Sparkling Diamonds

Nothing says love like jewelry made with sparkling diamonds, at least that is what the diamond industry has been trying to get everyone to believe since the DeBeers advertising campaign in 1938. Whether it was simply stating the obvious in its adjacent campaign that a diamond is forever, or implying it should always belong to the same person, the thought of combining sparkling diamonds with love has been 70 years in the making.

There are all types of jewelry enhanced with sparkling diamonds, from rings, earrings, brooches and necklaces to many types of men’s jewelry as well. Not wanting to leave out any segment of society, the push to include men among diamond consumers has added millions of dollars to the diamond trade. Since the 1938 DeBeers campaign, men have been convinced that sparkling diamonds are the only way to a woman’s heart.

The journey a stone takes from the mine to the consumer is a long one, sometimes fraught with danger and in some cases bloodshed. However, in recent years it has been declared illegal to import or export diamonds mined by countries that use diamonds to finance war.

Rough Stones Slowly Turned Into Expensive Gems

When a diamond comes out of the mine, it is sorted as to size and color and then sold, usually in batches to dealers. Again they are sorted by size and color coded and sold to processors. This group will slowly turn them into sparkling diamonds, when they will again be sold. Their next stop will be either to a jeweler who will attach them to a setting to be sold as finished jewelry or to a wholesaler, which will in turn sell them either in bulk to jewelry makers or individually to private collectors.

The four C’s of a diamond, cut, clarity, color and carat determine the value of the sparkling diamonds once they have gone through the entire process. Many large diamonds are maintained by the original mining company for later use as a potential investment. With rough stones out of the mine valued at about $250 a carat, .2 grams, by the time they have made their way to the customer their value has drastically increased.