diamond, De Beers, gems

Epstein’s investigation combines firsthand visits to diamond mines in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa with interviews with Harry Oppenheimer, diamond dealers, cutters, geologists, and industry executives, as well as documents obtained through the United States Freedom of Information Act. He describes kimberlite mining, alluvial diamond recovery, automated sorting, rough diamond classification, and the specialized cutting industries of Antwerp, Israel, India, and New York. The historical narrative examines the consolidation of De Beers under Cecil Rhodes and Ernest Oppenheimer, the importance of industrial diamonds during the Second World War, allegations of diamond smuggling to Nazi Germany, and the cartel’s relationships with the Soviet Union and independent African producers. Epstein also investigates the emergence of synthetic diamonds, the development of new diamond deposits in Australia, and the challenges these posed to De Beers’ control of production. The concluding chapters consider the speculative diamond boom of the late 1970s, the accumulation of large inventories, and the possibility that excess supplies could undermine the established pricing system. Epstein predicts that the diamond cartel may face an imminent collapse, presenting this as the potential unraveling of a commercial system sustained by managed scarcity and carefully cultivated consumer expectations. Although primarily an economic and investigative history rather than a technical gemological treatise, the book provides substantial information on diamond deposits, mining, sorting, cutting, valuation, marketing, and the international structure of the diamond trade as it existed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.