A recent discovery of an Asteroid Impact crater in Russia where there are Trillions of carats of impact diamonds. The vast majority of these are small industrial grade diamonds, but a good percentage are turning out to be gem quality. Strangely, these diamonds are twice as hard as other diamonds because of being created under far higher pressure. NONE of these diamonds are controlled by the cartel and are being sold at lower prices. . . forcing the prices that DeBeers wants to keep diamonds at downward.
There is a company in Boston that was trying to make carbon based semiconductors in 2011. They succeeded, but found their technique ALSO was capable of producing flawless, C color perfect gem quality diamonds in any size they wanted . . . Cheaply! DeBeers labs can only tell they are synthetic by looking at them under an ultraviolet light microscope and seeing that there are no flaws! They are too good to be earth mined diamonds. . . But they sparkle better than 99.999% of Earth mined diamonds because their color and clarity competes with the very finest diamonds that retail for the most money. DeBeers is NOT happy. The the Boston company is laser engraving their cut stones with their logo, serial numbing them, and plainly marking them as synthetic so a microscopic examination will reveal their nature.
Then there are the new Moissanites that are three times whiter than previous Moissanites, a stone that had 2.5 times the fire of diamonds but not quite the pure white colorlessness. They sold for about a third the price of equivalent diamond in equals sizes but sparkled more. The newer Moissanites are the equivalent of E through G color white diamonds at half the price with 2.5 times the dispersion. Literally a prettier stone that is harder than a sapphire, I.e. Almost as hard as a diamond.
Then there are he Diamond Nexus and similar stimulants that have the same carbon base with additional elements added plus a sapphire coating that are sold at $150 a carat. These have the same dispersion as a diamond, lifetime warranties to retain that look, and require electrical conductivity testing to be distinguished from a diamond even under magnification. Very pretty synthetic putting downward pressure on diamond prices.
DeBeers cartel is fraying around the edges.
I own a 91.89 carat diamond in a round brilliant cut I'm trying to figure out what to do with. Maybe a cane topper would be good. I wear a 15.45 carat diamond ring in Rose gold. I gave my girlfriend a 6.1 carat diamond ring with 28 champagne diamonds in yellow gold. I assure you I did not pay exhorbitant prices for any of these large main stones. You can see these two rings by going to the Facebook page for AK Jewelers in a Sacramento, Ca, and look at their jewelry images until you find the two rings with black diamond center stones. Mine's the masculine one with the rose gold, hers is the yellow gold with lots of diamond on the sides.
These large diamonds are black diamonds, called Carbanados, that came from a single source: an Asteroid that struck the Earth about 3.5 billion years ago that was one humongous black diamond a kilometer in diameter. It was thought to have formed in the center of a Supernova.
Black diamonds were once considered the rarest of the colored diamonds. Until about five years ago all black diamonds were pea sized or smaller and found strewn on the ground in Central West Africa and Eastern South America. Most you see today are pavé diamonds about 0.01 carat in size (about 1mm in diameter). . . with only three being larger than that pea size. One at about 670 carats, with lots of pits and junk inclusions, the Black Orloff at 67.5 carats, and one around 35 carats. However, around five years ago someone in Africa dug into a lode of black diamonds and larger ones began appearing on the market outside the control of the cartel. These diamonds are being cut in India and can be bought quite reasonably (if you don't buy from a jeweler!
While my GF's ring was being made to my design, a jewelry wholesaler came in and offered my jeweler an AA grade 5 carat black diamond for $3000 which meant my jeweler would have to retail it for $6000. The AAA grade we were putting in my GF's ring cost me far less than the wholesaler's price. . . Far less at the same time, Kohl's was selling a pair of 1 C.T.W.—(1/2 carat each) A grade, black diamond stud earrings in 14 karat yellow gold for $2000. I was laughing my rear off seeing those. The diamonds were so bad you could see pits in the facets!!! I had given my GF a pair of custom made, 6 carat, drop round brilliant cut AAA grade black diamond earrings in 18K with Omega backs—don't want to lose those puppies—and the total cost was just over $550!). . . and huge stones are available.
My ~91 carat diamond would have been the second largest black diamond in the world six years ago! but now it's probably not even in the top twenty-five. I was considering buying one that was 227 carats. I've seen several over 200. It's possible they dug into the main body of that one kilometer black diamond asteroid. If so, these would be worth only the cutting cost. . . I will say I have paid under $30 for 5 carat excellently cut diamonds.
Diamonds, history,synthetics,asteroids, and De Beers cartel all in one post. Most impressive.
Wow, Sword...what an interesting story!
So you’re a diamonds guy as well as a Mac Guy!
I’m looking to buy buy a new MP, by the way...when they become available in December.
See ya’,
Take care,
Ed
Great tutorial - Thanks!
I was checking the alibaba chinese trade site and they sell powdered industrial diamonds by the pound for a few hundred dollars. The stuff makes nice cutting tools. Wondered how to integrate it with fabric to make sparkly clothing.
There was a story in Wired mag about mainstreaming industrial diamonds. The Russians had a machine that worked half of the time, that is, pretty well but was not consistent for production. The engineer bought the rights for it and improved it with modern electronic pressure controls and then showed Debeer. They about had a heart attack.