Description

During the late nineteenth century tens of thousands of diggers prospectors merchants and dealers extracted and shipped over 50 million carats of diamonds from South Africa to London The primary supplier to the world South Africas diamond fields became one of the formative sites of modern capitalist production At each stage of the diamonds route through the British empire and beyondfrom Cape Town to London from Amsterdam to New York Citycarbon gems were primarily mined processed appraised and sold by Jews

In A Brilliant Commodity historian Saskia Coenen Snyder traces how onceperipheral Jewish populations became the central architects of a new global exchange of diamonds Centuries of restrictions had limited Jews to trade and finance businesses that often heavily relied on internal networks Jews were wellpositioned to become key players in the earliest stage of the diamond trade and its growth into a global industry Relying on mercantile and familial ties across continents Jews created a highly successful commodity chain that included buyers brokers cutters factory owners financiers and retailers

Working within a diasporic ethnic community that bridged city and countryside metropole and colony Jews helped build a flourishing diamond industry and a place for themselves in the modern world