Boing Boing is linking to an old (1982) Atlantic Monthly article that details "how the De Beers cartel pumped
up the value of a relatively common gemstone, the diamond, by
conducting a global psychological manipulation campaign."

Those bastards have cost me a mint over the years.

Side note: getting a mention from sites like Boing Boing and Fark can be a mixed blessing; great traffic, crashed server.  When I checked Atlantic’s site was down, and I’m guessing they can thank the Boingers.