Hopes and Dreams: The Box Buyers and the Diamond Diggers
June 17, 21
The "haves" are happily shelling out $225 for an EMPTY Rolex box.
The "have nots" are scrabbling around in the dirt near a village in South Africa for unidentified stones that might be diamonds, but probably aren't.
Twas ever thus, the divide between those who have too little and those who have more money than sense.
But sometimes the contrast is so stark, so crazy and so extreme, that you need to stop for a moment and take a reality check.
In the wealthy West consumer demand for Rolex, Tag Heuer, Breitling, Omega and Seiko is booming. I'm not talking about the luxury timepieces, I mean the fancy boxes in which they're sold.
Rolex tops price list, according to a recent survey of packaging prices on eBay, at $225, and the other makes are being snapped up for $100 to $200.
There's also a brisk trade in jewelry boxes. Iconic duck-egg blue boxes from Tiffany & Co are fetching an average of $70, and Cartier's red leather boxes go for around $50.
Why on earth, you're probably asking. Apparently it's a TikTok thing. Shoppers craving approval from a social media audience - almost entirely of strangers - feel the need to create the illusion they're enjoying a lavish lifestyle
So they'll splash the cash for prestige packaging, minus the contents, to create a convincing backdrop to the videos they post on TikTok, or Instagram, or Twitter.
Meanwhile there's frenzied activity near the village of KwaHlathi, in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.
Thousands of people have flocked there in recent days, armed with shovels, forks and picks, after a cattle herder reported finding a crystal-like stone in a field. It's a diamond rush, so far without any actual diamonds.
There is no confirmation that the stone in question is actually a precious gem, but even the hint that it might be has been enough to attract the hordes of people.
Few would have any idea what a rough diamond looks like, let alone what to do with it if they actually found one. And that's before we get into the legal issue of whose land they're actually digging.
Maybe they're hoping for a re-run of 1869, when a shepherd stumbled upon a rough 83.5 carat stone which was to become the iconic Star of South Africa - the diamond that first brought Cecil Rhodes and other prospectors to the fields of Kimberley, led to the founding of De Beers and established a global diamond industry.
But I suspect they're hoping against hope. The country's economy is in a mess, coronavirus hasn't helped, and any way out of grinding poverty has got to be worth a shot.
I'm struck not just by the chasm between the box buyers in their comfortable homes with their disposable incomes and the diamond diggers with barely a rand to their name.
But I'm also struck by what they have in common. If I were feeling generous I'd call it hope. If I were feeling more realistic I'd call it delusion. Either way both groups are putting their dreams ahead of reality.
The box buyers, with their hundreds of spare dollars to spend on branded cardboard, are chasing a dream that more boxes will bring them long-term happiness, greater self-esteem and inner peace, until they start running after some other must-have.
The diamond diggers know in their hearts that they're chasing shadows. But hoping is better than giving up.
The "have nots" are scrabbling around in the dirt near a village in South Africa for unidentified stones that might be diamonds, but probably aren't.
Twas ever thus, the divide between those who have too little and those who have more money than sense.
But sometimes the contrast is so stark, so crazy and so extreme, that you need to stop for a moment and take a reality check.
In the wealthy West consumer demand for Rolex, Tag Heuer, Breitling, Omega and Seiko is booming. I'm not talking about the luxury timepieces, I mean the fancy boxes in which they're sold.
Rolex tops price list, according to a recent survey of packaging prices on eBay, at $225, and the other makes are being snapped up for $100 to $200.
There's also a brisk trade in jewelry boxes. Iconic duck-egg blue boxes from Tiffany & Co are fetching an average of $70, and Cartier's red leather boxes go for around $50.
Why on earth, you're probably asking. Apparently it's a TikTok thing. Shoppers craving approval from a social media audience - almost entirely of strangers - feel the need to create the illusion they're enjoying a lavish lifestyle
So they'll splash the cash for prestige packaging, minus the contents, to create a convincing backdrop to the videos they post on TikTok, or Instagram, or Twitter.
Meanwhile there's frenzied activity near the village of KwaHlathi, in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.
Thousands of people have flocked there in recent days, armed with shovels, forks and picks, after a cattle herder reported finding a crystal-like stone in a field. It's a diamond rush, so far without any actual diamonds.
There is no confirmation that the stone in question is actually a precious gem, but even the hint that it might be has been enough to attract the hordes of people.
Few would have any idea what a rough diamond looks like, let alone what to do with it if they actually found one. And that's before we get into the legal issue of whose land they're actually digging.
Maybe they're hoping for a re-run of 1869, when a shepherd stumbled upon a rough 83.5 carat stone which was to become the iconic Star of South Africa - the diamond that first brought Cecil Rhodes and other prospectors to the fields of Kimberley, led to the founding of De Beers and established a global diamond industry.
But I suspect they're hoping against hope. The country's economy is in a mess, coronavirus hasn't helped, and any way out of grinding poverty has got to be worth a shot.
I'm struck not just by the chasm between the box buyers in their comfortable homes with their disposable incomes and the diamond diggers with barely a rand to their name.
But I'm also struck by what they have in common. If I were feeling generous I'd call it hope. If I were feeling more realistic I'd call it delusion. Either way both groups are putting their dreams ahead of reality.
The box buyers, with their hundreds of spare dollars to spend on branded cardboard, are chasing a dream that more boxes will bring them long-term happiness, greater self-esteem and inner peace, until they start running after some other must-have.
The diamond diggers know in their hearts that they're chasing shadows. But hoping is better than giving up.
Have a fabulous weekend.