The history of man's love affair with a completely useless gem.
Diamonds are almost completely useless but prized above all other gems. Historically they have attracted crimes of passion and awful cold-blooded efficiency, have bedazzled the greatest filmstars and the most opulent courts, and provided the incentive for adventure, destruction and greed on a monumental scale. No one company is more identified with diamonds than the South African-based De Beers.
Until the collapse of the Iron Curtain they controlled the diamond market. After the collapse, they still controlled it - once they had bought up most of the diamonds emerging from the former Soviet Union. They are secretive, discreet and very, very powerful. A strike in Northern Canada could hardly seem to trouble them. Except that it prefigured a diamond rush in a territory over which they had no influence by prospectors they did not own. And the strike promised enormous riches.
Here is the true story of the strike that upset the diamond kings, and with it the history of the world's most acclaimed diamonds, the process by which they are cut, fashioned, smuggled and stolen, the legends and superstitions that are attached to them, the characters who comprise the great diamond prospectors and, above all, of the shadowy hand of De Beers for whom diamonds are forever.
| ISBN: | 9781841152806 |
| Publication date: | 3rd February 2003 |
| Author: | Matthew Hart |
| Publisher: | 4th Estate an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 287 pages |
| Genres: |
Extractive industries Precious metal, precious stones and jewellery: artworks and design Multinationals History of specific companies / corporate history Economic history History: specific events and topics Chemistry of minerals, crystals and gems Mining technology and engineering |
The history of man's love affair with a completely useless gem.
Diamonds are almost completely useless but prized above all other gems. Historically they have attracted crimes of passion and awful cold-blooded efficiency, have bedazzled the greatest filmstars and the most opulent courts, and provided the incentive for adventure, destruction and greed on a monumental scale. No one company is more identified with diamonds than the South African-based De Beers.
Until the collapse of the Iron Curtain they controlled the diamond market. After the collapse, they still controlled it - once they had bought up most of the diamonds emerging from the former Soviet Union. They are secretive, discreet and very, very powerful. A strike in Northern Canada could hardly seem to trouble them. Except that it prefigured a diamond rush in a territory over which they had no influence by prospectors they did not own. And the strike promised enormous riches.
Here is the true story of the strike that upset the diamond kings, and with it the history of the world's most acclaimed diamonds, the process by which they are cut, fashioned, smuggled and stolen, the legends and superstitions that are attached to them, the characters who comprise the great diamond prospectors and, above all, of the shadowy hand of De Beers for whom diamonds are forever.
Diamond features in the following genres: Extractive industries, Precious metal, precious stones and jewellery: artworks and design, Multinationals, History of specific companies / corporate history, Economic history, History: specific events and topics, Chemistry of minerals, crystals and gems, Mining technology and engineering
Diamond is available in Paperback
Diamond was written by Matthew Hart and published by 4th Estate an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Diamond has 287 pages