Zak Smith's bling may soon make him sing. And you too might be humming a happy tune if you've bought any diamond jewelry since 1994.
I encountered Smith, 22, at one of the numerous shops that are in downtown L.A.'s jewelry district, several blocks of brightly lighted emporiums with cases full of glittering gold, silver and fancy stones of all types.
I wanted to see what people had to say about a recent announcement that De Beers, the international diamond behemoth, has settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company monopolized diamond supplies and fixed prices.
As part of the settlement, De Beers agreed to spend $295 million on rebates of up to 30% to all consumers who purchased diamonds from 1994 to 2006 -- whether or not they were bought directly from De Beers.
That's not a devastating financial hit for the company, which earned $324 million on sales of $3.4 billion in the first half of 2007 alone. But it's potentially a very sweet deal for Smith, who, by his own admission, buys a lot of diamonds.
I met him as he was picking up the latest additions to his collection: a diamond-encrusted, white-gold Jesus hanging from a white-gold chain ($15,000), and a matching diamond-encrusted, white-gold bracelet ($25,000).
The ensemble was nicely set off by his purple basketball jersey.
Smith said the jewelry represented a small portion of his income, which he said came primarily from real estate transactions.
I told him about the De Beers settlement and asked if that was something he'd be interested in pursuing. He seemed very interested.
I also asked Smith if he knew where his diamonds originated. The issue, of course, is that many such stones -- dubbed "blood diamonds" -- come from conflict zones and end up funding civil wars and similar nastiness.
Smith shrugged. "The only thing that matters to me is the quality," he said.
I heard similar expressions of indifference from other people I met at various stores.
"I don't think consumers have that much interest in it," said Jim Tomchak, 46, who was dropping off some of his wife's diamonds for cleaning.
That's where De Beers is the real winner.
"They've succeeded in taking a commodity that's the perfect currency for warlords and making it reflect values like love and purity and timelessness," said Barak Richman, an associate law professor at Duke University who focuses on the diamond industry.
