“Diamonds are a woman’s best friend,” sang Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Men Prefer Blondes. But in fact, this gem is popular all over the world because of its value and rarity, as it is extremely profitable for business.
So much so that his connections to smuggling have already been portrayed in several films, such as 007 – Diamonds Are Forever, 1971, in which the famous character James Bond is dedicated to investigating the theft of large quantities of diamonds in South Africa for smuggling. Or in 2006’s Blood Diamond, which addresses the problem of diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts.
The greed for these gems is such that one of the greatest thefts in history has been associated with diamonds. In November 2019, priceless diamond jewelry was stolen from the Grünes Gewölbe Museum in Dresden, Germany.
The museum, which is known for its one of the most important collections of antique jewelry in Europe, claimed at the time to be “the largest art theft since World War II”, surpassing the theft at the Gardner Museum in Boston, USA. resulting in a loss of $ 500 million (€ 454 million).
And these stones can cost truly exorbitant prices. In 2015, a blue diamond weighing about 12.03 carats was sold at Sotheby’s in Geneva for a record price of 43.2 million Swiss francs (about 40 million euros). This was the “highest price per carat” ever achieved for diamonds.
In the same year, another diamond was discovered at the Karow mine in Botswana – Lesedi la Rona, which was sold at Sotheby’s in London in 2016. It was expected to reach a value of over 60 million euros. It weighs 1,109 carats (222 grams), is almost the size of a tennis ball, and is the largest diamond discovered in over a century.
In September 2016, the most expensive diamond in history was bought by De Grisogono at a private Sothebys auction in London for 56 million euros. It was named “Constellation”, weighs 813 carats, has a size of 6 centimeters and was found in Botswana.
Cullinan, the largest diamond ever discovered, weighed about 3,106 carats and was discovered on January 26, 1905 by Frederick Wells, manager of the Premier Mine in South Africa.
Although there are no diamond mines on the European continent, the truth is that the search for the perfect diamond has always been associated with the city of Antwerp, Belgium. A place of utmost importance for international trade, legally recognized as the capital of this gem. But countless jewelry stores and the arrival and departure of Orthodox Jews from the streets do justice to this distinction: about 86% of the world’s diamond trade takes place here.
The diamond trade in this port city began about 500 years ago, when the first rough stones were brought from India. Gradually, local diamond traders and cutters became known for their attention to detail and rich selection. So much so that in the 16th century even King Francis I of France began ordering his diamonds from cutters set up in Antwerp, not Paris.
The renowned diamond district of Antwerp is home to four of the world’s most important diamond markets: Beurs Voor Dianthandel, Diamond Club Van Antwerpen, Vrije Dianthandel and Antwerpse Diamantkring, each specializing in different types of diamonds, be they rough, polished or rough. It is also the hub for all the major diamond miners who supply diamonds to thousands of dealers around the world.
Also in the heart of the city, on Hoveniersstraat, is the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC), one of the companies that officially represents and coordinates the diamond sector, in charge of managing imports and exports of diamonds. inside and outside Antwerp. But how can such a city become the most obvious place for the international diamond trade?
According to DIVA, the Antwerp Museum of Diamonds, Jewelry and Silver, at the end of the 15th century, the diamond trade was centralized in India, and Portuguese Sephardi Jews were involved in this activity as it was one of the few that they did not do. prohibited due to historical persecution. When they were expelled from Portugal in the 16th century, they took refuge in Belgium and moved the business to Antwerp because of the seaport.
Its strategic location on the Scheldt River has direct access to the North Sea. The first evidence of the existence of a diamond trade in the city dates back to 1447. It was at this time that the city magistrate issued a decree on measures to combat the trade in counterfeit gemstones, including diamonds.
Later, after the end of World War II, the Jewish community dominated the industry, elevating Antwerp to the status of the diamond capital. Today, about 1,500 diamond companies are headquartered in the Belgian city, and their partners work in mines in South Africa, Australia, Russia and Canada that ship diamonds to Antwerp.
However, there are other places that are starting to stand out in the diamond business. One of them is Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. According to the Dubai Multi Commodities Center (DMCC), the city had $ 21.2 billion in diamond sales in 2019.
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