
Why Buyers Shunned the World's Largest Diamond - Thevet
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/why-buyers-shunned-the-worlds-largest-diamond
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Animats
The diamond industry depends on the illusion of scarcity. The real scare for
them is that this guy has a diamond mine with a plant equipped to detect large
diamonds by X-ray transmission and automatically kick them out of the rock
stream before they hit the rock crusher. Five months after he installed that,
he got this huge diamond. What are the odds another one will show up in the
output bin in the next year or two?

The diamond synthesis industry keeps getting better. De Beers can't stop them
any more.[1] (They tried with Gemesys, now Pure Grown Diamonds. The CEO was a
retired US Army general and wasn't intimidated.) There's even a startup in SF
now. "Your diamond is hot-forged from pure atoms in our California
foundry."[2] De Beers has been frantically trying to keep ahead with machines
that can distinguish synthetic from natural diamonds. They claim to be
succeeding, but the test equipment required is getting more and more
expensive. The diamond industry dug itself into a hole by convincing buyers
that the best diamond is a flawless crystal. Making flawless crystals is what
the semiconductor materials industry does, and the techniques transfer to
diamond making.

Small diamonds are very cheap. Diamond grit for cutting tools is about $100/Kg
on Alibaba.

[1] [https://www.puregrowndiamonds.com/](https://www.puregrowndiamonds.com/)
[2] [https://www.diamondfoundry.com](https://www.diamondfoundry.com)

~~~
Luc
I read an article in the financial newspaper today about fake diamonds
arriving in Antwerp from India mixed in with real ones in 'diamond melee'
packages (lots of small diamonds).

(in Dutch):
[http://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/retail/Nepdiamanten_sijpelen_o...](http://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/retail/Nepdiamanten_sijpelen_ons_land_binnen.9797771-3073.art)

I got terribly annoyed reading this article as it constantly conflates 'fake'
and 'synthetic', as if they're synonyms. The 'fake' diamonds are actual
diamonds, though not natural ones. Clearly a journalist who's echoing the
industry propaganda.

Apparently there's an estimated 10,000 diamond making machines churning them
out in China. Good!

~~~
hinkley
I -love- that the Canadian company started marketing 'conflict free diamonds'
as a way to break the deBeers cartel.

It makes me wonder if the synthetic guys have a leg to stand on regarding the
ecological footprint of pit mining versus lab grown, or if it's about the
same. Maybe they could cook up their own marketing label and stop trying to
hide what they're doing.

~~~
Animats
That's what Diamond Foundry, the SF startup, is doing. They have a good story:
"We produce gem quality diamonds above the ground in America — in harmony with
nature and humanity. A carefully chosen earth diamond is at the origin of each
of our diamonds. In the perfectly nurturing environment inside our foundry,
diamond crystals want to continue to grow."

The CEO was the founder of Nanosolar, which printed solar cells and went bust
because, although the process worked, it wasn't cheaper. The investors in
Diamond Foundry are the usual suspects - Zynga's founder, Sun Microsystem's
founder, Facebook's co-founder, a former eBay CEO, etc. They even have an
actor, for coolness. An endorsement by Leonardo DiCaprio: “I’m proud to invest
in Diamond Foundry Inc.– reducing the human and environmental toll of the
diamond industry by sustainably cultivating diamonds without the destructive
use of mining.” It's a classic startup story.

They claim to be "0.001% Rare"; this reflects their market share, like a
microbrewery. Their big problem seems to be distribution. Only five small
jewelers handle their product. De Beers punishes jewelers who do things they
don't like by excluding them from "sights" where jewelers can buy diamonds at
wholesale prices. This makes it hard for competitors to get access to retail
outlets.

~~~
DiabloD3
Aaaand that's the irony of it. I'd literally start a jeweler just to carry
100% American Made Conflict Free diamonds, and hang the biggest goddamned
American flag out in front of my shop I can find...

