Diamonds have been symbols of wealth and power for millenia. But the 20th-century diamond industry has been tarnished with a stiff fine for price-fixing, and with conflict. Diamond wealth supported the rise of Hitler, South African apartheid, and rebel armies who killed and maimed thousands in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo.
A composite of the latter conflicts was fictionalized in the 2006 film "Blood Diamond." An international agreement to screen out conflict diamonds now governs the industry. But now a new threat, lab-grown diamonds, are practically indistinguishable from the real thing.
The South-Africa based DeBeers launched their "A Diamond is Forever" slogan in 1948 and established the association between diamonds and love. The lab-grown diamond company Apollo Diamond’s slogan is "A Diamond is For Everyone" - clearly a shot across the bow.
Ulrich Boser wrote about synthetic, or cultured, diamonds for Smithsonian Magazine, and he joins Word of Mouth to tell us how the natural diamond industry is fighting back.
(Photo by Steve Jurvetson)
