De Beers

The conglomerate of mining companies which was established in 1888 and which operates under the name De Beers has dominated the South African diamond industry since 1929. It is the largest diamond company in the world, with 20 mines in a number of African countries, together amounting to more than 40% of the world production of diamonds (measured in value). It also collaborates with companies in Russia and Canada.

Diamond Trading Company (DTC)

One part of De Beers is the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), the “Syndicate”, which controls over 45% of the world trade in rough diamonds. Because of this market position, prices can be kept stable, which is of great importance both for the producers, the wholesalers and diamond dealers, but also for private buyers. The producers not represented by the DTC, those which sell freely (Ghana, Brazil, Venezuela), profit from this stability. The total size of the world trade in rough diamonds was estimated at 17.5 billion USD in 2018. Aside from trade and distribution, the DTC (until 2000 known as the Central Selling Organisation, CSO) also engages in diamond-related marketing and promotion. The campaign “a diamond is forever”, which began in 1947, is renowned. Other large producers of diamonds are Alrosa (Russian), BHP Billiton Diamonds (Canadian) and Rio Tinto (British/Australian).

Sights, sight-holders and trading

The DTC uses a system in which a limited number of strictly controlled diamond dealers (in 2005 there were 93 of them) have a right to the purchase of diamonds. These are the so-called “sight holders” — the firm of Van Moppes was the last sight-holder in the Netherlands, up until 1976. The sight-holders are divided into “manufacturers” who polish the rough stones themselves and are not allowed to sell them on, and “dealers” who sell on the rough stones to regular customers. The diamonds are sorted by weight, colour, purity and shape into more than 16,000 categories. Packets of the sorted diamonds are put together, called a “sight”. The DTC decides on the value and offers the sight to the sight-holders ten times a year. The contents may be inspected; there is some room for negotiation about the composition; beyond that, one must trust that the stated value is correct. Delivery follows receipt of payment.

Rough and cut diamonds are traded via the diamond markets or directly from the offices. The large stones are traded individually; the smaller stones go in lots. A lot is a number of stones of different quality packed in a “parcel paper”. The sale is confirmed with a handshake, while saying “mazzal and broche” — Hebrew for “luck and blessings”. Important markets are located in Antwerp, New York, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg and Mumbai, among other places.

Diamond extraction not controlled by the state occurs in several African countries, such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Angola. To curb the illegal trade in blood diamonds, most countries organised themselves in December 2002 in the Kimberley Process Certificate.

Objects in this gallery

• Sight boxes  The original packing in which the Diamond Trading Company sent sights to its sight-holders. Today sights are transported in aluminium cases.

• Parcel papers  For packing larger lots of diamonds.

• Lotje  The Dutch trade term for a small parcel of diamonds wrapped in a parcel paper.

• Portable scales and sieves  The traveling toolkit of the diamond dealer.