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Nature Channel: History of Diamonds

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Mara

Mara

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Did anyone see this? It''s currently in the Nature channel rotation...someone told me about it last weekend and I managed to find it playing a day later with TiVo and am watching it. Just wondering if anyone else has seen it?
 
No, didn''t see it. But it sounds interesting! Are they talking about the culture around diamonds?
 
i'm only partway through it but they have discussed how diamonds are made and shown some stunning pieces at a christie's auction, some of the crown jewels, and some famous vanderbilt jewels, a greenish blue diamond center 700k halo ring!!!!!!!, and now are showing the origin of them in their rough, and their chemistry makeup, how old they are (they said 2-3 billion years old for some of them!) etc.

we saw another show on diamonds previously but this is a totally different one.

oh and lol i just saw something that this gemologist has up in his lab that is like diamond lil's signature!

'a diamond is nothing more than a chunk of coal that made good under pressure'
 
OH and I was wrong, it''s not on the Nature channel, its on KQED which is channel 9 around here...and it''s called ''Nature: Diamonds'' if anyone has TiVo and wants to scout for it.
 
Oh man, I want to watch it! But Alyssa''s watching Rugrats go to Paris on DVD and won''t let me change the channel. Darn it! I guess I''ll catch it next time.
 
I''ll check and see when it''s on again Milly since you''re local! I actually am watching it on TiVo right now.

They just showed a 70 carat D FL diamond set into a pendant with a necklace made of all diamonds...mega drool coming out right now!! They are on 47th street with some big famous dealer called ''Cora'' or ''Aura''? Anyway, he said on the market the necklace with the 70c stone would sell for $7m!
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Milly..the Nature: Diamond show is on only one more time!

SF9 (KQED) on this Sun 5/28 at 11am. Hope you catch it!
 
is this the pbs show where they end with the dealer in NY trying to bid on a large lot of pink diamonds? (and ultimately loses the deal)
 
Date: 5/24/2006 6:47:38 AM
Author: pinkflamingo
is this the pbs show where they end with the dealer in NY trying to bid on a large lot of pink diamonds? (and ultimately loses the deal)
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Yep, it was that one.

I wonder how much that little red squarish EC went for? And even more curious, who ultimately bought it???

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YEP that''s the one. We are going to finish watching it tonite. I kept pausing it and rewinding it last nite...so we only got through the first half before my darling husband begged for a diamond reprieve.
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Date: 5/24/2006 2:21:51 AM
Author: Mara
Milly..the Nature: Diamond show is on only one more time!

SF9 (KQED) on this Sun 5/28 at 11am. Hope you catch it!
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Thanks! I am soooooooooo on it. Oh Tivo....
 
I saw the show today. It was awesome...as was that red asscher. W
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W. I really like shows like this - they fulfill a curiosity that a lot of books can''t - I like to learn the history while looking at pretty sparklies and seeing the buying and cutting processes. Most books don''t hop around subjects like that.

It also reminds one to have an appreciation for diamonds, no matter what the color or the clarity - when you think about how old they are, and how much time and pressure it took to make one! Some of the dialogue was cheesy and dramatic, but that''s to be expected of course. Really enjoyed it!
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This show is available as a DVD to rent from Netflix.

Some great photos in it.

A really good tour of the Argyle mine in Aussie Land.

Search in Netflix under Diamonds.

Rockdoc
 
FG I'm so happy you caught it!! it was definitely a cool show, probably my fave on diamonds we have seen so far.

Greg was amazed at the fact that diamonds are older than life itself on Earth!! He was staring at my diamond and his going 'wow these were being made under the earth before anyone was even here'.... pretty cool!

and YES that red asscher was TO DIE FOR....so yummy. I felt pretty bad for that guy when he didn't get his bid for the pinks...and how spectacular were all those pinks together, can you imagine? We were kind of googly eyed that they were just laying out millions of dollars of merchandise in a stark conference room on a table, and asking people to bid hundreds of thousands of dollars...we were like wow i hope that building is secure!!

after seeing the show i was thinking that i wanted a tiny little blue or pink diamond, that is until i checked out prices for them at icestore, NEVERMIND.
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Date: 5/29/2006 1:34:05 AM
Author: Mara

after seeing the show i was thinking that i wanted a tiny little blue or pink diamond, that is until i checked out prices for them at icestore, NEVERMIND.
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Every once in awhile I think the same thing - I would love a small pink diamond, and I do go to icestore and then think the same thing - forget it! I have always wanted one and maybe someday...but most of the ones I could probably afford are not the deep pinks, and with the light ones it's always a gamble - will the rose gold setting bring out the pink of the stone, or will it always look 'sorta pink'?

I also felt bad for the guy that spent days deciding on bids for the pink stones...waited six weeks to find out if he got any, only to find out he didn't get a single one. Bummer.

That's GREAT to know the DVD is on Netflix...I never thought to even check there!
 
exactly FG..and of course now i want something as pink/red as the red asscher, which just so ain''t happening!

i was on icestore the other day and they had a .38c marquis dark fancy pink or something pretty colorful and it was something like $30k. i was wondering while watching the show that if pinks are so prevalent in the argyle mine, does that mean that eventually they will not be quite so ''rare'' and possibly prices will go down? i would love to own a fancy pink diamond but not for $30k for a .38c!
 
