161–170 of 618 posts
Another alternative is synthetic, lab grown diamonds. They are superior to naturally occuring diamonds, cheaper, aren't tainted by human misery and suffering like conflic/blood diamondst, and arent extracted from ecologically damaging mining techniques like open pit mining.
Where can you buy that?
Since 2006, the synthetic diamond gem industry has made considerable progress, and is now banging out real diamonds at a good clip. Gemesis was the first to mass-market synthetic diamond gemstones. (DeBeers tried intimidating the CEO, a retired U.S. Army general. Intimidation didn't work.) Now other companies are doing it. Silicon carbide gemstones are available in bulk on Alibaba.[1] So are diamonds.The page for Cha…
I'm the OP - surprised to see this at the top of HN today, but happy to post a quick update: My wife and I have been happily married for ten years now. She loves her ring, and it has held up extremely well. (She just had the band resized, absolutely no issues with the stones.) No one has ever thought it was anything other than a diamond ring, which includes several years of daily scrutiny from crazy New York City bri…
- Lab-grown diamonds are purer, more perfect crystals, cheaper, and better than mined diamonds in every way. (ignoring the market manipulation factor, which I'm not too knowledgeable about, except that I've heard big diamond companies do some shady things to keep prices high)
- Girls hate lab-grown diamonds because they consider them "artificial".
Also in your article, you don't seem to make such a distinction, so I'm wondering if your article is about lab-grown, mined, or both?
I told my girlfriend (5 years) how I feel about diamonds and that I reject the very notion of buying a diamond engagement / wedding ring early on in our relationship. Several months ago, we landed on the marriage conversation, again. I reiterated that I am against diamond engagement bands. She then said: "What about a wedding ring then?" I told her it applies to wedding rings as well. We got into a heated argument an…
Can anyone give me advice on how to convince my girlfriend of this though without her thinking I love her any less :)?
We had already had conversations about getting married, that sort of thing, so when it came to the ring it was easy to bring it up. I mentioned I was a little reluctant to go with a diamond; I said I was -willing-, but due to the intentional supply limit and the ensuing price hike, it would necessarily be small, as I was not willing to go into debt for it (which she was already in agreement we should never do; beware if your significant other has no issues with going into debt). Had she considered alternatives, such as moissanite?
I showed her some images and videos of moissanite, compared price, showed it was nearly as hard -and- glittered more (and that I could get her a 2+ carat stone for what ~.5 carat diamond of comparable color and clarity would cost, and that at I also mentioned the possibility of gemstones; there were plenty that were gorgeous and would be more distinctive than diamond, and set her apart from other women (who, after all, could only brag about the size of their diamond, rather than how it had special meaning to them). Etc.
At the jeweler's as she explored different stones, she ended up picking out an aquamarine that she really liked (and then found out that was my birthstone, locking in the decision even more).
A diamond purchase is a type of proof-of-burn. It's a way to display how much you value the person by being willing to sacrifice a large part of your savings for them. It's not really about the stone itself, it's about the cost.
In old times they were throwing virgins down the cliff to please some god. Now we burn cash to please some virgin. Humanity clearly progressed.
And what fraction of newly engaged women are virgins? Just joking! :-)