Gold and diamonds

[Daryl J.]

Is there any online site that the value of diamonds and the value of gold from approximately 1947 through 1955 can be found and calculated?   

When did deBeers get into diamonds and have the level of control they do at the current time?


Daryl J.

[The Rat]

Is there any online site that the value of diamonds and the value of gold from approximately 1947 through 1955 can be found and calculated?   

When did deBeers get into diamonds and have the level of control they do at the current time?


Daryl J.

Can't answer your first question but here's a good rundown on the second courtesy of The Straight Dope.

[jcf]

$35.00 per ounce

The US price of gold was 35.00 USD an ounce from 1934 until 1971, the price was controlled and gold was not traded as it is today.
The British official price was set at 4.25 Pounds per ounce in 1717 and remained at that number until 1945.

http://www.measuringworth.org/gold/

As The Rat's link shows diamond prices are completely arbitrary and finding an accurate, straightforward listing of values is doubtful.

Jon

[NARSES2]

If you Google on "Metal Bulletin" you should find the site of the Metals Industry bi-weekly paper. It carries info on all base,precious and rare metals. Somewhere they will have price indecies. For something like Gold it might be public.

Sorry I can't help more but since I've retired I don't have access to their Research Site

Chris

[upnorth]

As The Rat's link shows diamond prices are completely arbitrary and finding an accurate, straightforward listing of values is doubtful.

True enough, the value of diamonds is whatever DeBeers has said it was. Being as DeBeers is a cartel and not a "proper" business, they created a market to sustain themselves regardless of any intrinsic value diamonds may actually have. Brilliant marketing campaigns over the years have also served DeBeers to artificially inflate the prices of diamonds. DeBeers has been selling the world on the old "A diamond is forever" pitch for decades so a lot of the value diamonds have received has been more from societal expectations than economic worth, thus the value has been so arbitrary.

In and of themselves, diamonds really are worthless. They are pure carbon, the most common stuff on earth quite literally. They have been replaced by synthetic substitutes in pretty much all of their industrial applications, which is where their real value was anyway.

[Daryl J.]

Oh this is good; much better than expected!     


Part of this 'Mercenaries" storyline includes Ethiopian gold stolen in a rather Robin Hood sort of way, yet has the metal finding their way into the hands of Those Corrupt in the West and They of Corruption in the East.  Of course some diamond smuggling out of S. Africa etc. comes in handy too. 

Thank-you very much,
Daryl J.

[upnorth]

Well, the direction you seem to be going with this, diamonds fit almost hand in glove with corruption.

Long has there been the issue of "blood diamonds" or "war diamonds". You could easily work that in somewhere.

If you wanted to take it further afield than Africa, you could go up to economically challenged post Socialist Russia and their diamond resources. We all know Russia isn't too choosy about who they sell their military hardware to and don't excercize much in the way of ethics when they do. Who that they owe money to could they buy off with their diamonds?

And you know, there is Crater of Diamonds National Park in Arkansas. In reality, it seems there is not enough there to justify any serious attention from the diamond industry, but can you imagine how it would change things if there were? First, no national park business on the site but big squabbles over mining rights.

Would the American government take it?
Would it be in the hands of offshore intrests?
How deep could DeBeers get their claws into it?
Would the deep south become one of the richest parts of America?
Would the Indians sieze the opportunity to call it "Sacred land" of their ancestors and insist it be given to them?

Diamonds are like gold and oil, people will do all kinds of crazy things to have them.

[B777LR]

When did deBeers get into diamonds

I seem to recall that Cecil Rhodes (evil man), was the founder. Started way back in 1871 i think, when he went out to mine for himself...