About Early Business Practices of DeBeers Mines and London Syndicate of Diamond Merchants

For many years the DeBeers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., has sold its annual production to the London Syndicate of diamond merchants, who handle most of the products of the mines of South Africa, with the exception of the German mines. The London Syndicate's methods of conducting business are quite unusual. In general the procedure is as follows. When the managers have a lot of goods for sale they notify the buyers of the rough who are on their list as being entitled to buy from the Syndicate direct, that a "sight of the goods" may be had on a certain date. The buyer must declare his intention and make application some time in advance of the time when a sight of the goods is expected, in order to secure the opportunity to make his purchase. If the favored buyer who is allowed to buy the rough does not then buy, he is omitted from the purchasing list for several months. The goods are sold in lots of some $200,000 in value and upwards, and must be paid for in spot cash. The prices are absolute.