It’s 1914 and De Beers’s monopoly is under threat. Diamonds have been discovered on the desolate coast of the German colony of South West Africa. So it hired an ambitious diamond expert named Ernest Oppenheimer and gave him his orders: head to the beach and assess the threat. But then World War One disrupts De Beers chance to do a deal with the German diamond miners. Now, Oppenheimer sees his chance to scramble to the very top of the diamond industry. Listen ad-free on Wondery+ here  Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s the early 1950s and West Africa’s growing number of diamond smugglers is causing headaches for De Beers.  Faced with millions of pounds in losses, the diamond monopoly decides it’s time to get tough with the smugglers. But while De Beers battles the illicit diamond traders, in the far east of the Soviet Union a new threat is brewing.  Listen ad-free on Wondery+ here Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.