diamond in ancient india

7/29/2019 Diamond in ancient India

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The diamond in ancient India

The love story between man and diamonds is so old that we can no longer trace back its origins.

It was probably love at rst sight: a rough diamond crystal is often so beautiful and elegant that

it radiates an irresistible charm. If it is a well-developed octahedron, its perfection sometimes

makes it hard to believe that it is really a chance product of nature.

Man rst acquired the knowledge to process diamonds in the fourteenth century. Till then, proving

your mastery over the hardest material known to mankind, the diamond, was beyond imagination.

Thus, up to some hundred years ago, every diamond was a rough diamond and all documents

and writings from the ancient and middle age always refer only to rough diamonds.

Although the diamond could not be machined for so long and thus could not be used as a

gemstone, it was still the most expensive material of all, right from the time of its appearance till

the 20th century. The high value and the reputation of these curious, well-shaped unprocessable

stones with their strange lustre was based on the perception that these stones must have an

unusual origin and remarkable powers.

Until some hundred years ago, diamonds were found only in India. Even in the early, ancient

world, diamonds were known only there. Only in the time of Alexander the Great did diamonds

travel from India to the Mediterranean region. Owing to this, the most important part of the history

of diamonds has its roots in India.

There are ample written records from the time from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. to be able to imagine the

enormous, social role of the diamond in ancient India. The ancient Sanskrit texts make for highly

interesting reading. From these, the characteristic features of diamond trading, which are actually

inexplicable in the modern day context, become explicitly clear.

In the Indian scripture Ratnapariksa (assessment of precious stones), which has its origins in

the 5th century, the author provides an insight into the history of creation of diamonds: owing to

the great power attributed by the learned to the diamond, the diamond must be treated as the rst

(amongst precious stones...: the eight great diamond deposits are in: Saurashtra (Himalayas),

Matanga, Paundra, Kalinga, Kosala, the shores of the Vainya and the Surpara. ....if there is a

diamond anywhere in this world, which is completely transparent, light, with a beautiful colour,

with absolutely even surfaces, with no scratches, no scars, no damage, no scrawls, no signs of

cracks even if it is only the size of an atom, then it is indeed a gift from God; provided that the

corners and edges are well-formed....the one who.... always wears a diamond that has sharp

points, without any marks or aws of any kind, wakes up every morning to some good fortune, as


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long as he/she lives: children, prosperity, grains, cows, cattle.

The diamond played such an important role in ancient India that its properties and magic powers

were studied right to the minutest detail. Everything was recorded with great accuracy and

implemented painstakingly in social life. For instance, the colour shades of the diamond were

divided into four basic colours and assigned to the four main castes. The four main castes in

the Indian society are the same today as it was 2500 years ago: the Brahmins (the priests, the

scholars, etc.), the Kshatriyas (the warriors), the Vaishyas (the business people), the Shudras

(the lower cast, mostly farmers and labourers). In the ancient scriptures, diamonds were divided

into the same four caste groups, according to the colour:

the diamond has four colours, according to its caste. The diamond that has the velvety lustre of

the mother-of-pearl, the rock crystal, the moonstone is a Brahmin. The one that is slightly red,

monkey brown, beautiful and pure is called Kshatriya. The Vaishya is a lustrous, pale yellow. The

Shudra shines like a polished sword: the experts have classied it into the fourth caste on accountof its shine.

The fortune bringing properties; the inner values of the diamonds were also attributed analogous

to their four colours assigned to the four basic castes of India: the diamond of the Brahmin caste

was naturally the most valuable, since it is the highest caste. The Kshatriya; the brown diamond

brought all the good qualities of a warrior: courage, physical strength, etc. The Vaishya, the

diamond of the tradespeople, brought prosperity and the Shudra, the diamond of the farmer caste

brought agricultural prosperity.

The Ratnapariksa reports:

the king , who according to what he has been told, wears a beautiful, light, sparkling diamond,

possesses a power that triumphs over all other powers and will become the ruler of all the

neighbouring land. he who wears a Kshatriya diamond will have perfect limbs, be valiant, well-

built, invincible, a terror for his enemies.

Courage, physical and mental vigour, fortune, dexterity and prosperity are the fruits reaped

on wearing a Vaishya. Greater yields, abundant prosperity and grains, commodities and

accommodation are obtained on wearing a Shudra. A Shudra also comes at a high price, if it has

good markings. However, this caste is powerless if the good markings are missing.

The remarks on the Shudra with respect to price and good signs allude to the fact that this caste

is actually the lowest caste. In spite of that, even a Shudra can be relatively expensive since

it brings along good returns, if the markings are good; if the octahedron crystal has eight even

surfaces, twelve sharp edges and six pointed corners.

Moreover, the author of the Ratnapariksa writes:


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the dangers of an early death, snakes, re, enemies, diseases recede far away the moment

a house becomes the sojourn of one of the four castes. Thus, all those who can afford the

possession of diamonds of the best quality in all four colours are then immune to all misfortunes in

general. The effect of individual diamonds apparently intensies when they appear in a complete

set.

The science of the properties and effects of diamonds was so well-developed in ancient India that

there were standard reference works for it. The Ratnapariksa refers to the so-called Ratnashastra

books. Ratna is the Sanskrit name for precious stone. This term is used even today. For instance,

there is a city in Sri Lanka called Ratnapura (pura = city), which has the famous sapphire mines

in its vicinity. The term Shastra is also used today and means Science. The Ratnashastra

books, which the author of the Ratnapariksa refers to, were evidently scientic textbooks about

precious stones.

These textbooks not only contain the classication of different types of inclusions and a descriptionof their effects on the wearer of the diamond, but also the colour of the inclusions and their specic

position in the diamond:

according to the experts in the Ratnashastra books, the spots occur at three places: on the

edges, the angles and the inside of the diamond. When on the inside, there is danger from re, if

on the edges, then an imminent danger due to snakes, when on the angles (it means) fame. This

is the experts judgement. If there are four kinds of drops (inclusions) in the diamond, they could

mean something good or something bad; they are called avarta, vartika, raktabindu, and yavakrti.

