so bold as to refuse marriage if that’s how they proposed. One, please be original (original does not mean expensive either), and two, I’d rather that money go towards the actual wedding bands or the honeymoon. Or anything else that’s more pressing, such as bills. After the glitz and glam of the marriage and traveling, I don’t want any future bitterness to stem from an unnecessary engagement ring.
Diamonds are among the least-interesting-looking gemstones on the planet. From looks alone, you might as well have a faceted chunk of glass. A decent sapphire with a good colour (not the ones that are either so pale they look almost transparent or like someone just cleaned a paintbrush in a large jar of water or so dark that you have to have a bright light source to distinguish them from jet) looks far nicer than a diamond. Opals look even better, as does turquoise, snowflake obsidian, jade, emerald, amethyst and many other stones. The fact that diamonds are more common than dirt and artificially over-priced by a virtual monopoly doesn’t make them any more appealing. The only practical use for diamonds is in tools requiring extreme hardness, other than that their main function is as a “pretty bauble” and they fail at that when compared with far prettier-looking gems.
I’ve always felt the ridiculous amount of money spend on diamond rings was silly. I actually came to find a lot of my female friend agreed. Why not get a cheaper ring & save the remaining money for the honeymoon, house, children, & so much more. That’s also why I don’t see any need for ridiculously expensive weddings. If you really love someone & they really love you, then you both realize expensive stuff doesn’t express love. My parents were in heavy debt, but they both loved each other without such things. As a teen, over a decade ago, I was dumb, literally spending over $5,000 on a girlfriend I wanted to marry, but she ultimately was afraid of commitment & left me. So I realized how money does not show love.
If buying diamonds is a waste of money, how about flowers? At least a diamond will last unspoiled nearly forever, not wilt and rot in a week or two. “Hey, Honey… I know flowers are nice, but isn’t a diamond … No? You still want flowers? (SIGH) Dinner and a movie? No?” (thinking) All the money I could have saved… “No, Honey I wasn’t thinking of the waste.” (She Knows you Were.) And THERE is the REAL source of the problem.
When my Mum died in 2014 we had her 1ct. Canadian mined diamond ring appraised for estate purposes. My dad paid over $10,000 for that ring when he bought it. It’s kinda a romantic story, when they were young he could only afford a cheap diamond ring. He wanted to surprise Mum with a big diamond for their 30th anniversary. Every month he secretly went to the jewellery store and made a payment. It took him two years to pay for it. He missed the 30th anniversary but gave it to her on Christmas day (her birthday) She loved it. A few years after she developed cancer. Any way, we were shocked to find out it only had a resale value of $2000 AT BEST! Most of that value was in the platinum setting. We never intended on selling it. We never told my Dad about the appraisal either. He now wears that ring on a chain around his neck as a symbol of his love for our Mum. In that sense it’s priceless!
Buy pink or green diamond, preferably with a cert but NOT from big name company. Look for SI or I1 clarity and yet for deep colour. E-bay is a good place to look. Such diamonds are actually quite scarce and once current diamond scam dies out, they will push these varietes as the only “real, woman-worthy diamonds”. There might be a new bubble here and plenty of fools will be buying at overinflated prices.
1. Diamonds, even “gem quality,” are not rare. You can pick them off the ground in Namibia and other West African nations. 2. All diamonds are blood diamonds. DeBeers corporation is responsible for most of the violence of West Africa. 3. The only diamond producing area in the western hemisphere is in Arkansas. DeBeers bribed FDR to make it a National Park. One of the largest diamonds ever found was from here, found on top of the ground.
There is so much ignorance in the comments. I used to work at a diamond mine. The operating costs each month was in the millions, had around 1000 employees and the end product was a small basket of gem quality diamonds (I think it was around 2kg) once every 3 weeks that a single person could easily carry. There was also a huge amount of industrial diamonds they would truck out (and there’s your answer for why they cost far less). Yes the Diamond companies use marketing strategies to increase the value of the stones, but to say they are worthless is beyond ignorant. We weren’t just scooping them up off the ground, millions upon millions of tonnes of rock had to removed and the diamonds sorted from that, then the land had to be rehabilitated afterwards which cost a lot of money. Add to that the fact that mining is very dangerous, so people expect to be paid above average wages to do it, you start to get a better idea of why diamonds cost so much.
I use very large saw blades which are coated all around with diamond dust to cut concrete for work. That, essentially, is really what diamonds are good for. They’re good because of their hardness and resilience. Wearing them as a statement of wealth, or more laughably, a statement of love, is nothing more than a silly exercise in arrogance and ignorance. However, don’t tell your girlfriend that. She will likely be less than amused.
The other thing that DeBeers lies about is how they grade stones. I have it on very good authority from a top gemologist for DeBeers that a diamond is not good quality based on CUT. In fact cut is the only thing they can “sell” you on because it is the only thing they completely control. They can take a really bad diamond and give it an excellent cut or brilliant cut, whatever they market it as, and yet the stone will be inferior to older stones with less of a modern cut. Basically if you do have an urge to throw money away on a hunk of carbon look for a deeper table depth, and anything above F colour and VVS1 clarity and you will get ripped off slightly less than buying a I colour SI clarity but “excellent” cut stone- in which they are hiding the bad quality through clever cuts to the stone. DeBeers are the controllers of companies Zales, Kay, Jared, Helzberg, Signet etc…