London’s diamond trade may not be forever

Richard Orange

19 May 2007

Richard Orange says London’s traditional dominance of global dealing in uncut stones is under threat from new players based in India, China and Dubai

‘How does it feel to hold $9 million in the palm of your hand?’ One of the world’s leading diamond buyers, Rajiv Mehta, watches intently for my reaction to this question: the sachet of dull glassy pebbles I am gently weighing, if I could somehow get them out of this building and into the hands of some Antwerp middleman, would buy me one of London’s most prestigious addresses, my own island in the Bahamas, or a country-sized swath of the Argentinean pampas.

Slim chance: the building is one of the most secure in London and we are in one of its most secure rooms — a ‘sight room’, where buyers examine diamonds. The London headquarters of the Diamond Trading Company, in Charterhouse Street near Hatton Garden where the jewellery trade is centred, is part 1970s office block, part modern fortress. There’s no company logo outside, no reference to diamonds or DTC — or De Beers which owns DTC, or Anglo American which in turns owns 45 per cent of De Beers. The only clue to its purpose, apart from the thickness of its walls, is the occasional arrival of an armoured van at its solid metal gates.

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