Diamonds - The Domain of the Superwealthy

At the time, diamonds were considered just absolutely money down the drain. In between the first and second world wars, there were depressions going on all over the world that no one wanted to buy these things. So diamonds became this, ah, the domain of the superwealthy. Only if you have enough money to throw, just literally throw away at this diamondah, ye. The idea would be, if you have any scratch at all, then you should be spending it on something that is a necessity.