The rewards of Avarta include a long and happy life. Vartika health; Raktabindu the loss of wife

and children; Yavakrti exile.

red, yellow and white are the colours of the barley-corn (a certain kind of inclusion). We will

describe the good and the bad of every inclusion. the red barley corn results in the loss of

elephants and horses; the yellow one the breakup of family; the white one a long life, grains,

prosperity, luck.

The science of the properties of diamonds and their effects was virtually innite in ancient India.

Even the position of the folds on the surface of the rough diamonds and all other possible features

had a specic effect on the wearer of the stone. Although we cannot prove any direct connection

between the knowledge of the ancient Indian and the present day value for grading characteristics

of diamonds, it is apparent that there are striking parallels between then and now.

The reason for appraising the diamond today is its outstanding status as a gemstone. Its high

refractive index (the diamond has the highest refractive index possible for an optical material:

2.42), makes the diamond the only optical material, which can reect up to 100% of the incidentlight back in the direction it came from.


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This happens due to the double total reection on the back wall inside the brilliant. No other

precious stone reects as much light as the diamond or sparkles as much. Apart from this one

special feature, none of its other properties are considered as value enhancing for the diamond.

For instance, the fact that the diamond is the best thermal conductor in the world (better than

copper) hardly has any effect on women and on the price of the stones. The same applies to its

other outstanding properties, such as its unrivalled hardness.

But if the high light reection by diamonds is the only important criterion for its rank among the

precious stones and for its high price, then the present day price relationship of different stones

with different grading criteria is completely incomprehensible.

A awless brilliant throws back 100% of the incoming light. A stone with a SI (= small inclusions)

purity has an inclusion, which holds back a part of the light. Thus, a cut diamond of the SI quality

does not throw back 100% of the incoming light. Therefore, a SI stone costs less than a awless

brilliant. However, the inclusion in a SI stone normally only withholds about 1 to 2% of the light.This is because the surface of the inclusion is rarely larger than 2% of the surface of the brilliant.

But the price difference between awless stones and SI stones is not just 1 to 2%. An SI stone

costs only half as much or only one-third of a awless stone, depending on the size and quality.

This incongruity can be explained from the price relationship of absolutely pure stones to stones

with inclusions, in ancient India: the diamond awed with even extremely small, barely perceptible

damages is only worth one-tenth of the value or even less. The diamond, large or small, which

has several noticeable aws, is not even worth a hundredth of the value.

This extremely strict appraisal of the purity of the diamond in ancient India still inuences our

value formulation. In the ancient age, the reason for the low price of diamonds that were impure

was the infamous occult effects of the stone. At that time, the stone was not used as a piece of

jewellery. In this respect, the optical effect of the stone was not the decisive factor. And the great

liking for awless stones or stones that are completely pure does not have anything to do with

their optical effect even today. The optical difference between a awless stone and a stone with

a purity level of SI2 cannot really be determined. In spite of that, a awless stone costs twice or

even thrice as much.

Even the penchant for white inclusions as compared to black inclusions, which is prevalent even

today, is primarily due to the belief in the occult effects and not due to optical reasons. Even

today, the diamond with black inclusions is not sold in India. The belief that a diamond with black

inclusions brings misfortune is still widespread there. The colour of the inclusions has no effect,

with regard to the light reection. A white inclusion blocks the light ow in the stone exactly like

a dark one.

The signicance of diamonds in ancient Indian society was so great that there was a separate

profession for it: that of the Mandalins, the diamond experts. Even today, a lot depends on the

diamond expert in the large diamond institutes. The layman cannot imagine the importance of


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these institutes. There is a lot of money involved in this. Whether a stone is still awless, or only

VVS1, and whether the colour obtains a River D or only River E, can account for 40% of the sales

value. Here, the effective neutrality of the expert is often under extreme pressure. And many

institutes simply do not ensure objectivity of the assessment. Thus, we only recommend the

expertise of the institutes GIA, HRD and DPL.

A thousand year old Sanskrit text gives an insight into the power of the mandalins in ancient India:

a diamond should be such that the edges, the facets, the points, the surface, the head have the

desired properties. It must rst be weighed on the scales and its price is then determined .. all

munis (= girls, court ladies) want to know what the diamond expert has to say. The mandalin is

called since it is his/her profession to determine the price. The person, who identies a diamond

as native and coming from one of the eight mines, or as foreigner, coming from another dvipa, is a

mandalin. The type, colouring, shape, size, quality, source, nuance and price are the eight basic

values that must be assessed. Diamonds are sold in the following regions: Akara, Purvadeca,Kashmir, Madhyadeca, Ceylon and in the Indus valley. All those who do not belong to one of the

four castes, or have disgured limbs or other bad signs are not permitted to be ofcers and are

even more strictly prohibited from counting among the mandalins.

As soon as a mandalin is available, the Sura, the Daitya, the Uraga, the Graha immediately

retreat and do not come in the way. There is no doubt about this. One must have a mandalin

with such qualities. But it is not easy to nd such a mandalin, even in heaven, where such

treasures are guarded; that the buyer, who has respectfully requested for his experience, offers a

seat, fragrances and garlands of owers to the main mandalin; that the initially consulted expert

carefully checks the quality and the aws and then secretly declares the prices using a sign

of hands. It could happen that the seller determines the price of his/her stones without any

knowledge. This is no obstacle to the head of the mandalins. If a low price is quoted for a high-

quality stone, a high price for a low-quality one, due to fear, confusion, greed, misfortune will

always follow. . Some merchants demand an exorbitant price based on a particular property.

They neither consider any aws nor quality. The mandalin must check this. Being experts on the

Ratnashastra, all mandalins remain stable, impartial adjudicators; but there are many who allow

the place and time to govern the xing of prices. Occasionally, there is one to be found, who iswell-versed with the text and meaning of the Shastra and capable of appraising all stones. If such

a mandalin is handy, he/she can be relied upon to look after the price determination.

There are disreputable people who manufacture false diamonds. All those who know the Shastra

can spot these by means of touchstone, knocking and scratch tests.


