Canadian Diamonds

Don, There are some companies in Canada who are cutting Canadian
mined diamonds in Canada and providing a certificate of origin with
the stone and some are laser engraving a polar bear on the girdle so
the stone can be identified as Canadian in origin without the
certificate. Doug Frey www.dfrey.com

Don Campbell, All diamonds mined in Canada HAVE A POLAR BEAR Laser
cut in its girdle…! for all intents and purposes the Polar Bear is
facing LEFT! but you need a real good 10x loupe or a gemscope to
view it. But its there to see, its barely “one facet wide” on a
faceted girdle, so look hard,eh!.. “Gerry, the ‘Canadian’
cyber-setter !” www.gemzdiamondsetting.com @Gerald

    All diamonds mined in Canada HAVE A POLAR BEAR Laser cut in its
girdle. 

But they don’t come out of the ground that way. You, as a consumer
or even a retail jeweler, don’t have any way to know that the polar
bear wasn’t inscribed on a South African stone. You only have the
integrity of your supply chain to count on.

The conflict stones are traded at the rough level more that the
finished stone level so I stand by my comment.

Don

Not all Canadian diamonds have a polar bear on the girdle. Only the
diamonds cut by Sirius Diamonds. The other Canadian diamond cutters
will have their on trademark.

Nearly forgot, one the Canadian names for a licensed dealer, and they
sell this Polar Beared diamond is “Sirius Diamond Company” and its
bear is a registered trademark, too boot! “Sirius” as in the North
Star! Canadian Diamonds now are 5% of all mined stones in the world
& growing. All of these local diamonds come in ranges from .20ptrs
and up! When the full mining is accomplished these mines will
supply ONLY 15% of the worlds market or now they are mining about 3.5

  • 4.5 million carats annually! Plus each diamond comes with its own
    certificate attesting to the fact that its mined and cut/polished
    here in THIS COUNTRY…:>) and nowhere else! For more information
    anyone can telephone to Government of the Northwest Territories
    Diamond Projects Division 1-867-873-7373 e-mail:
    diamondprojects@gov.nt.ca or their website:
    www.canadianarcticdiamond.com… “Canadian Arctic” tm!

"Gerry, the cyber-setter ! @Gerald

Let’s get real!.. The polar bear girdle inscription on Canadian
diamonds is used on those diamonds which are independently marketed
and, my understanding is that the other ninety percent of the
Canadian Diamonds are marketed anonymously through De Beers. N’ est
ce pas ? Ron at Mills Gem, Los, Osos, CA.

While it is true that anyone with the proper equipment could mark
any diamond as a Canadian diamond, the reality is that there are
licensed Canadian diamond dealers and they are selling Canadian
product only. At some point you have to trust your suppliers. After
all, this entire business is built on trust. I can get any
wholesaler in the country to send me tens of thousands of dollars
worth of merchandise on trust only (well that and a good JBT rating).
Diamonds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars have often been
traded back and forth with only a handshake, and for the most part
this system has always worked because our entire industry is built on
trust.

Trust, however, is different than some of the ethical issues that
crop up. While everyone has their own approach to these matters I
think it is necessary for us to look at the history of gem materials,
before we decide to stop selling products that are deemed ethically
unclean. Historically, anything of high value, that is easily
portable, and beautiful to boot has inspired wars, conflict, murders
and theft. They have also saved many people. Jews running from
Hitler and Nazi Germany were often only able to get their jewelry
out, which they then sold to help support themselves. The reason
that the NGOs went after the diamond business (i.e. selling conflict
diamonds) is because it was an easy target. Do you see them going
after the companies that supply the rebels in Africa with weapons
after they have raised money by selling the diamonds? Of course not.

If you are a jeweler you will almost always be working with a
product that is high value and may have some unsavory history related
to it. How do you know that the refined gold you are using hadn’t
been part of some old piece that someone stole from someone else, or
that someone stole from a mine?, or killed someone to steal it from?
How do you know that the ruby you are setting today wasn’t actually
mined thousands of years ago by a slave? This is both the downside
and the upside of this business. Personally I have always been
intrigued by this idea of not actually knowing who’s hands my raw
materials have been touched by. It also adds an air of mystery that
can be communicated to the customer. If these issues bother you so
much then perhaps you are in the wrong line of work.

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Spirer Somes Jewelers
1794 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-6000
@spirersomes
www.spirersomes.com

In agreement with Don- I am from South Africa, where I picked up a
few stones and had them engraved by laser in Cambridge England. I
could have ( for all that it matters), engraved a polar bear facing
left or whaterver. The fact remains that they were mined in SA. The
point is that laser enscription is no proof of origin. I live in
Canada now and deal with these polar bear diamonds- nothing is
telling me that they were mined in Canada- even though I don’t
dispute this. I simply trust the people that supply them.

Labs in South Africa were toying with a laser device that prints a
holographic type image inside the actual stone. It is only visible
with the correct lab equipment. This was done to a certain extent to
larger carat stones for i.d. purposes- but it would be impossible to
implement a global uniform system along these lines to “assure” the
consumer of the origins of the stone. Does it matter all that much
where the stone comes from? Who cares- as long as it is good quality
and cut and didn’t help fund a civil war.

    Don Campbell, All diamonds mined in Canada HAVE A POLAR BEAR
Laser cut in its girdle...! for all intents and purposes the Polar
Bear is facing LEFT! but you need a real good 10x loupe or a
gemscope to view it. But its there to see, its barely "one facet
wide" on a faceted girdle, 

Dear Gerry, I hate to correct you on this one but you are wrong
about “All diamonds mined in Canada have a polar bear laser cut in
its girdle” The company I usually buy from has outstanding Canadian
Diamonds, and are also extremely reputable. They also laser inscribe
their diamonds but it is with their own trademark and you will
receive a cert. on the diamonds.

Thanks all for this great site. Tara from Beautiful British Columbia,
Canada

We have been locked out of access to our old supplier of Canadian
diamonds (Sirius Diamonds) due to an exclusivity agreement they set
up with another somewhat local jeweler. We have also tried to
contact Canadia Diamonds and they are also refusing to sell to us
(why is unclear). Do any of you have any other sources for Canadian
diamonds at this time who you might recommend. Please respond off
list to me. Thanks.

Also, on list I would be curious to hear how everyone’s Christmas
business is shaping up.

Daniel R. Spirer, GG Spirer Somes Jewelers 1794 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140 617-491-6000 @spirersomes
www.spirersomes.com