October 17 was the beginning of Diwali, the Hindu New Year; and it kicked off five days of celebration – all of which bring me to the Jains. I do business with a few of them and I’ve found them pleasant and competent.

In a world of violent extremism, Jainism, a strict and democratic splinter of mainstream Hinduism, prescribes non-violence. Instead, Jains are urged to follow a philosophy of self-effort in conquering one’s inner demons. While this might seem rather esoteric, the brass tacks of their business ethics are not. Jainism encourages close family ties, cooperation with others and strict business ethics; and these have facilitated their entry into the world of diamonds. In fact, though there are only about 5 million of them, they’ve become quite influential in the world of jewelry as a whole. At its heart, the jewelry business, particularly the diamond business, functions on an understood system of trust. A reputation for integrity is all; and Jains have become recognized for this.

Though historic India was the first important source of diamonds, most of India’s diamond mines were played out by 1750. Nonetheless, Indian consumer demand persisted; but it was not until the discovery of diamonds in South Africa (1867) that the demand could be met. The Jains were not far behind. In 1909 a small group of Jain merchants in Palanpur, India, entered the jewelry business as importers of cut and polished diamonds. Over time, the international diamond business developed confidence in India’s Jain merchants; while their close family ties and cooperative habits helped them to prosper in India’s domestic diamond business. After 1947 (the year India became independent), India’s new government, anxious not to lose foreign exchange, attempted to discourage the importation of luxury goods by taxing them heavily. Jain diamond merchants countered by importing rough diamonds and cutting them (gem cutting in India was already a long established art). The government found this agreeable; but to the dismay of both the new Jain cutting firms and the Indian government, Indians started to horde diamonds as a hedge against inflation. Government intervention soon followed.

Faced with Government opposition to their new industry, in 1955 the Palanpur diamond cutters made a creative overture to the government. They proposed the “Replenishment Scheme”. The heart of their proposal was a commitment to import rough diamonds and cut and polish them for export, only. To make it most attractive to government, they also proposed that the government would regulate mandated increases in value for their diamonds after cutting. As this would both create jobs and benefit India’s balance of payments, the Government readily agreed.

Despite this victory, the Palanpuris were still faced with the fact that the tightly knit diamond business was concentrated in Belgium. Practically speaking, this meant that rough would be hard to get, particularly high quality rough. Palanpur’s cutters usually had to make do with such very poor quality material that they complained, “. . . these are industrial and industrial sand.” In fact, the yield from such inferior rough was quite poor. Typically more than 83% of their rough weight was lost in cutting; but the Palanpuris persevered. Their high ethical standards eventually brought them more and better rough; and then the monolithic character of the diamond business was broken. Dissatisfied with the old DeBeers monopoly’s sales of their rough material, Rio Tinto, majority owner of Australia’s Argyle diamond mine, offered India’s cutters as much rough as they could cut. Again, most of the rough was of poor quality (Argyle’s rough is mostly dark and included); but the deal provided the stepping stone that India’s diamond cutters needed to establish themselves in the world market. Between low labor costs and modern equipment India’s diamond cutting business began to soar. While in 1966 India accounted for about 6% of the world’s polished diamond production, today it accounts for about 92%! And while most of India’s production is in small diamonds (smaller than 1/5 of a carat), the quality of Indian cut diamonds continues to grow.

Interestingly enough, an Indian owned firm has a minority stake in Hearts On Fire; and through this connection (remember that cooperative spirit?) Hearts On Fire has been able to develop and use the high tech cutting and polishing equipment that has made Hearts On Fire diamonds reliably the most perfectly cut diamonds on the market. Perfection in cut, of course, is the source of real diamond beauty. No diamond has greater fire, sparkle and emotional excitement than the Hearts On Fire; and we sell them because we know diamonds and want to offer you only the best there is. So if you want to tell her how much you love her with a gift this Christmas, make it Hearts On Fire. You won’t have to say a word; she’ll know, and her tears of joy will confirm it. Check out our Hearts On Fire collection on line at our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select the perfect piece of diamond jewelry. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and we have the stuff of dreams waiting here for you.