Why diamonds are expensive

Diamonds… They are talked about with a gasp, they are looked at with envy and admiration, they are the embodied status of their owner or owneress. And it’s not even about beauty. Although, if you put your hand on your heart, it is also about beauty. Cut diamonds have become synonymous with noble luxury and exclusivity. They are so difficult to access and desirable that they have probably already acquired their own egregor. And the egregor is not a joke: diamond was once considered to be a stone endowed with magical properties.

Fig. 1. A scattering of diamonds

Why are diamonds so expensive and what is their value? It may seem that the cost here is subject to the general laws of economics: the rarer a product is, the more scarce it is, the more expensive it is. But is it so? No, it is not.

Diamond, from which diamonds are made, is a relatively common mineral. Judge for yourself. The same emeralds in nature are 20 times less common than diamonds. At the same time, 99% of emeralds have foreign inclusions. Sapphires (a type of corundum) are also found much less often than diamonds. The same applies to rubies (another type of corundum). Large specimens are especially rare: for 300 diamonds weighing about 40 carats there are only a dozen rubies of the same weight. So it’s not about rarity? Then what is it about?

Why are diamonds so expensive

Actually, the myth about the rarity of diamonds is not really a myth. Once upon a time it was. But once upon a time, the Earth was also imagined as a disk. They say a couple of people who disagreed with it were even burned at the stake. Anyway, it’s a thing of the past.

Diamonds have been known to mankind for about six millennia. But the fact that they can be turned into luxurious diamonds, it learned only in the XIII century. They admired them a little and… forgot about them for a couple of centuries. It cannot be said that there was no reason for this: people believed that processing deprived the stone of its “magic” qualities.

In 1454, jeweler Louis de Bernel polished and cut a diamond for the then Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold, who admired the stone so much that he decorated his armor with it. The popularity of cut diamonds began to grow and grow with the light hand of the crowned person. However, it did not do without a woman. The first lady that began to appear in diamond sets was Agnese Sorel, recognized as the most beautiful woman of the XV century, a favorite of Charles VII.

But back to diamonds. Until recently, they were really rare and were mined mainly in Indonesia and India. The mines there still exist today, but over time they have become quite scarce. Everything changed in the second half of the XIX century with the discovery of deposits in Africa. And then followed the discovery of large reserves in Russia: in the Urals, Yakutia and the Arkhangelsk region.

Today, millions of carats of diamonds are mined in the world. And even though only one third of this amount is suitable for the jewelry industry, it is enough for any woman to be able to afford a diamond ring literally out of her monthly spending “on pins”. So why are diamonds so expensive to this day?

Diamonds and marketing

In the 20th century, the diamond ceased to be rare – European markets were flooded with stones from South African mines. Something had to be done about it. And then marketing and the De Beers Company – an American monopolist in the diamond market, which once controlled 95% of diamond mining and processing – came on the scene. However, even now the concern remains in the lead: it accounts for about a third of the world’s production.

In the forties of the last century De Beers organized an exemplary marketing campaign, which became one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history. It was called Diamonds are forever, which translates as “Diamonds are forever”.

It really was brilliant. In the 30s and 40s of the XX century, the popularity (and price) of diamonds began to fall all over the world. And then De Beers hired marketers from the American agency N. W. Ayer managed to convince first the whole of America and then the whole world that the diamond is the most romantic and the most valuable stone in the world.

Initially, the idea of the value and exclusivity of diamonds was promoted through advertising campaigns in the media. Celebrities and movie stars became its guides and agents. Diamonds were talked about on the radio, discussed in interviews, and lectured about in universities. On photo shoots, movie screens, at social events, actresses and other stars shone with diamond sets. At one point, the idea arose to involve even the British royal family in the campaign.

But it really started with engagement rings. The tradition of engagement rings is quite old. Moreover, the stones in them could be any. For example, Queen Victoria in 1840 received from Albert a ring with an emerald. But with the light hand of De Beers and N. W. Ayer engagement rings became associated only with diamonds.

Figure 2. Engagement ring on a girl’s finger

“A girl can’t consider herself engaged unless she has a diamond ring on her finger,” was the logic that men proposing marriage had to obey. And the larger the stone, the stronger and more successful the marriage would be. Until 1947, only one American girl out of ten received a proposal accompanied by a diamond ring. Since 1947 there were eight such girls. Later on, the tradition was promoted around the world. And it worked.

The value of diamonds

As we have already found out, the high value of diamonds is half the merit of brilliant marketers. But what does the other half depend on? Why are diamonds expensive and what influences their value? A number of characteristics are used to evaluate a stone.

Weight

The larger – the more expensive. The weight of diamonds is measured in carats, a carat corresponds to 0.2 grams. Diamonds are divided into 3 groups. Those that have a mass of up to 0.29 carats are considered small, up to 0.99 – medium, and if the stone “pulls” on 1 carat and more – it refers to large.

Color

The less intensely colored a stone is, the more expensive it is. In international practice, the shade of diamonds is graded on a scale from D to Z, while in Russia it is graded from one to nine, where one is assigned to a completely colorless diamond and nine to a brown one. Diamonds completely devoid of color are considered to be the most valuable and of the highest quality. The exception is fancy-colored stones, of which pink and red are the rarest and most expensive. Black diamonds stand apart.

We have discussed this characteristic of diamonds in detail in the article “Diamond Color”.

Clarity

The vast majority of stones have impurities and imperfections (inclusions of other minerals, cracks) – this is due to their physical origin. The more impurities and imperfections, the less light the stone transmits and the lower its price. In international practice, the purity of stones is assessed on the GIA scale, and in domestic practice – on a multilevel scale, where the unit corresponds to the purest stones.

The characteristic of purity is described in detail in the material “Diamond Purity”.

Cut shape

An important factor in the cost of a stone is its cut. After all, it is often the only thing that can reveal its beauty. Both the shape of the cut and its flawlessness are important. As for quality, it is usually assessed on a 4-level scale from A to G, where A is the highest indicator of a jeweler’s work and G is the lowest.

These are the forms of faceting that exist today:

• Round. A classic of the genre, this is the shape that most fully reveals the stone’s potential. It is no coincidence that 75% of diamonds have this shape. The cut includes varieties with 85, 57 or a “modest” 17 facets. The larger the stone, the more facets it has.
• Oval. Another classic and popular shape. Oval stones have 57 facets.
• Marquise. An oval shape with pointed ends, it has 55 facets.
• Princess. A rectangular stone with 65 facets.
• Emerald. An elongated octagon with beveled corners and 65 facets.
• Usher. A stepped square with trapezoidal pavilion facets and chamfers forming a diagonal cross.
• Pear. A drop-shaped cut with 56 facets. Most often used for stones intended for earrings or pendants.
• Radiant. A square or rectangular stone with 61 to 89 facets. The Radiant cut combines all the advantages of the Emerald and Asher shapes.
• Triangle (Trilliant). Triangular cut with wedges.

The round cut is the most popular. It is the most expensive, for it shows the richest play of light and all the splendor of a diamond’s brilliance. Other cuts are considered less valuable, although there are exceptions to every rule. In addition, it should not be forgotten that the value of a piece of jewelry is made up of several characteristics in their totality. Therefore, when choosing a cut, you should be guided first and foremost by your own taste preferences.