Levie Jacob (Levie, son of Jacob) was born 1749 in Amsterdam. On Decem­ber 18, 1811, at the age of 62, on the intro­duc­tion of Napo­leo­nic Law con­cer­ning Civil Admin­istra­tion, he had to adopt a family name. He chose 'Van Moppes', for himself, his children and grand­children. He was the founder of a dynasty which was to include many generations of diamond mer­chants and diamond cutters.

(2) Samson Levie Van Moppes (1780-1849) was a fruit merchant, but one of his 8 children was going to be the first of a worldwide family of diamond merchants and diamond cutters.

(3) Levie Samson Van Moppes (1809-1881) was a diamond cutter himself and the father of 15 children, who mostly worked in the diamond industry and several of them became famous diamond merchants.

(4) Meyer Louis Van Moppes (1838-1908) was an established diamond merchant. In order to further expand his business, he sent his son Louis Meyer to England. (Another of his sons, Aron, founded the Dutch company that later became A. Van Moppes & Zoon in 1875).

The Van Moppes agency in Switzerland, operated by Michel Picot (1892-1983), had long been selling boart to the Swiss jewel bearing manufacturers and started selling graded micron diamond powders as early as 1945. During the war, Michel Picot had made a very special con­tri­bu­tion to the Allied war effort. Since his time as a lieutenant and pilot in the Flying Corps of the British army during the first world war, he had retained a close relationship with the British Embassy in Switzerland. To help the Allied industries staying operational during the 2nd world war, he contributed to smuggling diamond drawing dies from France to the UK, a somewhat dangerous activity. In 1943, he narrowly escaped arrest on the road between Geneva and Trévoux, on the way to collecting diamond dies in exchange for gold coins! Michel Picot retired in 1963.

L.M. Van Moppes Sons SA was registered in 1952 and left the Unicorn Group in 1995,  with its company name reflecting a very long industrial diamond tradition.

Jean Freinhofer joined in 1953 and became managing director in 1963. He spent a lifetime striving for perfection in micron diamond powder production and quality inspection, to best serve a market that changed significantly, becoming ever more demanding in terms of product diversity, product quality and delivery consistency. Our first automated grading machines were developed shortly after the whole micron powder operation was transferred to Geneva in 1978. ISO 9002 Certification was obtained in 1991, followed by the ISO 9001 Certification in 2001.

Christophe Bangerter joined in 1994 and became managing director in January 2005, Jean Freinhofer remaining chairman of the board and quality manager until retirement at the end of 2008. Van Moppes has now developed into a global supplier of micron and mesh size diamond powders, with a world-wide reputation backed by over 60 years of experience. Its very elaborate micron powder inspection system, possibly the most demanding system used in the trade, has been extended to include mesh sizes in the grinding range.

Some diamond powder grading experiments had been carried out by Lewis H. Phillips in 1938 and the first commercially graded micron powders were sold in 1942, to allow the UK wire drawing factories to service their diamond drawing dies, since they had lost access to their traditional French suppliers during the war. This picture shows some of the early grading equipment, photographed in 1950. 

In 1978, the whole micron powder operation was moved to L.M. Van Moppes & Sons SA in Geneva. This is the time when the micron powder business really started expanding, with the development of modern, automated grading techniques, as well as a particularly performing and accurate quality inspection system. Van Moppes became a reference company for the quality, precision and consistency of its diamond powders.

Based on its 60 years experience in micron powders and its recognised market presence, the company then expanded its activity to diamond and CBN mesh sizes in the grinding range. In this area also, it has become a major player, through its innovative approach and excellent customer service.

Note: The Diadust trademark was registered in 1943, Syndia in 1962 and Supersyndia in 1969. They remain our registered trademarks for our micron diamond powders and are protected worldwide.

The logo used on company documents and product labels has changed on several occasions in the course of our company's history. The 1947 "dia" logo was designed when the original 'Diadust' company launched the first commercial micron diamond powders. The 1969 Unicorn logo prevailed during the period of Unicorn Group ownership and the 1996 version followed as Van Moppes left the Unicorn group of companies.

The 2012 "Van Moppes" logo is the current one. It was created together with a re-design of our company image and the publication of this web site.