Corrections

Corrections

Material errors are flagged in-piece (struck-through original + corrected text) and listed here in date order, most recent first.

How to report a correction

Email corrections@diamondedit.co.za with the column URL, the claim you believe is incorrect, and any primary-source evidence. Material corrections appear here within seven days of confirmation.

Correction log

19 October 2026

• Rand-dollar rate, May 2026. Price pages, the price report, the calculator and the open datasets gave the May 2026 rate as R18.50 (and R18.40 to R18.61). The South African Reserve Bank average for May 2026 was R16.48, with a daily range of R16.27 to R16.76. Corrected on diamond price in SA, 1 carat diamond price, the 2026 price report, the calculator, the data page and the invoice examples.
• Basis of the price bands. The bands were described as the Rapaport and Idex lists converted to rand, with retail figures from walk-in observations. They are this column’s estimates; the dollar figures were derived from them, not read from a list, and there is no record of the walk-in observations. Every affected page now says so.
• Natural diamond prices. Several pages and the lab-grown chart said natural prices had held steady since 2016 or 2018. Rapaport’s published 1-carat index (RAPI) fell about 47 percent from its 2022 peak to September 2026. The chart’s natural line and the dataset’s natural columns were removed.
• Gold and platinum prices. Krugerrand price, 18ct vs 9ct gold and platinum vs white gold used gold at $2,035 and platinum at $880 an ounce. They now use spot prices and SA dealers’ published price lists from 19 October 2026 (gold about $4,180, platinum about $1,657).
• Unrecorded first-hand research. Pages described buyback offers from four gold buyers, quotes from four Bedfordview workshops, quotes from six insurers, a certificate audit of five lab-grown sellers and a 60-question test of five AI assistants. There is no record of any of them, so each page no longer presents them; engagement ring insurance, CVD vs HPHT and what AI engines get wrong were corrected with the pages above.
• Platinum ring weight. A platinum ring weighs about a third more than the same ring in 18ct white gold, not 10 percent more.
• SGL. Several pages said SGL grades one to two grades looser than GIA, and the price report spelt SGL out as a South African laboratory. Neither is supported, and the column’s own SGL pages describe it as an independent laboratory used mostly on smaller stones. The looseness claim now applies to EGL only, where it is widely documented.
• A claim attributed to the regulator. Diamond invoice red flags said the SADPMR had flagged certificate substitution in quarterly compliance notices. There is no record of such notices; the attribution was removed.
• The Diamonds Act and valuers. A fact-check answer said the Diamonds Act establishes the Diamond Producers Association; it sets up the SADPMR as regulator. Two pages sent readers to a “SAIA-registered” valuer; jewellery valuers register with the Jewellery Council of South Africa (JCSA).
• Promises the column did not keep. The quote bank promised a free quarterly report, monthly published medians and a reply within one working day, and several pages said they were refreshed monthly or quarterly. None of that was running, so the promises and the email field for the report were removed.