Interview: Charles Wyndham on a dramatic year in diamonds and what comes next – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – December 17, 2018)

Northern Miner

Charles Wyndham has been in the diamond industry for over 40 years. He was a director of the CSO, De Beers’ selling arm, before deciding to leave De Beers to set up his own diamond businesses in 1995. He is co-founder of WWW International Diamond Consultants Ltd. (WWW) and is engaged in related businesses, mainly with others whose skills are based on the company’s expertise in technology, the gathering of detailed market information, and a wide range of contacts.

WWW has had a joint venture with the Aboriginal Diamond Group (ADG) through Diamonds International Canada (DICAN) and since 1998 has been the Government Diamond Valuator for the Federal Government of Canada and now for the Government of the North West Territories.

It also acts as the diamond valuator for the Government of Ontario. In 2000, he founded U2 Diamonds Ltd., which owns polishedprices.com, the only polished diamond price list based on multiple sourced actual transactions. Charles holds an MA in jurisprudence from Oxford University.

The Northern Miner: What were some of the highs and lows for diamonds in 2018?

Charles Wyndham: It has been a curious year for diamonds in some ways, in fact, a bit of a ‘curate’s egg’. As of the end of November, according to my colleague Richard Platt in WWW Diamond Forecasts, rough [diamonds] this year has seen a 7% increase and polished around a 4% increase. Even compared to the Forbes Luxury index, which till the end of September saw a 2% increase, polished diamonds were up by 4.6%.

However, these numbers should perhaps be viewed a little bit in the context of an old saying that there are lies and then there are statistics. Firstly, there has been undoubted pressure on both rough and polished prices building up during November, which has accelerated in December. The actual year-end figures are likely to be less flattering.

For the rest of this interview: https://www.northernminer.com/news/co-founder-of-www-international-diamond-consultants-speaks-about-diamond-outlook/1003802674/