Don’t worry if you think you can’t find the Jewels Museum in front of the Qalawun Mosque in Gamalia — you’ll know it by the passel of diamond-crazed ladies drooling over the displays. The precious stones and gold jewelry in diamond tycoon Hassan Eleish’s private collection are enough to turn the head of even the most staid gem aficionado.

“Precious stones and jewels are stronger than any currency,” says Hassan, whose family has long been synonymous with the diamond business in Egypt. “Possession of a diamond is possession of light.”

One of the eye-catching items is a solid gold cigarette box, lovingly engraved with “Inti A’z Ma Amlok” (You are the dearest of my possessions), a present from late director Ahmed Salem to veteran actress Madiha Yousri in 1949. Another section of the museum is dedicated to King Farouk’s collection of antique watches, decorations, gold rosaries and brooches inlaid with precious stones.

Going even further back in history, other showpieces include a gold powder box inlaid with rare diamonds that once belonged to a Russian tsar and the Tiffany-made Key of Cairo owned by Khedive Ismail, himself an avid jewel collector. The Key of Cairo was bestowed upon high-ranking officials for generous hospitality and efforts promoting peace.

Like the brass statue and the Roman-era bust of the philosopher Socrates at the entrance of the museum, the antique jewelry is not for sale. “Antiques such as this are not for sale, as they represent a part of Egypt’s history and its identity,” he says.

Hassan’s own creations are available to buyers, but they don’t come cheap. On a recent visit, the most glittery item on offer was a gorgeous bow-shaped bracelet inlaid with aquamarine stones and studded with tiny diamonds shaping the word Al-Galala (The Glorious). The price? A whopping $7,328 (LE 41,800).

But Hassan, whose father Yassin Eleish pioneered the diamond industry in Egypt back in 1920, insists it’s not all about the money. “This job is not merely a commercial one: It is the means by which the magnificent creation of our forefathers is handed down to the successive generations to preserve the Egyptian identity.”

From an early age, Yassin admired the fine art of fashioning diamond jewelry. He started off with a small store in Khan El-Khalili, where he worked as a diamond and processed gold wholesaler. The business quickly took off and he decided to open an office in Belgium to import and export diamonds. In the 1990s, the family enlarged the small Khan store and opened upscale branches in Mohandiseen and Heliopolis.

In addition to their factory on the second floor of the Gamalia Jewels Museum, the Eleishes have built a much larger outfit in Obour City. The family is planning to annex an entire block to the Jewels Museum to promote traditional crafts such as brass and silver engraving, glass making and woodworking.

In Gamalia, skilled artisans are engaged in classifying, cutting and setting diamonds. Hassan explains that the first step is to determine the degree of the stone’s clarity. The fewer the residues — which can only be seen under a microscope — the clearer the diamond. In Egypt, the clearest class of diamond is known as HVVS1, one carat of which at press time cost $6,132 (LE 35,000). Lower in quality is the IVVS2, at $880 (LE 5,000) per carat. Yellow diamonds are less expensive, followed by brown diamonds, which are the cheapest. As with gold, diamond prices are determined by an international market.

During the 1990s, when the diamond business hit an all-time high in Egypt, the Eleishes hired jewelry designers from Armenia and Thailand, as they are highly skilled in design and precision work. Even today, as back then, he is willing to pay up to $3,000 (LE 17,100) a month for their services. Though local artisans are paid only LE 200-600 per week and Eleish workshops are staffed almost entirely by Egyptians, he says he still prefers foreign-hired designers to avoid losses.

“The Egyptian worker may be skilled in crafts, but he is not superior in design because until recently, there were no faculties or schools teaching this art,” asserts Hassan. “East Asian jewelry makers, on the other hand, have excelled in this industry — which they imported from Europe — because of their cheap labor and advanced technology. To reach that same level, Egypt has to import cutting-edge technology.”

“But that’s simply not enough,” says Abdullah Abdel Baki, head of the Cairo Department for Precious Stones and Precious Metals at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce. “Design is not so much about technicalities but about skill. In essence, the diamond industry in Egypt is not an industry at all, as we actually have very little to do with the finished product, which comes mainly from abroad.”

On the creative side, faculties of applied and fine arts have offered courses in jewelry design since the 1990s in an effort to cater to the rising demand. Hassan says this demand is coming particularly from the upwardly mobile middle classes, who are today opting for diamonds instead of the traditional gold for their shabka (wedding ring).

Nessim Anwar, a diamond trader at a store in Heliopolis, agrees that demand for diamonds is increasing. “In the past, most of the middle and lower classes preferred to buy 21-karat gold because of its low manufacturing price, and they’d keep it as an investment. Now, women prefer diamonds to gold because it’s the fashion and because they are not interested in keeping it as an investment as they did before.”

But this is not to say that 21-karat gold has lost its appeal. It is still the most commonly purchased precious metal, says a source at the Ministry of Industry’s Administration of Assay and Weights (AAW), the national regulatory authority for gold and diamond markets.

Although it is technically the AAW’s job to ensure all dealings are above board when it comes to diamond sales, it is actually the jewelers themselves who keep their noses clean, banking on a spotless reputation to keep customers coming back.

“This is despite the fact that it is very difficult for the customer to differentiate between a real, pure diamond and lesser stones — even some jewelers may be cheated,” says Anwar. “Most customers depend on the reputation of the jeweler; we can never cheat with diamonds because they can be evaluated at any jewelry store. A jeweler who cheats could go to prison and lose his business.”

Although diamond prices are set in the international market, diamond sales tend to go hand in hand with the nation’s economy, rising when it is at its most stable. “At present, sales have dropped because of the wars in Iraq and Palestine,” Anwar notes. “But, in general, diamond sales go up for feasts, Mother’s Day and New Year’s.”  et

The Jewels Museum is open to the public at no charge 11 Beit El-Qadi St. El-Sagha Gamalia Open 11am–10pm