No utility, high price due to artificial scarcity

Article in the New York Times

Russia quietly passed a milestone this year: surpassing De Beers as the world’s largest diamond producer.

Quote from Aleksandr A. Malinin, an adviser to the president of Alrosa (Russia's largest diamond producer [97% of domestic rough diamond production]).

But what we are doing is selling an illusion,” meaning a product with no utility and a price that depends on the continued sense of scarcity where there is none.

“If you don’t support the price,” Andrei V. Polyakov, a spokesman for Alrosa, said, “a diamond becomes a mere piece of carbon.”