taking the shine out of diamonds

there was an article in the Straits Times yesterday on diamonds – they have recently come into the spotlight yet again with Naomi Campbell’s involvement in a court case regarding blood diamonds – that raised two important points:

1. Diamonds have little intrinsic value and

2. They are not scarce

I think most are aware of the first point, but that diamonds aren’t scarce is new to me. De Beers apparently buys up 70% of the world’s rough diamonds and hence is able to control diamond prices, which only makes me more firm in my conviction that it’s really stupid to spend thousands of dollars on diamond jewellery.

Also, it was revealed that despite industry measures via invoicing to ensure that blood diamonds aren’t bought or sold, these measures are more or less voluntary and there’s no organisational body responsible for checks. As few retailers keep jewellery certificates which guarantee that the diamonds do not have illicit origins, there’s really little in place to actually stamp out blood diamonds from being sold – that ring on your finger might well have been mined by someone under forced labour, whose parents have had their limbs amputated and whose sister has been made a sex slave.

All the more reason not to spend insane amounts on diamond jewellery!