... just to piss in the cornflakes of the DeBeers cartel.

This is not a war they can win.

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Fej
It is a wonderful, particular type of schadenfreude to watch old, corrupt
monopolies collapse.

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pselbert
It is difficult to feel for a cartel that was so powerful as to establish the
country of Rhodesia[1]. The exorbanant value of diamonds have hurt people for
a long time, well before the modern notion of "blood diamonds."

1:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rhodes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rhodes)

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ars
This could really use a summary version for people who don't need to know what
he had for breakfast.

I.e. a version that focuses just on the diamond trade, and skips the "color".

In really short: The seller tried to bypass the traditional people who buy and
see these diamonds, and they were not happy. Typical unethical behavior of
people trying to protect a dying income stream.

~~~
gaius
Its part of the narrative. Everyone else is a snob but this guy is down-to-
earth that he cares about what breakfast costs still.

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JoelBennett
So if synthetic diamonds are coming down in price, what other uses are there
for them? They seem to be quite good at conducting heat. Could we use them in
other areas where we are currently using other less expensive but less
efficient alternatives?

Diamond thermal paste is already a thing, right?

~~~
dreamcompiler
Diamond (the material) has lots of uses. As Neal Stephenson points out in "The
Diamond Age," if you can make diamond cheaply, you can make large thin-shelled
dirigibles out of it that become lighter than air when you evacuate a little
air out of them. Diamond is the only material strong enough to make this
possible.

~~~
beeforpork
If you can make whatever out of diamond, I want cooking ware. You can watch
the stuff cook, it's insanely heat conductive, and very resistent to
scratches, so no problem using a sharp pointed fork to stir a bit.

Problem 1: induction cooker. so use gas.

Problem 2: the pots may ignire if overheated...

I'd definitely give it a try.

~~~
sokoloff
If your pots are getting to 850 _C /1550_F, you've done something
magnificently wrong...

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danieltillett
I would love to see this diamond in person, but I can't see it being a good
investment given the technological change coming, both in sorting for diamonds
up to 5000 carats and the real risk someone will figure out how to grow
diamonds this big.

~~~
adt2bt
I agree. It seems that Lamb advertising that he's installing equipment to look
for ~3-5kcarat diamonds is signaling 'just wait, this 1100 carat diamond is
gonna be yesterday's news soon.' The expectation that supply will grow ought
to drop the price of this super large stone for anyone willing to wait a few
years for the next massive one.

However, I do think there will always be a market for large diamonds extracted
from cold hard Earth. Yes, synthetics will likely eventually surpass these
stones. Owning one of the largest natural stones ever found will probably
always seem sexier in many (read: likely non-high-tech) circles of ridiculous
wealth.

~~~
jonah
Add enough qualifiers and _anything_ can become the most _whatever_.

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adriand
This is a beautifully written piece. Lucid, absorbing, compelling, with a
great sense of pace and timing. Brilliant piece of work.

~~~
notyourwork
It read as if the author was trying too hard.

~~~
sirclueless
If by "trying too hard," you mean "researched something over the course of
several months instead of paraphrasing an AP or Reuters blurb," then yes I
agree. And the world needs more of it.

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cloudjacker
If you look at Sotheby auction stats, most things don't meet the reserve bid.

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Evolved
An interesting conundrum would be if now diamonds that are almost flawless
became worth more than completely flawless diamonds due to synthetic diamond
manufacturers being unable to produce diamonds with actual flaws. These flaws
would virtually guarantee that the diamond is natural.

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nathanvanfleet
A lot of this article is just about the "magic of diamonds." Rich people seem
to get really interested in the science when it comes to their luxury goods.
The author goes on talking about how it's as if there is a light shining from
inside it... it looks like a lump of quartz.

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alfanick
Just aside question: does anyone know any rss feed of Vanity Fair/Hive?
Googled, found article about RSS on VF, but no actual feed.

