Diamonds - Control

Diamonds Index

Round Brilliant Cut Diamond

Market Control in the Diamond Industry
Many observers believe that De Beers controls the diamond market, and they are probably at least partially correct. Many aspects of De Beers control over the diamond market are well documented over a long period of time. There are also many subtle ways in which De Beers attempts to influence public opinion, and opinons within the jewellery industry. We will attempt to list some of these control mechanisms here.

Information & Propaganda
As the biggest company in the diamond industry, De Beers publish much information, much of it factual and accurate, as far as we have noticed, but much of it containing spin, gloss, propaganda, or whatever you prefer to call carefully selected misinformation.

Diamond Characteristics Chart
De Beers publish a "Diamond Information" showcard, which they supply to jewellers either free or at a modest cost. We had actually used this showcard for many years until we came to create our own diamond colour and clarity charts for our website, when we noticed the subtle deception which had fooled us, and caused us to unwittingly spread their propaganda to numerous consumers over a considerable period of time.
You can see our comments about this on Diamonds - Clarity, and Diamonds - Colour.

Consumer Confidence in Diamonds by De Beers
More of a cock-up by some marketing hack in our opinion.

We're Only Here For DeBeers
Some years ago, one of the UK brewers used a catch advertising slogan "We're Only Here For The Beer", I once saw a poster in a Hatton Garden diamond dealer's which said "We're Only Here For DeBeers", which I believe accurately summed up their view.

You are now about to venture beyond the 4 C's on our "Beyond The 4 C's Tour":-
Diamond Beyond The 4C's Tour - Next Stop - Cloudy