Seeking Advice on jewelry moldings and metal supplys.

On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 18:38:38 +0000, Abrasha wrote:

Abrasha wrote:
Ted Frater wrote:



Your biggest cost is going to be the precious stones.
thats amarket unto itself. Youll find that its dominated by DeBeers
who control the market completly, buying up compettitors diamonds to
maintail their market monopoly.Youll be in the hands of existing diamond
dealers who are invited to view a parcel. You dont get invited unless
youve proved yourself inthe lower echelons of that trade.
that will; cost you plenty They the invited priviledged few then bid
for them , the highest generally wins tho not allways. Youll be buying
from them.



Ted, Ted, Ted, there you go again. You speak with authority about
matter you know little to nothing of. You've got that all wrong.

What you are talking about are the so called sights, to which only a
privileged few are invited to participate worldwide. Bidding does not
take place. De Beers sets the price. Furthermore De Beers does not
sell polished goods. They only sell rough. The sight consist of rough
diamonds only, which then end up with cutters, and from there trickle
down the chain.

"Critics contend that De Beers is also successful because behind the
scenes it operates with ruthless precision, choking supplies and
manipulating prices through the events it calls "sights". Every five
weeks, 125 manufacturers and dealers -- called "sightholders" in De Beers
parlance -- flock like swallows to the company's London headquarters for
these private sales. They represent an elite group hand selected by De
Beers to buy the cartel's rough diamonds.

"You can imagine this is like a sort of mini-United Nations every five
weeks," De Beers' Andrew Lamont said. "People (come) from all over the
world. These are the leading diamantaires meeting with each other,
discussing trade, the state of the market and that's what makes it so
unique and effective."

If this sounds like an ordinary business deal, it's not. The men who
come to these De Beers diamond sights are seeing the diamonds for the
first time -- even though they'll spend half a billion dollars, prices
agreed on in advance by De Beers."

DeBeers sets the price, the sight holder can take it or leave it. No
haggling over price. If a sightholder decides not to take a parcel, it
becomes unlikely that he will be invited back to a sight ever again.

This is just a fraction of how DeBeers controls the diamond trade. You
are well advised to research matters like this a bit before you post
your opinions. Get a book about the diamond trade at your local
library. It's an interesting read. The history of diamonds is fascinating.

Hi Abrasha,
Yes yes yes, I did get SOME of that wrong but I did try and give this
guy help to the best of my ability.
No one knows it all, you yourself didnt know how to melt silver without
getting it to absorb oxygen but i didnt shoot you down like you did me.!!!
Dont worry
!!,I wont hold it against you. At least I tried to give him some guide
as to how diamonds are bought and sold.
Better than nothing which is what most other folk here wrote.
Only when I brought up my small contribution did you give him the
background to the De Beers monopoly.
Good to see your bile is still flowing well. Regards
Ted.