Date: 5/29/2006 2:10:09 PM
Author: Mara
if pinks are so prevalent in the argyle mine, does that mean that eventually they will not be quite so ''rare'' and possibly prices will go down?
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I can only hope and dream that will be! They seriously are getting a heck of a lot of pinks out of there. I hope they find a ton and we can have some. They said the last 1ct red diamond sold at Christie''s or Sotheby''s for $1 mill!
 
I just saw this show on PBS. It was really good and interesting. Even my husband found it interesting. I liked how enthusiastic Fred Leighton was when he was talking about his stuff.
That was interesting how they don''t even know how pink diamonds are formed.
 
Mara, Thanks for the info.

Rockdoc, thanks for letting me know Netflix has it. I will check it out.
 
Date: 6/23/2006 9:16:56 PM
Author: tracys126
Mara, Thanks for the info.

Rockdoc, thanks for letting me know Netflix has it. I will check it out.
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Hope you enjoy it.

Although Fred Leighton sold his store since the film was made.

Rockdoc
 
Pihks getting cheaper?

I doubt it. The Argyle mine has a lot of light pinks. Intense ones they don''t find that commonly.

With prices what they are now, they are certainly not going to flood the market with them. They will hoard the best ones, and just let them out a little at a time.

When the pinks get intense enough to be borderline reds, those are kept limited, and I would suspect they would still limit the distribution and sale even if they did discover a "pocket" of gem reds.

It would be pretty foolish to do otherwise.

Rockdoc
 
Date: 6/24/2006 12:11:10 AM
Author: RockDoc
Pihks getting cheaper?

I doubt it. The Argyle mine has a lot of light pinks. Intense ones they don''t find that commonly.
the mine produces about 25million carats - a pick up truck full each year. The pinks would fill a purse and the intense pinks would fill a desert spoon.

With prices what they are now, they are certainly not going to flood the market with them. They will hoard the best ones, and just let them out a little at a time. Riotinto have not ever to the best of my knowledge hoarded any diamonds - they are a transperent public company. When the mine was 40% owned by Ashhton up until 1999 I know for a fact they never held any goods back from the market.

When the pinks get intense enough to be borderline reds, there have been maybe 2 dozen diamonds graded as red (with no secondary modifyer color) in all history - those are kept limited, and I would suspect they would still limit the distribution and sale even if they did discover a ''pocket'' of gem reds. bollocks Roc - that is just not true in this case - it is not in the companies charter to speculate - they mine stuff and sell it - they are miners - you are applying old De Beers practices (that ceased in 1998) to a completely different company.

It would be pretty foolish to do otherwise.

Argyle (wholey owned by Riotinto) have negociated a new deal with the West Aussie Govt to export all thier product as rough now they have committed to a new underground shaft mine (the open cut is not too large and deep to be productive).
The new deal is that all the rough will be exported and graded in whatever country they choose - the pinks are likely to be graded in either India or in Antwerp - and the rough will be sold in Antwerp to the highest bidder - previously as part of the govt agreement the larger pinks were all cut in Perht and the smaller ones were sent out to 5 or 6 polishers in 3 countries. Most of the fancy color houses that i have spoken with say they want a part of the action and they think the price of the rough will result in a doubling of prices. It is also likely that the cutters will do a better job than the salaried cutters employed in Perth.

Rockdoc
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Date: 6/27/2006 9:24:55 AM
Author: diamondseeker2006
Is this the video we are talking about?

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/shop/diamonds.html
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Not sure, as I got the copy I watched on Netflix, and they don''t send out the cover for it. They may have a graphc of the cover on their site though.

PBS has produced quite a few DVD''s/ Videos about diamonds. They are all good ones, with great information and images, so any that you can get would probably be good to have.

Netflix does sell ones are previously viewed at reduced prices, so you may want to check that out.Guess it depends on if you want to have a copy to keep, or just rent it.

Rockdoc
 
I''ve never done netflix. Do you view the video online or is it a mail-order thing?
 
Gary

Well maybe you''re correct about hoarding stones, and Rio Tinto being transparent. Hoarding by De Beers may have ended, but Russia also has stockpiled a lot of their rough. Maybe they are selling it now more openly.

But World Com, Enron, etc were supposed to be "transparent" too.

In the diamond video, at the "tender" they put on, they did have quite a few intense pinks etc, for sale. I think most of them under 1 carat, but there appeared to be 35 - 50 stones laid out on the table in collection boxes.

But you''re in Australia so maybe you have more first hand experience with this than I do.

Rockdoc
 
Date: 6/27/2006 12:08:35 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I''ve never done netflix. Do you view the video online or is it a mail-order thing?
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Actually the first month with them is free a trial basis type thing. Then you pick a plan which is priced on how many movies you want at one time. One movie at a time is $ 5.99 per month Three at a time is about $ 20.00 per month.

They ship right away, and they pay the shipping costs both ways. You can keep the movie as long as you want without late charges. But of course it pays to get them back as quick as possible so you get a new one.

I used to go to blockbuster, and drive there. Then they were usually out of the movie I wanted. So it was a wasted trip many times. And at last that I can remember I paid about $ 3.00 per movie and it had to be back when they told you or they charged you a late charge.

With Netflix, the movie arrives at my door, I watch it - return it, and get another in a day or two. I am on the 3 at a time plan, and usually get 16-22 movies a month for my $ 20.00 on average the cost is $1.00 per movie, and I don''t have wasted trips, or the expense of the gas either. So if you''re a movie "hound" - it is a good alternative to driving etc.

Rockdoc
 
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