U LT R A C O O L ~ D I A M O N D S

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Diamonds come from
the ground,
are an allotrope of carbon and are the hard-
est possible substance known to man.
Everyone likes them. Especially women.
Diamonds represent love, eternity, passion,
elegance and beauty – all these things we
know. But if you’re not just buying them as
a gift for someone to treasure, forever, as a
commodity, they can represent a stable in-
vestment.
Diamonds are judged according to the four
Cs – cut, clarity, colour and carat but
David Warren, Head of Jewellery at Chris-
tie’s auction house in London, explains some
of the finer details further.
“The best colour of a diamond is white.
There are different degrees of white but the
finest white is almost the colour of ice, it’s
a cool cold colour. Then there are grades of
less white but they are still white and then it
comes down to the yellow range, and a slight
noticeable amount of colour. They’re graded
alphabetically, from D right to Z. D is the best
white you can get. After J you will begin to
see a touch of yellow in the stone.”
“Diamonds come in every conceivable col-
our. When the stone has a colour it means
it’s come into contact with an accidental
colouring agent in the ground such as bo-
ron or nitrogen. The rarest colour of all is a
red stone, there aren’t many of these in the
world. Blue and green are also exceptionally
rare and will fetch record prices. Yellow and
brown stones are more frequently found so
are less expensive.”
A shining example of this pricing difference
was seen by Christie’s first hand when a blue
diamond, called the Wittelsbach diamond,
once owned by the King of Spain sold for a
record $24m at auction last year. Other than
DIAMONDS
ARE FOREVER
the colour, attributes such as the clarity and
carat should always be verified by an expert
or supported by the stone’s certificate.
“It’s difficult for anyone who’s not a profes-
sional to grade a diamond, you have to look
at the certificate – anything of a good colour
will have a certificate, anything below a K
probably won’t have one. The certificate will
tell you what the clarity is, the colour and any
other inforamtion like the cut and the pro-
portions of the stone.”
As well as a variety of colours, the stones
come in every conceivable shape. The rela-
tively small gem industry has a high concen-
tration of skilled cutters in only a few cities
round the world. Antwerp is often considered
the diamond industry’s home with 80 per
cent of rough diamonds and 50 per cent of
cut diamonds passing through the port. The
cut can obviously have a massive impact on
the value of the stone. David continues,
“A round cut diamond is worth about 25 per
cent more than any other shape, as there’s
more weight loss when you cut a round dia-
mond. Naturally diamond grows in a four
sided octahedral but the trouble is you don’t
A S T OUNLTMRAAR C
T IONO L~ ~U LT
D IR
AAMO
CNOD
OSL
IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC TURMOIL, DIAMONDS CAN
SEEM LIKE A GOOD INVESTMENT. BUT HOW MUCH DO
WE KNOW ABOUT THESE PRECIOUS STONES? PREMIER
GOES MINING FOR MORE DETAILS
BY GEORGINA WILSON-POWELL
find them in perfect shape, they’re usu-
ally broken as the ground has moved and
crushed them so they often come out of the
ground fractured. It’s much easier with a
fractured piece to follow the shape it’s found
in when cutting it, such as a pear shape or a
heart shape. But if you cut a round stone, you
lose much more of the original crystal so it’s
more expensive.”
One of the most globally recognised icons
of luxury and expense is this round cut
diamond. But why is this? David has a few
ideas…
“The sheer beauty of the stone makes peo-
ple want to own one. Diamonds make people
look more beautiful. When you put diamonds
on, the person shines as well, there’s a huge
feel good factor about wearing something
like that. From a practical point of view dia-
monds suit everyone and can be worn with
everything. You can’t say that with coloured
stones, emeralds might not suit one skin
tone and certainly Chinese Jade looks beau-
tiful against a Chinese skin tone but not so
good against a European skin tone. They’re
[diamonds] very versatile.”
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U LT R A C O O L ~ D I A M O N D S

