Diamonds - A Blessing or Curse?
Diamonds should be known as the 'misery stone' because of the over-importance we have placed on them since the Great Hole of Kimberly was formed in the nineteenth century.
Throughout history, diamonds have always attracted attention and with the discovery of every large new stone a 'story' or tale spread around that gem and so the legends grew! During the Colonial times, Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd founded "De Beers", a company created to mine and market diamonds; and no other business has enjoyed so much protection from the crown and successive governments since then.
This created a diamond monopoly for that business and at one stage it accounted for over 80% of the world's supply and trade in diamonds.
No other company or business has enjoyed such protectionism as De Beers and its right to trade in raw or uncut diamond gem stones in both South Africa and on the world markets.
It was only by the late nineteen eighties that its iron-like grip on the market started to loosen.
However, as the past shows they will not be laying down their so-called 'divine right' to trade in diamonds very easily.
In South Africa today it is still a criminal offence for anyone to trade the raw uncut stones without going though De Beers.
There is an entire police department known as the Diamond and Gold Squad whose sole purpose is to uncover and prosecute people who want to, or are trying to, do this.
Would this situation exist in the United States or any country that values the individual's right to pursue their chosen path to business success?Of course it would not be tolerated! Because of the grip this company wanted to have on the entire market the diamond has become one of the most overpriced commodities around.
Its artificially high price has attracted some of the most notorious and greedy minded people in the world and it has been used to fund wars all over the African continent.
At one time or another "blood diamonds" (which is what the illegally mined stones became known as) have funded dictators, coups and rebels alike in central and West Africa over the last 20 years.
Great publicity was made about these diamonds and the world was encouraged not to support or buy them at all.
However, how do you stop people trading in things one can pick up like a bit of dirt and then turn around and get thousands of dollars for it? One can't! De Beers - or the Central Selling Organization (CSO is the marketing arm of the company) - has been behind some very successful sales and marketing campaigns over the last 5 decades, starting with the well known marketing slogan "a diamond is forever!" Now with the advent of laboratory made artificial gemstones where you can now purchase a "diamond" made in the lab at 5% of the cost of the real stone and not be able to tell the difference, there are some people predicting the end of the diamond as we know it.
We don't believe this will happen if this De Beers has its way and keeps alive just a few of the tales that have accompanied this precious stone in becoming the most talked about stone in history!
Throughout history, diamonds have always attracted attention and with the discovery of every large new stone a 'story' or tale spread around that gem and so the legends grew! During the Colonial times, Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd founded "De Beers", a company created to mine and market diamonds; and no other business has enjoyed so much protection from the crown and successive governments since then.
This created a diamond monopoly for that business and at one stage it accounted for over 80% of the world's supply and trade in diamonds.
No other company or business has enjoyed such protectionism as De Beers and its right to trade in raw or uncut diamond gem stones in both South Africa and on the world markets.
It was only by the late nineteen eighties that its iron-like grip on the market started to loosen.
However, as the past shows they will not be laying down their so-called 'divine right' to trade in diamonds very easily.
In South Africa today it is still a criminal offence for anyone to trade the raw uncut stones without going though De Beers.
There is an entire police department known as the Diamond and Gold Squad whose sole purpose is to uncover and prosecute people who want to, or are trying to, do this.
Would this situation exist in the United States or any country that values the individual's right to pursue their chosen path to business success?Of course it would not be tolerated! Because of the grip this company wanted to have on the entire market the diamond has become one of the most overpriced commodities around.
Its artificially high price has attracted some of the most notorious and greedy minded people in the world and it has been used to fund wars all over the African continent.
At one time or another "blood diamonds" (which is what the illegally mined stones became known as) have funded dictators, coups and rebels alike in central and West Africa over the last 20 years.
Great publicity was made about these diamonds and the world was encouraged not to support or buy them at all.
However, how do you stop people trading in things one can pick up like a bit of dirt and then turn around and get thousands of dollars for it? One can't! De Beers - or the Central Selling Organization (CSO is the marketing arm of the company) - has been behind some very successful sales and marketing campaigns over the last 5 decades, starting with the well known marketing slogan "a diamond is forever!" Now with the advent of laboratory made artificial gemstones where you can now purchase a "diamond" made in the lab at 5% of the cost of the real stone and not be able to tell the difference, there are some people predicting the end of the diamond as we know it.
We don't believe this will happen if this De Beers has its way and keeps alive just a few of the tales that have accompanied this precious stone in becoming the most talked about stone in history!