NYC Jewelry: The largest diamond exchanges on the world takes place on 580 5th Avenue Building, 20 W., 23 W., 50 W., 55 W. and 36 W. buildings.

Unlike the three diamond centers described - Belgium, Israel and India, which, in principle, are centers for trade and production of diamonds, the United States is another type of diamond center. Although there is some production of diamonds, the US is mainly a consumer market, where diamond trading centers in New York City serve mainly as gates to the American market.

Modest start

During the time when there were diamond jewelry for sale in the United States, traders and diamond manufacturers worked there. The earliest documentary evidence of the existence of the diamond center in New York dates back to the 18th century, when it was located in the Maiden passage.

In 1931, a group of traders in diamonds and diamonds decided to create a stock exchange in the likeness of European diamond exchanges. The Nasso Streest was the first place where the Diamond Dealers Club (DDC) was established with several offices in lower Manhattan.

Those diamond dealer Jews of Europe (Mainly from Amsterdam, Antwerp and Russia) who flew from Europe to US gave birth to The New York Diamond Center, as we know it today.

After the occupation of Belgium by Belgium and then the Netherlands, Jews engaged in diamond trade were captured and interned by the Nazis. Those who survived went to Tel Aviv and New York and created new diamond centers in those cities. Less than 5,000 Jewish residents out of 35,000 originally residing in Antwerp survived the war.

In 1941, as their number increased, the Diamond Dealers Club moved to 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, where they began to attract dealers located in other parts of the city. During the post-war heyday of the economy, demand for diamond jewelry, especially for wedding rings, has risen sharply. With the support of the marketing campaign "A diamond is forever", started by De Beers in 1948, the American consumer felt a taste for diamonds, and the New York diamond dealers were ready to supply everything they needed.

This gave impetus to the establishment of modern diamond manufacturing enterprises, the establishment of direct supplies of diamonds from the company De Beers and the establishment of trade organizations, for example, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), which formalized the internal and external code of conduct in the trade in diamonds .

Currently

Currently, most of the diamond cutting studios are closed due to the increased cost of producing diamonds. This did not stop the center from continuing to specialize in expensive goods - large white diamonds and diamonds of fantasy colors of all kinds.

New York is home to some of the most famous and influential diamond cutters in the world. Outstanding among them are Lazar Kaplan, who is widely known for producing 13 diamonds from Jonker diamond; Marcel Tolkowsky (Marcel Tolkowsky), who developed a way to improve the reflection of the light of the diamond and created the "Ideal Cut", which paved the way for polishing with the help of an automated device; and Brian Gavin (Brian Gavin), who created a super-perfect cut "Hearts and Arrows" (Hearts and Arrows). They and many others continue to play a leading role in the newest methods of polishing diamonds in New York.

In addition, New York continues to be the world's largest consumer market, with retail sales of $ 28 billion in 2014. The annual gross volume of polished imports for servicing this huge market in 2014 was $ 24.2 billion.

The volume of imports of US diamonds in 2013-2014

Source: US ITC | Edahn Golan Billions - bln.

The diamond district itself is an important sales center, serving not only retailers throughout the country, but also a huge number of tourists and visitors who came to the city to buy diamond jewelry from one of the many traders and jewelery companies in the area.

In this area there are approximately 2,600 independent diamond and jewelry businesses. The Diamond Dealers Club, now located at 47th Street, 580, consists of approximately 2,000 members, including several De Beers sightholders. In addition, in this area is the Gemological Institute of America (Gemological Institute of America, GIA). In total, there are seven American sightholders, some of which are outside of New York.

The volume of polished imports:

Gross imports of polished diamonds in 2014: $ 24.16 billion

Gross diamond exports in 2014: $ 20.93 billion

The net volume of polished imports in 2014: $ 3.23 billion

Leading countries supplying diamonds in 2014 (gross volume):

Israel: $ 9.25 billion

India: $ 7.67 billion

Belgium: $ 3.99 billion