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Only with the campaign of Alexander the Great did the rst diamonds come from India to the

Mediterranean region. Experts speculate whether the export of diamonds from India was

prohibited before Alexander the Great. Some historians also suspect that the diamond was used

for taxation in ancient India. If that was the case, then possibly the tax in the case of the higher

social classes (nobles and rich merchants) was settled in diamonds. At its zenith, the early

Indian culture was considerably ahead of the contemporary Egyptian culture. For instance, the

wheel was invented in India, not in Egypt. The ancient Indian philosophy of the Vedas and theUpanishads is so far-reaching that even Schopenhauer said: There is nothing more comforting

than reading the Upanishads.

It is hard to believe that the prominent position of the diamond in ancient Indian culture was only

based on a simple superstition. And that too in a country like India, which studied the word of

mysticism and occultism with so much energy and devotion. A superstition can last for maybe

one generation, or two or maximum three but not over several thousand years and not with such

a radical effect.

Thus, there must be something other than pure superstition behind the diamond phenomenon.

Psychological factors such as mans inherent pursuit of perfection are denitely one of them. The

accurately crystallised octahedron rough diamond presumably symbolised classic perfection, like

nothing else. And then facts such as its hardness and indomitability. Apart from psychological

reasons, even socio-political reasons could have inuenced the role of the diamond. There was

presumably a requirement for a symbol of value for kings and noblemen maybe even for a kind

of parallel currency, which combined a lot of value in a small space.

As far as the belief in occult powers is concerned, the Indians, just like us, assumed that there

are other worlds parallel to the physical world known to us, which are unfathomable to our mental

awareness. The ancient Indians were specialists in the study of these worlds. Ultimately, we

discern only a certain part of what exists. A presumably much larger part of everything remains

unobserved by our perception and our awareness. And it at least appeared plausible that the

diamond occupied a special position in this concealed part of the universe. There is no physical

material on this earth that embodies as many superlatives as the diamond: it is the hardest material;

the material with the highest optical refractive index; it is the best thermal conductor in the world.And there is still a whole series of other superlatives that follow the string of special features of

the diamond. The fact that one substance embodies superlatives from so many different areas

shows that it is a very special material. The fact that the diamond also has outstanding qualities

in areas unknown to us can at least not be refuted.

Thus, the desire to own such an exceptional piece of natures perfection is certainly justied as

is the belief in the exceptional powers of this rare crystal, which is indomitable in so many areas.

It seems betting, that this fantastic material has been at the top of the value structure of an entire

culture, especially if we compare it to the object that is at the top of our value structure today: the

car.


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the initial stages of diamond polishing

it perhaps seems astonishing that the rst steps in the diamond polishing craft were taken in the

late middle age, about 1350 A.D. Actually, dating the beginning of the diamond polishing skill

back to the 14th century is wrong in any case. In India, diamonds were polished much earlier

than that. But then, it did not involve the faceting and shaping of a rough diamond, as we know

it today.

In Europe, the attraction of polishing diamonds was born from a desire to discover new gemstones,

but this was not the incentive in India. India had an abundance of precious stones. Kashmir had

the best sapphires, Burma the best rubies and the whole of India was full of precious stone

deposits of all kinds. All these precious stones could be processed and polished into jewels.

But there was something different about the diamond. It ranked much above all other precious

stones. To polish it into a jewel would be to degrade it. Moreover, a well-shaped rough diamond

octahedron was of so much more value than any gemstone, that nobody had tried to convert itinto a jewel. In addition to this, it was not as easy to process a diamond as it was to process

another precious stone, since it is the hardest material known to man.

The stimulus to process a rough diamond in India arose only and only out of the desire to remove

any aws in an almost perfect stone, for instance, if an octahedron has the customary triangular

or pentagonal relief gures on one or several of its eight facets.

perfect octahedron octahedron with triangular relief-

marks on the surface

The ancient Indian scripture Ratnapriksa from the 5th century says:

the diamond awed with even extremely small, barely perceptible damages is only worth one-

tenth of the value or even less. The diamond, large or small, which has several noticeable aws

is not even worth a hundredth of the value.


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A visible inclusion inside the stone could naturally not be corrected. But it was easier to polish off

any relief gures on the surface of the stone.

The only problem was that there was no material that was harder than the diamond. What could

be used to polish away such defects? The only material for this was naturally again the diamond.

Since the increase in value of even a small diamond was enormous if a aw was polished away,

the incentive was naturally high. Even if a worker took ten years to polish away a single, tiny aw

in a one-carat stone, it was still good enough. And thus, diamonds were polished using diamonds

very early on. A simple device was used for this purpose and this was still in use in the Panna

region till the last century. The Panna region is the only place in India where rough diamonds can

still be found.

The diamond polishing board is a simple instrument usually smaller than a DIN A-4 sheet. A

wooden arm grinds one diamond to and fro on another diamond. If the two diamonds are rubbed

against each other for a sufcient amount of time, both of them polish each other. Eventually,

in this method, the diamond polishers of ancient India realised that their method sometimes lead

to a quick result but at other times, to nothing. With some observation, the Indians stumbled

upon the big secret: the diamond in itself, is of varying hardness! If both the octahedron and

the processing stone are xed at a certain position, the octahedron can be processed relatively

specically and effectively. This is because a diamond is up to ten times harder than the soft

direction than when it is applied in the hard direction.

The soft directions in a diamond are always the directions from the tip of a triangle up to the centreof the opposite side, on the octahedron triangular facet.


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A diamond, in fact every diamond, has only a few polishing planes, and only a few polishing

directions in every polishing plane. The polishing planes are:

a) the octahedron facet.- a triangular facet, which actually

appears eight times in an octahedron. However, since two

planes are always parallel, there are only four real polishing

planes. This plane is called the three-point plane, since it

has three polishing directions.

b) the octahedron edges.- twelve of these edges can be

found in an octahedron. However, even here, two edges are

always parallel. Therefore, there are altogether six polishing

planes through the edges. There are two polishing direction

each in these polishing planes, which run 90 degrees to the

edge. Thus, these planes are called two-point planes.

c) the octahedron points.- these are also called four-point

planes, since there are four polishing directions here. The

octahedron had six points. Since two respective points lie

opposite each other, the octahedron has three so-called

four-point polishing planes.