Of course diamonds are not only attractive
from an aesthetic point of view but also from
a commercial one,
“From a financial point of view, diamonds
are a recognised store of value in every coun-
try in the world, everyone looks at a diamond
and recognises that it’s something of value. It
is an international currency. There’s nothing
else as small and as portable that you can
put so much value in. Take the Wittelsbach
diamond, in one top shirt pocket alone you
could put 50 such stones, so if someone so
wished, it’s a very easy and unobtrusive way
to move large amounts of money around the
world,” remarks David.
Almost impossible to break, portable and
guaranteed to be bought or easily traded all
over the world, but how do you know if the
price you buy or sell a diamond for in Japan
will be the same in say, New York?
“Diamonds are valued against the Rapport
list. It’s produced in America every couple of
weeks. It tracks the value of diamonds and
is used by experts all over the world. Dia-
mond’s value is always tracked in US dollars
so when you think of diamonds you think
how much they are worth per carat in US
dollars, that’s the international way of valu-
ing no matter where you are.”
Almost as important as knowing what to
look for in the actual stone is how you go
about obtaining your diamonds. Auctions
are one avenue into the buying and selling
of diamonds and have become increasingly
popular in the region.
David advises, “You need to have some idea
of market values and what things should cost
but at auction, stones sell for what their true
value is perceived to be, it’s like a stock mar-
ket. If someone buys something in one sale
and sells it in another a couple of months
later they may make a profit, they make a
loss, but it will be quite marginal one way
or the other, depending on the mood of the
room that day. They’re not going to make a
50 per cent loss or anything gigantic. A lot of
people who read something about investing,
might just buy stones retail from jewellers
but they need to remember that the stores
need to make a profit so their profit margin
has to be taken away from the true value of
the stone.”
Not a market to get into without doing a lot
of background research, diamond buyers
and sellers have a tradition of being incred-
ibly knowledgeable, a quality which is also
present in the local region,
“There’s a huge market in the Middle East,
it’s where the most important jewellery col-
lectors in the world are and also the biggest
collections in the world. Anywhere else, a col-
lection of $10 million is pretty significant, but
in the Middle East, $10m is not bad. $30m
upwards would be significant, so there’s a
big difference.”
The next diamond auction by Christie’s in
Dubai is on April 28 at Jumeriah Emirates
Towers .

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MARKETING CAMPAIGN EVER

The phrase ‘A diamond is forever’ has become engrained into our culture but many peo-
ple don’t realise that it was actually a marketing slogan launched by N W Ayer & Son in POPULAR DIAMOND SHAPES
America during the 1940s to revitalise the flagging diamond market on behalf of their cli-
ent, DeBeers. The campaign positioned diamonds as an essential milestone in a court-
ship supported by serious product placement round the necks and on the fingers of many
top celebrities of the day, a tradition which also carries on to this day. The recent Oscars
Awards saw Best Supporting Actress winner Penelope Cruz model $3m of diamonds in-
cluding a 69 carat diamond necklace.
Round Brilliant Princess Cut Emerald Cut Marquise Radiant

THERE’S BEEN A STEADY INCREASE IN THE PRICE OF

DIAMONDS…AND IT SHOWS NO SIGN OF SLOWING.
From 1992 – 2004, diamond prices slowly increased by 3.6 per cent. From 2004 to 2007
this leapt up to 32 per cent, caused by a surge in interest in diamonds from emerging Pear Shape Heart Shape Oval Asscher Trillion/Triangle
markets and more individuals wanting to own the precious stones. 2008 was an unsual
year, prices increased by 90 per cent, heavily over-inflated by speculators in the market.
September 2008 to the present has seen a 50 per cent reduction in these prices, which BIG DIAMOND NAMES
are now at a much more sensible level. DeBeers Rosie Blue
Insiders in the diamond mining industry expect these prices to continually rise as it is www.debeers.com www.rosieblue.com
estimated that Botswana, one of the major sources of diamonds (approximately 50 per Harry Winston Damas
cent of diamonds are from the African continent), will run out of diamonds around 2029. www.harrywinston.com www.damasjewel.com
There are other sources and more mines may be found but Botswana is a concentrated
area and makes a huge contribution to the diamond supply.

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