You may be owed a cut of a $295 million class-action settlement for gems purchased as long ago as 1994.

If you bought a piece of diamond jewelry -- or jewelry with a diamond in it -- between Jan. 1, 1994, and March 31, 2006, you may be eligible for a refund as part of a recent settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging that De Beers, the big South African diamond company, had cornered the market for diamonds for decades, keeping prices artificially high.

link (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/ConsumerActionGuide/BuyADiamondGetARefund.aspx?GT1=10827)

:nice: Although it hardly makes up for the blood trade of precious stones, at least it's something.

I never want a diamond.

This is amazingly good news. DeBeers is evil. Did you know that diamonds are actually less rare than rubies and emeralds? Yet, they're priced at like 30 times the value of those other stones.