Every diamond has the octahedron crystal structure, irrespective of its shape. Even if a rough

diamond looks like a pile of scrambled eggs or a potato, it still has the crystal structure of an

octahedron. And every rough diamond has four three-point polishing planes, six two-point

polishing planes and three four-point polishing planes, irrespective of its shape or appearance.

Thus, every diamond altogether has 4 x 3 + 6 x 2 + 3 x 4 = 36 soft polishing directions. All other

directions, approximately 100,000 (360 x 360), are hard. A deviation of a few degrees from the

actual polishing direction causes the hardness to increase to such an extent that the diamond can

barely be polished any longer. The fact that this knowledge about the varying hardness of the

diamond was discovered in Europe only in the 14th century was probably because this knowledge

was kept secret, like no other. Similar to the art of mirror production in Venice in the middle ages

or the art of glass production in ancient Egypt, diamond polishing in India was certainly also one

of the best kept trade secrets. In any case, there are no written records pertaining to the art of

diamond polishing in ancient India.


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Sometime, presumably in the late Middle Ages, diamonds began to be polished as jewels, even

in India. In the beginning, only at diamonds were polished to oval briolettes or to the so-called

rose-cut.

The knowledge that diamonds can be processed came to Europe via India only in the 14th century.

At that time, the diamond was more expensive than other jewels, but only because it was so

expensive in India, and could only come from India. Since a rough diamond was very insignicant

for the European way of life, there was hardly any interest in importing such a stone from India for

a huge cost. And hence, there were only very few rough diamonds in the whole of Europe. Most

of the naturalists who had talked about the diamond in their records (possibly including Plinius

in Old Rome) had never ever seen a diamond. This is also evident from the fact that almost all

European naturalist records about diamonds claim that the diamond would dissolve in the blood

of a he-goat. If diamonds had really been available then, this superstition would have hardly

lasted for one and a half thousand years among the scientists.

The few diamonds, that were actually available in Europe were in possession of the kings or

dignitaries, and were mostly used for ceremonial or ritualistic purposes, due to their high value

and rarity.

The diamond was well-known in the Roman Empire and had a prestigious position there as the

most valuable object, but it was not very common. It was apparently handed over to a successor

as a symbolic insignium of power, when an important post was conferred. Aelius Spartianus

wrote in the 4th century:

During the second expedition to Dacia, he (Traianus) made him (Hadrian) the commander-in-

chief of the second Minervion legion (whose main stock location was located in present-day

Bonn) and took him along. At that time, many of his outstanding deeds brought him fame. Thus,

Traianus passed on the diamond, which he had received from Nerva and which was a symbol for

succession.

In Europe, the art of polishing diamonds probably had its origins in one of the most technically

advanced cities of Europe, Nuremberg. Nuremberg was much more superior as compared to the

other European cities, with its trade guilds and its citizens drive for research.


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Thus, it was not only the extremely famous gingerbread, but also tin or pencils for instance, which

were produced in Nuremberg.

However, historians often claim that the art of polishing diamonds began in Paris or was principally

developed in Paris, as far as Europe was concerned. But this is not entirely true. The rst written

reference to diamond polishing in Europe comes from Nuremberg. For instance, Nuremberg

had a guild of diamond polishers in as early as 1375. There are no written records available,

pertaining to diamond polishing activities from Paris or any other European city as early as this.

Diamond polishing obtained a completely new dimension with the option of processing rough

diamonds into gemstones. At that time, there was virtually no limit to the pomposity and prestige

requirements of European aristocratic families. And thus, Paris was naturally one of the most

lucrative locations for the sale of new products. Hence, it is no surprise that the rst written record

that alludes to diamond polishing in Paris, mentions a diamond polisher called Herman. The

record dates back to 1407. It evidently pertained to a diamond polisher from Nuremberg, whomoved to Paris got ahead in his big career over there.

Until then, diamond polishing was still a skill that took place without a polishing wheel. By then, the

diamond polishing board from India had been replaced by advanced technology in Nuremberg. A

tabletop was impregnated with diamond powder and the diamonds to be polished were grinded

on it. This method was elaborate and tedious, but resulted in success. In principle, this method

does not differ from the procedure used today. The diamond crystals, which are scattered in

different polishing directions, polish the diamonds grinding in the soft direction on the tabletop and

create a facet.

The Flemish diamond polisher Lodewyk Van Berquem from Bruges made an extremely decisive

breakthrough in the art of polishing. He discovered that diamonds could be polished with their

own diamond dust and developed the diamond grinding disc. And since then, i.e. the second half

of the 15th century, polishing technology has barely undergone any changes. What came along

much later was the sawing of diamonds and the grinding of the girdle. But diamond polishing or

faceting technology is still the same today, as it was at the end of the 15th century.


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The diamond in modern age

At the start of the modern age, i.e. at the time Christopher Columbus discovered America the art

of diamond polishing in Europe was not even 150 years old. The knowledge had spread from

India to Europe in the rst half of the 14th century. But till 1729, rough diamonds were only found

in India.

The faceted diamonds, which could now also be used as jewels, immediately captured the hearts

of European aristocrats and the high society. The European dynasties needs for ostentation

and pomp were extremely high; it was a part of the system. Instead of demonstrating power and

strength with a eet of ships or a large army, money was preferably used for prestige symbols

that did not give rise to any running costs, such as for jewels. Moreover, there was a need

for interesting objects, in which the nobles could invest their enormous wealth. Here, the rst

jewellery diamond that was created came at just the right time.

At the same time, it was an advantage for the emerging European diamond market that England

had colonised the whole of India. Thus, just as the Spaniards had stripped the South American

Indians of all their gold and pearls, the English looted Indian temples and royal dynasties and took

vast amounts of diamonds to England. From there, the diamonds were sold to France, Spain,

Italy and other European countries.

While the Indian rough diamond made it to Europe only in extremely rare cases in the middle age,

it advanced to become the most sought-after good on earth at the beginning of the modern age.

The affair of Marie Antoinette and the diamond necklace shows the importance and nancial

magnitude of this penchant for diamonds in European modern age. Some historians even claim

that the affair of the diamond necklace acted as a catalyst for the French Revolution:

Marie Antoinette was only a teenager when she married King Ludwig XVI in 1774 and became the

Queen of France. But she was already well-known for her exceptional beauty, her extravagance

and love affairs. Her reputation as an extravagant and not really a moral First Lady had alreadyresulted in feelings of deep hatred amongst the French people for her.

