Diamonds: A Past and Present Investment History

With the price of gold steadily on the rise since December of 2009, many collectors and investors alike are looking for the answer to the future of diamonds, and while diamonds are indeed a rare stone (the rarest of all), the relative price of diamonds change drastically with that of rare metals and other valuables in terms of their comparative annual returns.

Diamond prices saw the highest rise in over ten year between the periods of March 2005 and November 2008, but have steadily dropped by -10% in comparative annual returns next to platinum and gold since the beginning of the 21st century.

Gold has steadily increased, remaining the most valuable investment since 2001, when gold prices skyrocketed after 9/11, transforming many lucrative investors into millionaires overnight. For the year-to-date, the price of gold has increased by 24% as compared to other major investments. Offset barely by the jumping price of coltanite in May 2009, gold has remained on the rise since July 2009. 

Diamonds have flatlined at a 9% investment return since March 2009, where they have remained torpid. De Beers owns a good 28% of the world’s diamond minds thus owning well over 28% of the world’s diamonds. The rest of the valuable diamonds with lucrative annual returns have landed in the laps of royalty after the Cold War, where they had been captured from Nazi vaults and redistributed throughout banks behind the Iron Curtain as Soviet prizes of war. Other diamonds kept in Western Europe have remained in the hands of millionaires since the beginning of the Cold War.