The younger generation seems to have larger diamonds than our grandfathers and grandmothers did. Are diamonds becoming less expensive? The answer is yes, and no. As a population we can afford more than our great grandparents did. They were quite often limited by what they could produce with their bare hands. Much of that time was taken up by simply providing food clothing and shelter for the family. As skills, equipment, and available energy sources became more readily prevalent, productivity increased in all fields, and we arrived at the point that one person could provide food, or clothing, or housing for many people. With increased wages due to greater productivity, it has left people with a greater amount disposable income. If you were continually worrying about, having enough to eat through the winter, if the stored items in the cellar were going to spoil and you might starve, you do not devote much attention to beautiful items. Today not having enough to eat usually means we haven’t taken a trip down Dillon’s isles lately.
Along with increased disposable income has come increased reliability in equipment. Many years ago to get to the areas where diamonds came from one had to carry everything to the mines on their heads, backs or pack animals. Today we have reliable vehicles to get to these areas and equipment to make roads, and to move large pieces of real estate. If you have read some of my previous articles, you under stand that one has to move 40 to 240 tons of dirt to get one carat of diamonds. That is not a one-caret diamond that is one caret of diamonds. And a one caret or larger diamond is a one in a million occurrence. In Greatgrandmas time, this was done with a pick, shovel, and a bucket. In grandmas time a claim was thirty feet square. Today with large earth moving equipment, large conveyer belt technology, and large companies, a diamond mine can be a mile across and up to 7000 feet deep. So equipment has made diamonds less expensive per what we earn.
The number of areas that diamonds come from is much greater today. Originally diamonds only came from India, then they were found in South Africa. Today Australia is the largest producer, Botswana, Zaire, Russia, Canada, and then South Africa, and again in India is the order of production. South Africa is sixth with only 14% of the world production. This makes diamonds more readily available. There is not a shortage in diamonds today, but there is still the large production cost.
Diamonds in the past had to pass through many hands before they arrived in the customer’s hands. Today with more advanced stores this chain has been reduced to as little as three or four hands. They are, the miner, the cutter, and the retailer. Those that say that they are wholesale to the public are simply deceiving you. If they are deceiving you with their name they will also be deceiving you with quality and maybe even size.
