Edward Jay Epstein’s 1982 investigation on The Atlantic Monthly has lost none of its punch on revealing how De Beers Consolidated Mines has single-handedly created a multi-billion-euro market for a stone that was perceived to have little intrinsic value as lately as the 1930s.
As Epstein observes:
The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance
. . . . The illusion had to be created that diamonds were forever — “forever” in the sense that they should never be resold.
— “Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond?”
. . . And what has happened since 1982?
Epstein returns to the same theme in his 2000 Wall Street Journal article about “blood diamonds”, The New Diamond Con.
The late 1990s De Beers’ de-cartelization efforts are covered by CNN Money: De Beers buffs its image.
The Business Day in Johannesburg explains the latest [May 2004] on De Beers’ sematics on its cartel: De Beers Cartel System Under Renewed Pressure
And lastly, for a comprehensive book-lenght survey that expands on the 1982 article, you can do no better than spend a night, or three, in front of your monitor reading Epstein’s The Diamond Invention, a 22-chapter book available for free on his website.
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photos of a subject even William Faulkner would be proud of.