Two years before her marriage, her future father-in law, King Ludwig XV had commissioned the

famous Parisian jeweller Charles Boehmer to create a diamond necklace. This necklace was

for the lady-love of Ludwig XV, Madame du Barry and it would certainly have been the most

expensive gift in history that a king had ever given his mistress. When the necklace was ready,

it had diamonds with a total weight of 2800 carats! It consisted of a single row of 17 pieces of 8

carat diamonds, below which there was a three-row chaplet of diamonds with diamonds dangling

from it as pendants. As a nal touch, the necklace had a double-row of diamonds, where the

largest stone weighed 11 carats. The necklace cost two million livres, which when converted,

would amount to a little over 100 million dollars.


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Unfortunately, King Ludwig XV died even before the necklace was ready, and thus, was unable

to gift it to Madame du Barry. On the death of her father-in-law, Marie Antoinette banished

Madame du Barry, who she hated, from the court, and the jeweller Boehmer now tried to sell the

necklace to King Ludwig XVI. However, it was too expensive for the king. In order to not be a

silent spectator there, Marie Antoinette asserted that she would refuse to ever wear the necklace,

since it was beneath her to wear jewellery designed for a non-aristocratic courtesan.

The necklace became the talk of the town and attracted the attention of an aristocratic court lady,

Countess de la Motte. Although her noble lineage enabled her to move freely in the courts, she

played a pitifully minor role in the court. The Countess conceived a cunning plan to acquire the

necklace, by cleverly taking advantage of her knowledge about the psychological idiosyncrasies

of the various actors in the court. The central gure of her act was Cardinal Rohan, who had fallen

from grace with Marie Antoinette. Countess de la Motte knew that Cardinal Rohan was waiting for

an opportunity to play up to the queen again and portrayed herself to him as one of the queens

condantes. By forging the signature of the queen, she was able to convince Cardinal Rohan that

Marie Antoinette deeply desired the necklace and commissioned him to negotiate in secret for a

better price for it. The cardinal carried out, what according to him were the queens instructions

and did not suspect a thing. Finally, it came down to a contract conclusion between Cardinal

Rohan and jeweller Boehmer. The Cardinal accepted the necklace for the queen and handed it

over to Countess de la Motte.

The unsuspecting Marie Antoinette was rehearsing for a role she was going to play in The

marriage of Figaro, when the bill for the necklace was delivered to her from jeweller Boehmer.

When jeweller Boehmer did not receive any payment, he went to Versailles and presented the

forged letter with the signature of the queen, which authorised Cardinal Rohan to take the delivery

of the necklace. King Ludwig XVI and Marie Antoinette were furious and got Cardinal Rohan

imprisoned.

Cardinal Rohan was the highest-ranking leader of the French clergy and this only made the

scandal perfect. The French bourgeois was furious. Finally, even Countess de la Motte was

imprisoned, but she asserted that it was Marie Antoinette, who had commissioned her with this

disreputable deal.

Cardinal Rohan was freed on advice of the kings aide. On the same evening, the queen turned

up at a gala in the Parisian opera, where she was greeted by a hostile crowd of Parisian citizens,

who shouted out insults and threats against her.

As it turned out later, this night marked the beginning of the French revolution.


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The advent of the new era of diamonds and the diamond syndicate

in the same century as the French Revolution was a decisive turning point in the world of diamonds:

in 1729, diamonds were found in the alluvial deposits of a river in Brazil. Till then, diamonds were

only found in India. This broke the monopoly enjoyed by India for several millenniums. In 1886,

diamonds were also discovered in South Africa, also in a so-called secondary deposit; in a river

bed. The rst primary deposit, a kimberlite pipe, in which diamonds had come up to the earths

surface due to volcanic activity, was also found in South Africa in 1871.

The beginning of the twentieth century was then the time of the great discovery of diamond

deposits in Africa: 1907 in Congo, 1908 in Namibia, 1913 in the Central African Republic, 1913 in

Tanzania, 1916 in Angola, 1920 in Ghana. In the thirties, in Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Ivory

Coast. Around the middle of the twentieth century, 99% of all the diamonds in this world were

extracted in Africa.

The exhaustible deposits in India and the huge deposits as compared to that in South Africa

brought a new element to the world order of diamonds: De Beers, the diamond cartel.

With the ourishing of the African diamond deposits, the power of De Beers over the diamond

market became almost unlimited. De Beers called the shots almost everywhere as far as African

mines were concerned. However, diamonds were suddenly discovered in Siberia in the fties.

And that too in the primary deposits. The mining, in Siberian conditions, in perennial ice under

the earth, was not easy. But Russias foreign exchange hunger in the Cold War and the abundantndings made the diamond deposits from Yakutia to De Beers rst real competitors. Ultimately,

diamonds were discovered in over 20 kimberlite pipes in Siberia and at the beginning of the

sixties, Russia began its deep involvement in the international diamond market.

In 1978, extensive diamond deposits were discovered in Northwest Australia and subsequently in

Canada. De Beers initially tried with all its might to control even these deposits or to at least have

a nger in the pie. However, it later backed out completely from Australia, since the licence fees

and the mining costs were so high that the deal was not protable for De Beers. De Beers simply

had better and more affordable sources in South Africa at hand.

The inuence of De Beers began to dwindle till it only controlled about 30% of the worldwide

diamond extraction. Nonetheless, that was enough for De Beers to still have the price of diamonds

all over the world under its control.


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The diamond cartel: De Beers

in the second half of the 19th century; in the southern Orange Free State of the Republic of South

Africa, 100 km west of Bloemfontain, the two brothers Johannes Nicolaas and Diederik Arnoldus

De Beers ran a farm. At that time, South Africa was sustained by agriculture farms that were run

by white immigrants, mainly from Holland but also from England and other European countries.

The region was fertile, but the work was rigorous and a constant struggle.

