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So it is probably inevitable that the price of diamonds will plunge, but there are still amazing possibilities with synthetic gems. It should be possible to cr

So it is probably inevitable that the price of diamonds will plunge, but there are still amazing possibilities with synthetic gems. It should be possible to create synthetics with careful control of impurities so that they have designer optical properties. It reminds me of failed business venture by Kary Mullis the guy who got the nobel prize for PCR. He was going to create a business that would embed the cloned DNA of a celebrity or deceased ancestor into a piece of jewelry for a fee. While this business was unsuccessful I think that if people keep experimenting with this kind of thing someone will win big.

regularfry 17y ago
What's astonishing is that, in the 28 years since this article was published, De Beers and the retail diamond market have failed to collapse. I'll readily admit to not knowing one bit of information about the wholesale or investment diamond markets, but given the picture painted, De Beers must have something really special going on.
- paulgerhardt 17y ago
  http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/04/04/Queen-of-Diamonds/ http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/04/04/Quee... "...in July 2000, when the famously secretive South African company announced it would stop its efforts to control the world’s diamond supply. In a glorious understatement, chairman Nicky Oppenheimer later explained the decision: 'As new sources of supply opened up—particularly in Canada—it became evident that that role could not be sustained.'" The BHP Billiton group and Rio Tinto were big players in the Australian discovery mentioned near the end of the Atlantic article.
- jcl 17y ago
  It's mostly a brilliant manipulation of public expectations. The article illustrates it beautifully: the creation of the matrimonial diamond ring in America and then Japan, the manipulations needed to sell small diamonds one year and big diamonds another. As I've heard it, when synthetic diamonds arrived on the market, it turned out that they had fewer impurities than natural diamonds. The cartel's advertising changed to emphasize the uniqueness of natural, "genuine" diamonds (which presumably have just the right number of flaws). A 2003 Wired article on synthetic diamonds: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html
  - TeHCrAzY 17y ago
    I hope people note this: Literally perfect diamonds can be produced for impressively small amounts of money, and the cartel barely bats an eyelid, happily swinging into their next marketing campaign to secure their position. We should all learn from these masters of marketing.

regularfry 17y ago

What's astonishing is that, in the 28 years since this article was published, De Beers and the retail diamond market have failed to collapse. I'll readily admit to not knowing one bit of information about the wholesale or investment diamond markets, but given the picture painted, De Beers must have something really special going on.

paulgerhardt 17y ago
http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/04/04/Queen-of-Diamonds/ http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/04/04/Quee... "...in July 2000, when the famously secretive South African company announced it would stop its efforts to control the world’s diamond supply. In a glorious understatement, chairman Nicky Oppenheimer later explained the decision: 'As new sources of supply opened up—particularly in Canada—it became evident that that role could not be sustained.'" The BHP Billiton group and Rio Tinto were big players in the Australian discovery mentioned near the end of the Atlantic article.
jcl 17y ago
It's mostly a brilliant manipulation of public expectations. The article illustrates it beautifully: the creation of the matrimonial diamond ring in America and then Japan, the manipulations needed to sell small diamonds one year and big diamonds another. As I've heard it, when synthetic diamonds arrived on the market, it turned out that they had fewer impurities than natural diamonds. The cartel's advertising changed to emphasize the uniqueness of natural, "genuine" diamonds (which presumably have just the right number of flaws). A 2003 Wired article on synthetic diamonds: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html
- TeHCrAzY 17y ago
  I hope people note this: Literally perfect diamonds can be produced for impressively small amounts of money, and the cartel barely bats an eyelid, happily swinging into their next marketing campaign to secure their position. We should all learn from these masters of marketing.