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not sure about the relative rarity, but De Beers did/does artificially limit available stock to keep prices up. If you read really anything about them, you'll s

not sure about the relative rarity, but De Beers did/does artificially limit available stock to keep prices up. If you read really anything about them, you'll see that market manipulation was core to their business model from the start.

dylan604 4y ago
The fact that there's now an ad campaign for Only Natural Diamonds just shows how desperate they are.
- onion2k 4y ago
  The diamond industry generates about $110bn a year (although most of that isn't shiny gemstones). You can see why companies might be desperately clinging on to that...
  - Turing_Machine 4y ago
    Right. Most diamonds are ugly brown or black things that get crushed up for use as industrial abrasives.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      Ask the people using diamonds for this purpose if "diamonds are forever". I'm guessing a resounding "hell no" response. Denying the manipulation power of marketing is just sheer folly.
  - samatman 4y ago
    By weight, of course, the diamond industry is entirely industrial, gems are a rounding error. By value? Other way around. This source says $1.8B in 2018. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industrial-diamond-market https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industri...
- nailer 4y ago
  I loved how they used 'natural' versus 'mined' to avoid focus on environmental issues.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    "There's a 10 point bump in exploring vs drilling" --Toby Ziegler, White House Communications Director, The West Wing
bluedevil2k 4y ago
This hasn’t been true for 20 years. “The DeBeers monopoly” has become the go to argument for Reddit and sadly this far more educated forum. DeBeers isn’t even the biggest diamond producer any more, Alrosa is (Russian government company). Alrosa and DeBeers together are around 80% of production, so DeBeers no longer has pricing power. The reason for this - the discovery of diamond mines outside the DeBeers stronghold of Southern Africa - Russia, Canada, Australia. DeBeers used to sell their diamonds on a take it or leave it style. Cutters could take their sale price or not, but a “no” essentially put yourself out of business. Now rough diamonds are mostly sold via auctions. There’s about an auction every 1-2 weeks across all the miners, so there’s always an opportunity for cutters to buy supply, and prices are out in the public.
- rocket_surgeron 4y ago
  "DeBeers controls the diamond market" is a myth that won't die. As an aside, I've noticed that circle of people who love chiming in about diamonds tends to paradoxically overlap with the circle of people who think crypto is awesome despite the "vibe" of the two being extremely similar. I've found it best to just let them rage against their chosen machine.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    > "DeBeers controls the diamond market" is a myth that won't die. DeBeers was a monopoly that wouldn't die for 90 years longer than this upstart myth has existed. Compare to Christmas, come back and comment in 2000 years, and we'll just see if it's really "a myth that won't die." I doubt it'll make it past 2030. You should really be more cautious declaring an eternal myth so prematurely.
- saxonww 4y ago
  I actually didn't know the current breakdown, which is why I wrote 'did/does'. I believe the rest of my comment is correct.
somat 4y ago
My understanding is that de beers created most of the luxury diamond market in the first place. Prior to a particularly successful de beers advertising campaign diamonds were not all that associated with wedding rings. now, it is most often the expected thing. https://www.jaredvandermeer.com/3-reasons-the-de-beers-a-diamond-is-forever-campaign-changed-the-world/ https://www.jaredvandermeer.com/3-reasons-the-de-beers-a-dia...

dylan604 4y ago

The fact that there's now an ad campaign for Only Natural Diamonds just shows how desperate they are.

onion2k 4y ago
The diamond industry generates about $110bn a year (although most of that isn't shiny gemstones). You can see why companies might be desperately clinging on to that...
- Turing_Machine 4y ago
  Right. Most diamonds are ugly brown or black things that get crushed up for use as industrial abrasives.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Ask the people using diamonds for this purpose if "diamonds are forever". I'm guessing a resounding "hell no" response. Denying the manipulation power of marketing is just sheer folly.
- samatman 4y ago
  By weight, of course, the diamond industry is entirely industrial, gems are a rounding error. By value? Other way around. This source says $1.8B in 2018. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industrial-diamond-market https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industri...
nailer 4y ago
I loved how they used 'natural' versus 'mined' to avoid focus on environmental issues.
- dylan604 4y ago
  "There's a 10 point bump in exploring vs drilling" --Toby Ziegler, White House Communications Director, The West Wing

bluedevil2k 4y ago

This hasn’t been true for 20 years. “The DeBeers monopoly” has become the go to argument for Reddit and sadly this far more educated forum. DeBeers isn’t even the biggest diamond producer any more, Alrosa is (Russian government company). Alrosa and DeBeers together are around 80% of production, so DeBeers no longer has pricing power. The reason for this - the discovery of diamond mines outside the DeBeers stronghold of Southern Africa - Russia, Canada, Australia. DeBeers used to sell their diamonds on a take it or leave it style. Cutters could take their sale price or not, but a “no” essentially put yourself out of business. Now rough diamonds are mostly sold via auctions. There’s about an auction every 1-2 weeks across all the miners, so there’s always an opportunity for cutters to buy supply, and prices are out in the public.

rocket_surgeron 4y ago
"DeBeers controls the diamond market" is a myth that won't die. As an aside, I've noticed that circle of people who love chiming in about diamonds tends to paradoxically overlap with the circle of people who think crypto is awesome despite the "vibe" of the two being extremely similar. I've found it best to just let them rage against their chosen machine.
- Maursault 4y ago
  > "DeBeers controls the diamond market" is a myth that won't die. DeBeers was a monopoly that wouldn't die for 90 years longer than this upstart myth has existed. Compare to Christmas, come back and comment in 2000 years, and we'll just see if it's really "a myth that won't die." I doubt it'll make it past 2030. You should really be more cautious declaring an eternal myth so prematurely.
saxonww 4y ago
I actually didn't know the current breakdown, which is why I wrote 'did/does'. I believe the rest of my comment is correct.

somat 4y ago

My understanding is that de beers created most of the luxury diamond market in the first place. Prior to a particularly successful de beers advertising campaign diamonds were not all that associated with wedding rings. now, it is most often the expected thing. https://www.jaredvandermeer.com/3-reasons-the-de-beers-a-diamond-is-forever-campaign-changed-the-world/ https://www.jaredvandermeer.com/3-reasons-the-de-beers-a-dia...