[ul]A significant portion of the diamond production not controled by de Beers is extracted from river beds by enterprising individuals in Brazil. That doesn’t make those people rich, nor those diamonds any cheaper. As everywhere else, it’s the middlemen who make the money.[/ul]
[ul]Keep in mind that what later turned into de Beers was founded by Cecil Rhodes, a charming character whose activities also led to the integration of Southern Africa into the benevolent British Empire.[/ul]
[ul]For a while, the defunct Soviet union tried to market its own diamonds outside of de Beers’ influence, but an agreement was reached where it complied with the powerful monopoly in return for access to the world markets.[/ul]
[ul]When it comes to other gemstones, there is nothing comparable to de Beers’ monopoly on diamonds. Rubies, emeralds, aquamarines etc. are extracted and marketed by single individuals, small companies or large corporations that compete with each other and get the money buyers are prepared to pay.[/ul]
[ul]Gemstones other than diamond do not have an intrinsic value either. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes, and that’s what it boils down to. The subjective criteria that determine the value of a gemstone (æsthetics, clarity, color, etc.) are plain and easy even for the uninitiated to understand, as in the case of rubies or aquamarines. They are more arcane with regard to emeralds. And they are plainly impossible do grasp for anyone but a member of the Chinese culture when we consider Burmese jadeite. There are numerous cases, of course, of fashions, trends and fads weighing on the scale, but these are no more the result of criminal activities or the product of monopolistic market dominance than, say, Armani, Gucci or Benetton products.[/ul]
[ul]Leaving aside the role played by gemstones in regional wars as in Africa, the odd con man’s activities or the crime rate normally associated with the possession of wealth, there are very little “bad vibes” in the trade of gemstones. For example, for those who participate in the trade, great emphasis is placed on mutual trust and the value of a spoken commitment. Nothing equivalent to this would be found among politicians, arms traders or oil corporations.[/ul]
[ul]In the trade there is a saying that people who deal in diamonds are just as boring as the stone itself.[/ul]
[ul]Diamonds as well as other gemstones can be found in all price ranges, and it is difficult, therefore to compare pricing rules. Again, there is no such thing as absolute value in these matters. Thus, alexandrite is one gemstone that due to its rarity and the demand for it is considered to be among the most valuable, and a very fine ruby can, when priced by the carat, be many times worth the value of most diamonds.[/ul]
