14-Year-Old Girl Finds Yellow Diamond!

It is sometimes said that 'diamonds are a girl's best friend', but in this case, the opposite happened: a girl was a diamond's best friend. Fourteen-year-old Tana Clymer recently made headlines in the American state she resides in after she found a valuable 3.85-carat yellow diamond, perfect for a yellow diamond engagement ring, while visiting Crater of Diamonds National Park, in Arkansas.

Clymer came across the stone, which she has dubbed 'God's Jewel', while digging in the 37-acre 'mining' area, where visitors to the park can try their hand at looking for precious stones. Due to the small size of the rock in question, the teenager initially thought it might be a marble, until she actually held it in her hand. It turned out to be a canary-yellow diamond, estimated by specialists to be worth a few thousand dollars at the very least, and which many yellow diamond engagement ring fans would love to use for their own bands.

A spokeswoman for Arkansas State Parks has stated on record that Clymer's jewel far surpasses the quality of other diamonds found at Crater of Diamonds this year. The last time a stone of this quality was dug up was in 2006, when fellow Oklahoma native and state trooper Marvin Culver unearthed the 'Okie Dokie Diamond' at this location. A park official has further stated that Clymer will want to keep the stone to turn into a yellow diamond engagement ring or - depending on value - want to use it towards her university fund. It is unlikely that the teen will be open to selling, although the family has already received their share of offers in that sense.

Part of this young girl's stroke of good fortune can be attributed to her mother, Amanda Giordano. Giordano had wanted to visit Crater of Diamonds for years, and was the main catalyst behind the fourteen-year-old's presence at the park that particular day. Proof positive that you should always listen to your mother!

Crater of Diamonds National Park is the only diamond-producing area in the United States that is open to the public. Every year, thousands of visitors visit the park to try their luck at finding a precious stone, but few if any of them are as fortunate as young Tana Clymer. The fact that the stone she unearthed was a yellow diamond can be considered particularly lucky, since coloured diamonds are rarer than clear diamonds and are therefore in higher demand, and often worth more if sold or traded.

Laura L Bolick is the founder of the F&L Designer Guides, compiled and written to help consumers choose a unique engagement ring design. From yellow diamond engagement rings to princess cuts and engraved bands, we have ideas and opinions covering all the options. Offering advice, tips and suggestions on how to choose that perfect ring, F&L will accompany you on every stage of your search to find the right designer.

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Global Rough Diamond Trade Thrives In Antwerp

In four unprepossessing streets in the centre of Antwerp, a secretive, centuries-old business is conducted behind bulletproof glass where a handshake and the Yiddish word "mazel" seals the deal.

The international diamond trade has been centred in the city since the 15th century. It is estimated that 85% of the global trade in rough diamonds passes through Antwerp, worth €43bn (?36bn) every year, equivalent to the GDP of Slovenia.

You would imagine that the crippling single currency crisis which continues to hold Europe in its grip would have had an icing effect on expensive ice, but business is booming, even as a quarter of Antwerp's young people struggle to find work.

We went to find out why, gaining access to one of the most secure buildings in the country guided by the entrepreneur Vashi Dominguez, who runs a successful UK-based diamond business from mine to retail.

It was fairly clear from the outset that news cameras aren't welcome in the diamond quarter. A police officer was dispatched to check our credentials after a CCTV camera filmed us on the pavement, while private security guards watched us warily from doorways.

After surrendering our passports, and with a prior appointment, we were allowed inside one 10-storey concrete building, in which trades valued at €1bn (?837,000) take place every month.

In a simple room with a series of substantial tables - and an even larger safe built into the wall - Vashi showed us three cut diamonds with a combined value of ?2m as well as a scattering of smaller rough stones.

The four Cs still determine the price of a finished stone: cut, colour, clarity and carat (the weight, with a carat equivalent to one fifth of a gram), but the value of unusual, or "fancy" diamonds has been increasing dramatically at auction since the financial crisis began.

Vashi explains that as government bonds and currencies have become less attractive to investors since the start of the crisis in 2008, they have turned to valuable commodities like gold and gems.

"Prices are rising because demand is increasing. That's due to the slowdown and more interest from buyers in the east like China and India as well as other developing countries such as Brazil," he explains.

"There's another factor too: there has been a lack of major discoveries of new mines and some mines that have been discovered can't be built into viable businesses because the extraction process is so costly."

A massive new mine is being prepared in Canada, and De Beers continues to chip new diamonds out of Jwaneng mine in Botswana, but prospectors are working hard globally to establish new deposits.

The location of the current mines and trade patterns shifting eastwards could threaten Antwerp's pre-eminence as a diamond hub. More business could switch to Dubai, which is closer to southern Africa.

That's reflected in a change in the religion and ethnicity of the traders: the diamond quarter has been conspicuously Jewish, but more Indians are moving into the business, and into the area.

At the moment, Antwerp is still keeping its nose ahead of those rival cities looking to snatch its diamond tiara. It's an irony that the booming gem trade is based in a continent where economies have lost their lustre.

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