DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 267
forced
a readjustment of the comparative values of sizes. Though there is no
evidence that the method of reckoning the value of diamonds by the
square of the weight at a base price ever existed except as a trade
fable furnished to writers, large stones did command very large prices
from the public, and much more proportionately than now, from the
trade. But definite prices for any size or color did not exist until
the De Beers Consolidation. Competition, a variable demand, and many
men new to the industry, both at the producing and selling ends,
conspired to make many irregularities and constant variations in
price. Nor was the rough as closely assorted as it has been since the
Diamond Syndicate undertook to market the product of the mines. In
these days a parcel of rough will cut very close to what it is sold
for; in the early days of the Kimberley there was often a wide range of
color and perfection in a lot. The average price received by the
various producing mines of the De Beers consolidation up to and
including 1907 are as follows:
