A parcel of rough diamond imitations

摘要

Due to its long-standing position in the diamond trade, during the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries with the stones coming from Goa and Brazil respectively, and more recently in the early twentieth century when they came from Angola (then a Portuguese colony), Lisbon has seen a many parcels of rough diamonds offered for sale. Although that trade is not now so busy, people still do not think it strange to be offered rough diamonds. It appears that in the first trimester of 2008 a couple of dealers, reportedly from Angola, were allegedly touring Lisbon's downtown jewellery offices offering for sale a significant parcel of uncut stones in natural-looking shapes, and presenting them as diamonds. An experienced diamond dealer who was offered the stones declined any interest in buying the parcel. He had immediately identified them as diamond simulants using a 10x lens but did not tell the sellers that he had identified the stones as imitations, just claiming that he was not interested in buying the material at that time (a common practice to avoid any possible unpleasant discussion about bogus products). The dealer immediately warned some local traders about the situation, but the alert did not reach all of them.