In 1866, a certain Erasmus Jacobs nds a strange white pebble on the banks of the Orange river,

over the De Beers brothers farm. There is great surprise as it is discovered that nding is a 21.25

ct large diamond. Soon, more diamonds were found. 5 years later, in 1871, a 83.50 ct diamond

was found on the slopes of the Colesberg Kopje, not far from the farm.

These ndings trigger off a diamond rush, and white farmers ock on the banks of the Orange

River and on the Colesberg Kopje hill in thousands. The masses of diamond searchers cannot

be held back and the farm owners divide their land into plots and auction off the mining rights; the

so-called claims.

The two De Beers brothers leave the region and basically have nothing to do with the whole affair.

But their name will go down in history, since the mine subsequently developed there as well as the

mining company resulting from it were named after them.

The alluvial deposits of the Orange River were soon sifted through and the diamond containingColesberg hill disappeared. The diamond searchers dig deeper and deeper into the earth, resulting

in the legendary large hole, the big hole. As the news of the lucrative diamond discoveries

reached England, it annexed the entire region, much to the resentment of the government of

the Orange Free State, which had actually controlled the region. The new city New Rush that

emerged near the big hole, was renamed to Kimberley in 1873, after the English governor at

that time, John Wodehouse, the 1st Earl of Kimberley.

Even his name made history, since all the primary diamond deposits, the so-called Kimberleypipes are named after him.

But soon, the mining of diamond became more and more difcult. The big hole penetrated so

deep into the earth that vast amounts of earth must be eroded to attain the sought-after diamonds.

Lone diamond searchers could not get anywhere now and needed to unite into groups.

The hour had come for some clever businessmen in the region, mainly for Cecil Rhodes and

Barney Barnato. Barney Barnato was a common man, who had made a fortune with a lot of

luck and through good diamond discoveries. Cecil Rhodes was the clever, astute businessman

who did not look for diamonds on his own, but loaned out pumps to the diamond searchers at

exorbitant prices.


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Both now bought the claims of the diamond searchers, which were practically useless for them,

and founded their own mining companies. It triggered off a vehement battle for the supremacy on

the mining elds. Ultimately, Barnato succeeded in obtaining supremacy over the Kimberley mine

in 1887. But Barnato was a common man, and thus, was ghting a losing battle with the banks

and authorities in the English aristocracy. Therefore, he nally united with his competitor Rhodes

and on 12th March 1988, the De Beers Consolidated Mines was formed, with Cecil Rhodes as

the chairman. Over 75% of the Kimberley mine and the entire De Beers mine belonged to thiscompany. From there on, De Beers developed its supremacy step by step, such that eventually

almost all mine claims in South Africa were under its control.

Rhodes and Barnato also used external capital in their advancement, by establishing their

company as a stock corporation.

However, the entire operation in South Africa had a problem, right from the beginning: there

were far too many diamonds discovered. Till the rst South African diamond discovery in 1886,the entire world market was supplied by Brazil. The deposits in India were depleted and Brazil

was the only large diamond supplier in the world. But the discovery in South Africa was huge as

compared to the Brazilian one. In 1871, when the rst large diamond was found on the slopes of

the Colesberg Copje, the production of the claims on the former De Beers farm and on Colesberg

already amounted to 269,000 carats. In 1872, the production was already six times more than the

total production in Brazil. In 1873, 1,080,000 carat diamonds were already mined in South Africa

and in 1877, a total of 1,765,000 carats. This was clearly too much to keep the price stable. While

the local price of diamonds in 1871 and 1873 was still 1.5 English pounds, the price sank to barely

under one pound per carat till 1877. At that time, an English pound had a purchasing power that

would equal about 200 euros today.

The beginning of diamond mining in the De Beers farm region and the Kimberly mine was chaotic

and unorganised. There was hardly any systematic connection to the outside world. Till 1877,

there was no telegraphic connection to the city of Kimberley and the region became accessible

by train only in 1885. Buyers, mainly from London and Amsterdam came to the mining elds

in droves tried to buy stones from the prospectors for as low prices as possible. Prospectors,

who had made a good nd and were not satised with the buyers offers, travelled to the coastwith their stones and tried to sell their diamonds in Cape Town, or even took the next steamer to

London. It was not uncommon for the prospectors to obtain an even lower price there than what

the buyers had offered and to bring their stones back to South Africa.

In all this chaos, where buyers and prospectors underbid and overbid, where the prices for

diamonds constantly dropped, where the costs for pumps and devices and for the taxes that were

suddenly imposed on diamond prospecting suddenly increased, there was sudden panic among

the claim holders. The fear was that the value of diamonds would drop so much that diamond

prospecting would become unprotable.


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In 1872, a buyer from London called Anton Dinkelsbuhler came along with many others. He was

operating on behalf of the company Mosenthals. What his position in this company was, and what

the nancial arrangements for his actions were, was never very clear. But he gradually became

the most important local buyer. Dealing with diamond buyers in diamond mining regions is a

scientic art in itself. It is completely uncontrollable and often, the buyer, who is only an employee

of the purchasing company, makes more money than the company he works for. This is because

the transactions only work with cash and whether the buyer passes on the same cheap pricesthat he has negotiated to his company or keeps a prot margin for himself cannot be controlled.

Anyway, the respectable Mr. Dinkelsbuhler remained in South Africa for four continuous years

before making his rst trip to London by ship. According to some claims, he spent over a million

pounds for diamonds in these four years. Ultimately, there was also a lawsuit against him for

buying an unlawfully acquired diamond. When he returned to England, he was one of the richest

men in the diamond sector and opened his own diamond company in London.

After succeeding in reconciling the diamond prospectors and uniting them in a single mining

company and nally having the control of all diamond prospecting activities in South Africa under

the De Beers Consolidated Mines, Cecil Rhodes now pulled off a second coup that completed

the power of the De Beers Company. In the same year, he founded the Diamond Syndicate in

Kimberley, which was the only organisation that sold the diamonds of the De Beers Company.

This organisation in turn signed an agreement with the buyer Anton Dinkelsbuhler, who now took

over a large share of the De Beers diamonds and sold them in London.

