De Beers adds new twist to brand strategy

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De Beers is opposed to blood diamonds, as are the other majors. This is more of an economic than moral imperative: an uncontrolled flow of diamonds could collapse an empire sustained on a myth.

This myth is the basis of a long-standing joke among the diamond merchants of London's Hatton Garden. They tell of a man who brings a diamond ring to a Hatton Garden merchant.
His wife, he says, has bought it for £20 000 and he wants to check if this is right.

The merchant examines the ring and notes: "It's a good price."
"So you would value it at £20 000?" queries the man.

"You buying or selling?" responds the merchant.

"What's the difference?"

The merchant shrugs: "Buying is £20 000, selling is nothing, because I'm not buying."

A variation was told to me by a De Beers director in his cups after a lengthy CSO lunch in London some years ago. I had queried the artificiality of gem pricing. Pulling me to one side, he noted: "Entre nous: when that little lady in Tokyo looks at that $20 000 rock on her finger and realises it isn't worth a damn, we're in trouble."
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