The diamond buying trip followed on two weeks after the return from the Thailand, with Mark and Jon volunteering to go, happy to squeeze in a bit of diamond buying between their curry buying.
The quite dramatic drop in the value of the Pound against the Dollar over recents months is having a marked effect on prices but other factors are also influencing the supply and price of diamonds worldwide.

Ninety percent of the diamonds sold worldwide are cut in the Indian city of Surat in Gujarat State. Like our own exchange rate woes, an unfavourable rupee / dollar exchange rate is compounding problems for Indian cutters, pushing up their costs for rough material. Also a reduction in availability of the rough, concerns of an impending world recession, and an expected reduction in buyers have all combined to persuade some major manufacturers in the post Diwali period to remain closed for up to 6 weeks, holding onto stocks in the hope more profitable economic conditions will return.

Also, African producers such as Botswana, Congo and Tanzania, which account for 45 percent of diamond production, in a move to end India’s domination over the diamond trade and to kick start a domestic cutting industry are set to impose export duties of 5 to 7 percent on rough, again posting upward pressure on prices.

To mitigate some of these pressures it was necessary for Mark & Jon to buy larger parcels of stones to enable more leverage when it came to bargaining down the price.

The immensely popular 1ct Diamond Packs which we had sold out of have now been replenished with TLB material in sizes 1mm to 2.75 @ £215 ct, white Si packs 1mm – 2.4mm @ £295ct and very special F+/VS+ material 1mm – 3mm @ £450ct. Exact or “hot” sizes eg 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3mm etc are attracting premium prices as demand is very high with most going to the watch trade for bezels, dials and bracelets. Whilst we have plenty of these exact sizes in stock, anyone able to take stones just a 10th of a mm either side can expect a 10-15 % price reduction per carat.

We’ve been fortunate to find an old Indian cutter who will cut old cuts for us….. makes sense I suppose . He’s so old we reckon he never re-trained for cutting the modern brilliant when it was introduced in the 1940’s and Victorian or “Mitchel” cuts as they are known in India are what he’s always done. Anyway he does them well and we have reasonable stocks in sizes 1.25mm to 4.6mm - ideally suited for all those repair jobs. We sell them faster than he cuts them so if you need them get them while you can!

We have nice certificated brills from 0.50ct upwards in qualities G/Si to D/Vs all at good prices. These are moving fast so give us a call if you have or think you’ll have a requirement.

Between the bouts of frenetic activity when very large parcels of goods had to be sorted one stone at a time, there were periods waiting for new parcels to arrive and absolutely nothing to do. The two fellas took the opportunity to intellectualise on various important topics troubling the world today. Discussions (arguments) included it seems, such worthy topics as …… which of them who had the straightest fingers, who had the fattest fingers, who had the most fingers (?), who had the best mum, who had the best girlfriend, whether the midday meal should be “dinner” or “lunch” (Mark sure he had clinched it with the “they never had lunch ladies at school“ argument) , whether maps are boring, who had the best tweezers…… Their applications to join Mensa have been put on hold.

When the working day was done they bickered some more…usually about where to eat… Mark being older and more stubborn ended up getting his way and they ate at his favourite restaurant more often than not…