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“But to touch the crown”

Abraham Moss
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Amsterdam, the Diamond City of the World

Offering more than crowns and jewels, Amsterdam’s Diamant Museum exhibits the commodity chain of diamonds in a glistering procession. The online exhibition traces diamonds from mines across the globe to the crowns of monarchs the world over. Exploring the development of the diamond trade, the museum clarifies simple but lingering questions about diamonds, varying from the origin and meaning of carat to the reason why diamonds have such an identifiable shape when cut. The exhibition focuses on the diamonds and diamond houses of Amsterdam, reputedly the diamond capital of the world for nearly half a millennium from 1576 to 1965.

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Unlike the De Beers diamond corporation, whose trajectory the exhibition describes, the Museum does not glamorize these hunks of carbon, balancing the evident beauty of a polished stone with its illicit trade that has ravaged sub-Saharan Africa. The primary use of diamonds —95% as the exhibit informs us— in industrial applications takes back seat to the use of diamonds as objects of display and power. They have been mined in India since 800 BC, but only grew in prominence with the rise of European Diamond houses and discoveries of new mining locations. The Dutch domination of the diamond trade grew from its overseas connections, with pivotal colonies in diamond rich regions. Some fortuitous events, like Louis XIV’s Edict of Fontainebleau, centralized the diamond trade in Amsterdam as many of the finest Huguenot jewelers fled to the Netherlands for safety. The reverse occurred a quarter of a millennium later when Nazis deported thousands of Jewish diamond workers from an industry already ravaged by the Great Depression.

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Amsterdam’s rise and enduring power as world diamond capital was built on the Dutch empire, as the diamonds in the rough came from colonies across the globe. By 1735, the stones of Brazil and Borneo outstripped the flagging Indian diamond production, soon monopolized by the British Raj, allowing for Amsterdam to continue surging forward as the city of diamonds. In the nineteenth century the manufacture became industrialized as English machines replaced the cottage polishers. Fortune once again shined upon the Dutch as

diamonds flowed from South Africa in what the exhibit describes as a “fairy period” from 1870 to 1873. After this boom, many diamond houses collapsed, and the industry entered a period of slow decline. Damaged first by the Great Depression, the crippling blow came with the second World War. Further damaged ensued with the discovery of synthetic diamonds in 1954. Undaunted by these near fatal blows, Amsterdam has endured as a center for trading diamonds, though the polishing has gone elsewhere.

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Diamond polishing and trading centers

 

One of the most intriguing aspects of the exhibition is its metropolitan focus. By concentrating on the city of Amsterdam and the aristocratic uses of diamonds, the exhibit does rarify diamonds as special commodities. Mined in few locations, transported, and traded by a small pool of dealers, polished by a shrinking number of jewelers, and then set in crowns of royalty, diamonds seem inaccessible to the common man. And yet the Museum counters this with a section where the viewer can digitally try on crowns or attempt to ascertain the authenticity of stones. Despite presenting an extraordinarily select group as representative of diamonds and their trade, the exhibit bridges the gap, allowing museum goers to connect with the diamond world.

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The lack of diamonds in an object such as the Crown of King Willem II of the Netherlands indicates the trappings of power built on shaky foundations. Made of gilt silver, imitation pearls, and glass stones, the crown symbolizes the failed attempt to recreate a lost grandeur. With an impoverished treasury, the Dutch could not create a truly regal crown. Ostensibly the crown represents the continued influence of the Netherlands as a monarchy, but gold was not enough to hide the symptoms of Dutch decline.

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More artistic pieces illustrate the extensification of diamonds as they become more accessible and displayed in ways removed from aristocracy. The Golden Racket, studded with 1420 diamonds, retains the glamor of the scepter but none of the regalism. It transforms an object of swift utility and sport to one of cumbersome display and tribute. Even more conspicuous is the Diamond Ape Skull, set with 17,000 diamonds adorning the ossified remains of a gorilla. From such diamonds that were reportedly worth one day of the world’s income to the bejeweled cranium of an ape, the exhibition lays bare the dramatic oscillations in diamonds’ prestige and luster.

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Comparing the crowns of the Tsars to the De Beers’ “Diamonds are Forever” advertising campaign, the cultural import of the diamond has been contested by monarchs and miners, artisans and artists. They retain the moniker of a girl’s best friend, a product of African slave labor, and the pride of a nation’s treasury. Like the jewels of the exhibition, diamonds have multi-faceted meanings and resonances, and a history that spans the globe.

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The coronation crown of Elizabeth II

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