A lot of jewelry collectors may be familiar with De Beers, as the primary mining giant in the world of natural diamonds. Last May, the company shocked the world with its announcement of a direct-to-consumer subsidiary called 'Lightbox', which would sell laboratory-grown diamonds to consumers. This controversial move by the natural diamond trade's number one supplier, added to the concern of traders and buyers alike.




Now, De Beers is said to be partnering with retailers like Bloomingdale's, in an initiative to finally have its lab-grown counterpart; Lightbox, participate in brick-and-mortar jewelry showcases. This new move also comes with some uneasy reactions from the jewelry trade, which has already seen the natural diamond market flounder a bit this year, due to several factors including the trend of man-made diamonds rising to historical highs.

De Beers markets its Lightbox lab-grown diamonds as alternatives for less-formal purchasing reasons, such as gifts for sweet-sixteen birthday celebrants, debutantes, or even for everyday wear by teenagers and youngsters. This might be an effort to help the public understand the difference in current value between this class of product and natural mined diamonds. Chemically speaking, lab-grown diamonds are still diamonds with essentially the same chemical composition (carbon) and crystal structure (cubic) as natural counterparts. This makes most diamond testers that rely on older technology (like thermal testers or electric conductivity testers) virtually useless in separating the two. Advanced photoluminescence spectrometry, and other laboratory tests are needed for the verification of natural diamonds today. One might wonder if this new foray by De Beers is going to further affect the mindset of buyers into accepting lab-grown diamonds as potential jewelry gifts for their loved ones.

Lightbox's prices for its lab-grown diamonds are modest enough to say the least. An earring pair we've seen on their website shows a price of 1000 USD for a total carat weight of 1ct., which basically means two LG diamonds weighing about 0.50ct each. The company's message in pricing is clearly heard- lab-grown diamonds are cheaper, because they're a different class of product. They are still diamonds though, and therefore maintain price ranges well above any diamond imitation used today- such as cubic zirconia or moissanite.

While some people are learning to love lab-grown diamonds, especially in the Western countries, it's really up to the personal taste of a jewelry buyer as to whether or not this product is something that he or she would consider purchasing in place of a natural earth-mined gemstone.

In the following years to come, De Beers is said to have plans for a manufacturing facility located in Oregon that would be able to produce about 200,000 polished carats annually, which calculates to around $200 million worth of merchandise for selling. The complex may be estimated to cost about $94 million. Where will the diamond industry take it from here?

Of all the fancy diamond colors, pink is one of the most popularly worn among socialites. Its feminine elegance and pastel hue can command such attraction even through the most demure subtlety.



Now it seems there's news of yet another brilliant specimen going to be auctioned by Christie's - Geneva. The 'Pink Legacy', an 18.95ct fancy vivid pink diamond is estimated by experts to fetch around 30 to 50 million USD at auction during its predicted release next month.


Large diamonds above 2 carats very rarely possess enough color intensity and saturation to be considered 'Fancy vivid pink'. This natural treasure will be only one of four 'over-ten-carat' specimens to be auctioned during the past 250 years.

Its rarity alone is enough to gather connoisseurs and collectors from around the world to participate in this upcoming event in Geneva (Magnificent Jewels Sale - Nov. 13).





Historical impact also influences this gem's already pristine valuation. It has been traced to the famous Oppenheimer family- a name synonymous with the early development of the natural diamond trade. Headed once by Nicky Oppenheimer, the clan previously owned 40% of the De Beers group, although this was sold to another company back in 2011 for about 5.1 billion USD.

Before its scheduled appearance in Geneva, the 'Pink Legacy' is set to tour around the world- visiting Hong Kong, London and New York. Perhaps the world's elite diamond buyers will be entranced by the gem's scintillating beauty during one of these excursions.

This season through to the upcoming year, you may end up paying more for your sparkle and bling. It's been suggested that natural diamond supply may experience a bit of trouble getting from the mines to your jewelry boxes.



It seems that according to the latest diamond insight report given by the De Beers group, there exists a strong prediction that the world's diamond production output will likely decline this upcoming calendar year. De Beers, one of the top three diamond mining companies by volume, was once the world's foremost rough diamond producer.

The famous Mir mine, owned by another top producer; Alrosa- actually suspended operations this year. Alrosa has been a mainstay player in the rough diamond industry for a long while now, helping to supply the entire jewelry trade with precious natural diamonds for its wealthy clients. Another one of the big-three companies; Rio Tinto, has also guided a decline in its own production.

Millennials, along with Gen Z age groups in the market, constitute about 67% of the world's diamond and diamond jewelry sales in 2017. De Beers expressed it hopes that these two markets will continue to carry demand in the following years to come. They've noted that market demand reached an all-time high of 82 billion dollars that year, achieving a new record in the trade.




As the world's population increases day by day, it's no surprise that right now millennials are the majority market. Gen Z consumers, who are those in their late-teens to early 20's, are steadily gaining on them though, with purchasing power scheduled to eventually shift within the next decade. Gen Z is expected to hold the biggest share in diamond consumption by 2025.

At this point in time, statistics showed that Russia still remains as the top producing country for diamonds- in terms of both carats and value. De Beers still remains as the largest supplier to the trade, but its share has dwindled down to around 34%. Other players like Alrosa have diluted the supposed 'monopoly major' and continue to create their own channels for diamond sales distribution around the world.

De Beers has also recently entered into the retail side of lab-grown diamonds, offering these man-made stones at a more affordable price rate to the public, separating them in product tier from its natural diamond collections.

Have you ever wondered how diamonds became the symbol for love, marriage and commitment? There are so many gemstones in the world, some with dazzling and vivid colors that can captivate the eye, but why did diamond of all these gems, gain the spotlight of an entire world's jewelry industry?

There's a company called De Beers, that was founded back in the 1800's by Cecil Rhodes in South Africa. Diamonds at the time, were very precious already and highly sought after, but they weren't the sparkling investment commodities they are today.

Rhodes went from renting water pumps to investing in the claims of small mining operators across the rich diamond-bearing fields. His ambition quickly grew bolder with each passing year, eventually pushing him to consolidate the country's entire mining industry, and De Beers Consolidated Mines was born.

This company has had a long history, but at one point they controlled the vast majority of diamonds on the international market, distributing raw, rough stones to manufacturers and "sightholders", who were all clients that bought De Beers' products through termed contracts or auction sales.

The ingenious branding of the diamond came about much later, with the advent of one breathtaking tag line, "A diamond is forever." Leveraging on the perfect 10 hardness possessed by the stone, as well as its intense scintillation, fire and brilliance, the company's marketing arm slowly created an association between diamond and romance. The captivating traits of endurance and beauty were linked to how marriages should stand the test of time, just like nature's strongest gemstone.



De Beers paved the way for the modern diamond industry, now more diverse in its sources, retail avenues and public reach. It's highly doubtful that even Cecil Rhodes had the foresight to predict how great of an influence his company would have on the world, but to this day, De Beers is probably the most famous name associated with the diamond trade.

With the rise of other mining companies like Rio Tinto and Alrosa, De Beers' share of the rough diamond market is not nearly as big as before, but it has ventured out into the retail world as well, vertically scaling to reach consumers on a whole new level.

With their help and guidance, laboratories were able to develop gemological programs to study and grade diamond qualities, as well as distinguish fake stones from real ones.

In this day of man-made synthetics, the dependency on scientific methodologies grows even more important for the battle against diamond fraud.