Thus, two activities were monopolised: the prospecting of diamonds and the sale of these

diamonds. Thus, from 1887 onwards, the worldwide price of diamonds was not a free market

price anymore. The De Beers Consolidated Mines and the Kimberley Diamond Syndicate

interrelatedly controlled the extraction and sale of diamonds, and thus their price. If there were

difculties in the sale, De Beers withheld the diamonds; if the market demanded more stones, it

increased the sale.

However, what aggravated the situation was that more and more diamond deposits were

discovered. And De Beers was compelled to bring more and more mines under its control.

In 1902, the power of the De Beers Consolidated Mines began to falter again. A new diamond

mine in South Africa, the Cullinan mine stubbornly refused to work together with De Beers and

insisted on independently marketing its diamonds. The mine soon becomes so successful that

it yielded more diamonds than all other South African mines put together. In 1905, the famous

Cullinan diamond was discovered; a 3106 carat rough diamond, of excellent colour and purity.

There was a threat of the power of the De Beers Consolidated Mines and the Diamond Syndicate

being crushed.


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But then, an initially completely insignicant newcomer, whom nobody had expected and whom

nobody trusted and hardly anyone could bear, made his appearance: Ernst Oppenheimer. A

German immigrant to South Africa, who was the eighth child of his parents and born in Friedheim

in 1880 He had good contacts in the worldwide diamond business because of his family, and

surpassed all others as far as intelligence and business acumen were concerned: Cecil Rhodes,

Anton Dinkelsbuhler, the directors of the De Beers Consolidated Mines and the reputable dealers

that were united in the Kimberley Diamond Syndicate.

Two of Ernst Oppenheimers 4 older brothers were employed in the diamond business and his

younger brother Luis was a partner in Anton Dinkelsbuhlers company. Moreover, there were

familial ties with Dinkelsbuhler: one of Ernst Oppenheimers cousins was married to a cousin of

Anton Dinkelsbuhler.

When Ernst Oppenheimer travelled to South Africa in 1902, he came as a representative of the

rm Dinkelsbuhler. He purchased diamonds, not only from the Diamond Syndicate in Kimberley,but also from the new Cullinan mine in particular. Oppenheimer started on a very small scale in

South Africa and began his career as an insignicant ofce employee. However, he had sufcient

contacts because of his oldest brother Bernhard and his brother Luis, who was 10 years younger;

he eventually began to earn a reputation in not just the diamond but also the gold business.

Although he entered the scene as a small scale employee, he made a huge amount of money in

a short span of time and nally founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, which

had a signicant holding in South Africas gold mining. However, his true ambition was always

to procure a seat in the bank of directors of the De Beers Mining Corporation. But the De Beers

directors did not trust him, viewed him as a strange nouveau riche and blocked his advancement

into the board of directors for several decades.

But Ernst Oppenheimer secretly purchased all the shares of the De Beers Consolidated Mines

that were available for sale and eventually obtained a majority of the De Beers shares. Shortly

thereafter, Ernst Oppenheimer had purchased all the shares of the De Beers Consolidated Mines

and thus made the company into a private concern belonging to the Oppenheimer family.

In 1926, he made further progress and founded the Central Selling Organisation, i.e. the CSO,in London. From then onwards, the South African diamonds were only sold in London and that,

ten times in the year to a small number of sightholders.

Even today, a good 80 years later, the business still runs as it did at that time. All concessionaires,

the so-called sightholders meet once a month in London and take their box. The number of

sightholders is strictly limited. At present, it is approximately forty. Every sightholder has to pay

a specic amount for his/her box, which does not vary, for e.g. 35 million dollars.


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The payment is made in advance. A sightholder can refuse to accept the box only once. The

second time, he/she is automatically removed from the sightholders circle. The sightholder

cannot decide what is inside the box. This is decided by De Beers. Depending on whether De

Beers increases or reduces the price of the diamonds, the Central Selling Organisation packs

more or less into the box.

The sightholders are completely dependent on De Beers and have no say or power of veto. They

must submit annual reports about their operations to De Beers and are compelled by the De

Beers managers to be a part of every new sales strategy.

In the meantime, the world situation in the diamond business has undergone serious change.

At the beginning of the great diamond discovery in South Africa and in the rst half of the 20th

century, it seemed as if there was a vast amount of diamonds in a market with limited absorptive

capacity. De Beers systematically withheld the amounts of diamonds and only supplied the world

market with the quantity of diamonds needed to always keep their price stable. Today, the tide hasturned. There are hardly any new diamond-prospecting regions discovered any longer. However,

the global market for diamonds is constantly increasing and the old mines are getting depleted.

The Indian diamond mines were the rst to get exhausted. From 1726 to 1866, the Brazilian

diamond deposits were the only ones to supply the world market. But today, even these deposits

are almost entirely exhausted and are insignicant in comparison to other mines. Even a majority

of the South African deposits have been mined. The Kimberley mine was disused as early as

1914, and there has been no diamond found on the De Beers brothers farm for a long time now.

After a rapid upswing of the diamond discovery regions and output in the last century, diamond

production has now reached its limit and is now slowly declining. This also led to a shift in

thoughts of the managers at De Beers and the Central Selling Organisation. The Oppenheimer

family is now simply trying to obtain the maximum for its remaining deposits. The motto is no

more: the market is limited and the diamond deposits are unlimited. The motto is now: the

diamond deposits are limited and the market is unlimited.

Thus, De Beers doubled the price for its rough diamonds in many categories in 2007 and at the

beginning of 2008. And the Central Selling Organisation pulled though this change in the company

policies with brutal severity. Since De Beers now has only about 30% of the worldwide diamond

mines under its control, an increasingly wide discrepancy between the prices by De Beers for

its sightholders and the so-called outside goods, the free diamond mines, not controlled by De

Beers. In order to correct this discrepancy, De Beers unceremoniously dismissed about one-third

of its sightholders and stopped supplying to them overnight, without any notication or reason.

Some of the biggest and most powerful diamond companies of the world were among them.


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The manoeuvre became clear: the 23 former sightholders now had to stock up from the free

market that was not controlled by De Beers, and thus, in one go, enormous demand was created

in the free market.

This resulted in a shortage of rough diamonds and naturally in increasing process in the market

not controlled by De Beers. Thus, De Beers could continue to control the price spiral.

