De Beers Launching Recycled Diamonds Program In New York

(IDEX Online) – De Beers is starting a research program to “gain an enhanced understanding of consumer diamond re-selling activity and the associated consumer experience”.

The program will start early next month at a small number of American jewelry retailers and run until the start of next year, the company said.

“It will generate better insight on the scale of consumer re-selling activity and, more specifically, the consumer experience from those who look to re-sell their diamonds, and its impact on the lasting value benefit of diamond ownership.”

The program, the International Institute of Diamond Valuation (IIDV), will be based in New York. “The IIDV will work directly with participating jewelers to assess the effectiveness of existing approaches to re-selling and to explore how these could be developed and improved from the consumer stand point.”

Tom Montgomery, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at De Beers, said, "The practice of consumers looking to sell back their diamonds isn't new. For the vast majority of people, a diamond is something they keep hold of forever and never look to sell. However, for reasons, such as death, divorce or financial distress, some people will always look to resell their diamonds.

“Some retailers have expressed reservations, however, about how the current reselling experience could impact consumers' views on diamond equity in the long term. We believe that the only way to gain a true understanding of diamond reselling activity by consumers, is to run this small-scale program to assess how reselling has developed, how it might evolve and how it impacts consumer perceptions of diamonds."