In the economic crisis of 2008/2009, De Beers drastically reduced its diamond production and

even temporarily disused some mines. The monthly volume, which amounted to 700 to 800

million dollars, was brought down to 110 to 115 million dollars to prevent the worldwide diamond

price from falling drastically. Now, after a break of about a year, diamond prices are on the

increase again. Where this path will lead to, is uncertain. It is however evident that De Beers

stands to reap the maximum prots if the diamond prices increase as much as possible. Since

the deposits are limited, everybody in the sector is trying to obtain the most they can and De Beers

is also making prots like every other company. In the past, De Beers always had to keep roughdiamond prices at a realistic level; otherwise its competitors would have yielded huge prots and

extensively increased their production. But now, it need not worry about this any longer. The

production can no longer be increased. Now, the strategy is a clever marketing ploy in order to

wring out the most for the remaining deposits.


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Diamond trade today

The world trading centre for diamonds today in Antwerp The largest diamond bourses in the world

are located there. Schematically seen, the world diamond trading runs as follows:

Structure of the global diamond industry:


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Structure of our company with branches in Antwerp, India and Germany:

Both the Central Selling Organisation (De Beers) and the diamond mines that are not afliated

with De Beers supply mainly to diamond trading companies, which have their headquarters in the

Antwerp bourse. The largest diamond bourse in the world for rough diamonds is the Antwerpsche

Diamantkring.


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The dealers, who are members of the Antwerpsche Diamantkring, retail the rough diamonds to

the diamond polishing plants. For the most part, these are in India, Israel, China or Belgium.

From the polishing plants, the polished stones go back to Antwerp and are now further sold in the

other two other large Antwerp diamond bourses, the Diamantclub van Antwerpen (Diamond Club

of Antwerp)/Vrije Diamanthandel and the Beurs voor Diamanthandel. From these two bourses,

the polished stones are then transported to places all over the world, mainly to the USA. They

are rst sold to local wholesalers, who then retail them to jewellers, goldsmiths and jewellerymanufacturers. These in turn, supply them to the end users.

Normally, a diamond passes through the following levels of trade before it reaches an end user:

Diamond mine

Rough diamond trader member of the rough diamond bourse Diamantkring

Diamond polishing plant

Member of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse for polished diamonds (diamond club or bourse)

Wholesalers in the country of consumption such as USA, Germany, etc.

Jewellery manufacturer, goldsmith, jeweller

Final consumer

Thus, end users have seven different levels of trade, before a diamond nally nds its rightful

place on a pretty ladys nger. Our company combines these seven levels in one single company

and thus, we can do away with the unrealised prot of three levels of trade.

We are one of only two German full-edged members of the largest rough diamond bourse

in the world, the Antwerpsche Diamantkring.

We have our own diamond polishing plant in India, where about 1000 brilliants are cut and

polished every day.

We have our own ofce in the Antwerp bourse for polished diamonds, the Diamantclub van

Antwerpen (DiamondClub of Antwerp).

We have our own diamond wholesale trade in Deggendorf, from where we supply to about

1000 jewellers and goldsmiths in Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,

Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.


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Normally, each of these levels of trade is an independent unit, which purchases, sells and thereby

yields its prot. By combining four levels in a vertical chain, we are in a position to serve jewellers,

without handing over prots to intermediaries. We buy the rough diamonds, so to speak, from the

source and deliver the nished product directly to the jeweller.

The central basis for the activities of every polishing plant is the procurement source for rough

diamonds. Our polishing plant has already been in existence for over 25 years and we have

naturally experimented a lot during this period. We travelled to the mining regions of Venezuela

as direct purchasers, we made an arrangement with one De Beers sightholder and shared a

sight with him, we have directly purchased from a company in Namibia, which practises offshore

mining.

Every procurement source is ideal for only a specic time; after a while, circumstances change

and what was affordable a short time ago is suddenly more expensive than other sources. Thus,

the good rough diamond deposits in Venezuela are almost exhausted and it hardly makes senseanymore to invest the time and ight to go looking for raw material there. Even the time, when

the De Beers raw materials were really more affordable than the so-called outside goods is

over. At present, the best motto is to be exible. In the present, somewhat chaotic time, the best

procurement source is liquidity. If immediate payment is possible, there is always someone at

the bourse, who urgently needs money and provides rough diamonds at a reduced rate for spot

cash, just like every good, elaborate long term arrangement.

Such deals often take place in the large hall of the Diamantkring, the largest rough diamond

bourse in the world. All the members belong to the few who are actually at the source. But it is

not easy to be a member. There are only two German full-edged members for many years now:

we and another German company. New members are only incorporated under strict conditions.

For instance, one of the conditions for a new incorporation is that a full-edged member vouches

for the new entry. This guarantee covers all deals between the new entrant and every member

of the bourse. It acts as a guarantor for 100% of the amount and is irrevocable for life. This

rule in the bourse makes it easier to carry on transactions among the brokers. This is because of

the assurance that when money is not received from a business partner, there is another brokerbehind, who can be held liable for the payment a credit of trust, which every member of the

bourse automatically has. Naturally, such conditions for being incorporated as a candidate in

the bourse are virtually insurmountable. Who wants to take lifetime guarantee for a new entrant

for all transactions with other brokers? Moreover, three full-edged members must vouch for

the moral quality of the new entrant and so on. These protective barriers nally result in only

the sons of full-edged members being newly incorporated in the brokers circle. A full-edged

member of the Antwerpsche Diamantkring, the largest and most important diamond bourse in

Antwerp automatically has access to the other two diamond bourses, the Diamantklub or Vrije

Diamanthandel and the Beurs voor Diamanthandel.


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A small computer-chipped plastic card opens a door to all the three bourses of Antwerp:

the membership is always person-related, and not company-related. The owner of our company,

Michael Bonke, has been a full-edged member of the Diamantkring for more than 20 years.

The Kring has a total of 1253 members, out of which only two are German. The members of

the Diamantkring must comply with an ethical code which denes the moral and commercial

guidelines for transactions at the bourse. This code is called the Deontology Code. This codeis redened from time to time.


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After signing the Deontology Code, the title of Diamond Trader, recognised by the Federation of

Belgian Diamond Bourses is awarded by the bourse.


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diamond in ancient india

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