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The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

bloomberg.com

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Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#61

Post by jrflowers »

pbj1968 wrote: post #49

These threads are always great for men posting about how their wives love the imitation stones “just as much” and “I didn’t foolishly spend money.” As always, if it worked for your marriage, it worked, but many of us can sniff out a fake from across the room. And it will always look tacky and cheap and she will be wearing it, in theory, the rest of her life. I have visited exactly one jeweler in my life that set man…

> I have visited exactly one jeweler in my life that set man made stones into quality precious metal settings.

It is a shame that the free fall of price caused by the precipitous drop in consumer demand did not impact jewelers’ behavior. We must assume that high-end jewelers turned away customers wanting stones other than diamond and shut down their businesses over the past couple of years. The thought of moissanite or literally any stone other than diamond cannot be countenanced by quality jewelers (a group famous for not bending over backwards for money)

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#62

Post by dublinben »

brink wrote: post #3

I would like to take this moment to thank https://diamondssuck.com/ for preventing me from buying my wife a diamond, and getting her a much prettier moissanite instead. It's been on hn's front page several times.

It’s pretty clear how existential of a threat lab-grown diamonds have become to the traditional diamond industry. Today you can buy a lab-grown diamond for ~$550 that’s equivalent to the $4500 natural diamond or $400 moissanite mentioned in that article.

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#63

Post by bluGill »

defrost wrote: post #42
huytersd wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold jewelry is very easily an investment. The artisan work on them only increases the cost by 10-15% on the underlying value of the gold (at least in India).

Gold, just gold, is an investment simply because people value it - it's a shiny noble metal that stays "pure", ergo percieved value. From a resource utility PoV it costs more to source than copper or aluminium which are nearly as conductive - so they win out for electronic and power transmision applications. There are applications where gold is the clear winner - "forever" circuits and switches that are worth the ext…

Copper is significantly more conductive than gold. Folklore holds a.myth that gold is really good, but basic physics disagrees.

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#64

Post by Loughla »

dariusj18 wrote: post #28
brink wrote: post #3

I would like to take this moment to thank https://diamondssuck.com/ for preventing me from buying my wife a diamond, and getting her a much prettier moissanite instead. It's been on hn's front page several times.

I was in the market, but I came to find moissanite to be too sparkly. Still looking but thinking white sapphire is going to be the eventual purchase.

Check out lab grown diamonds. Ethically way better than dirt diamonds, and the price is like 1/5 as well. They also don't have the (solely in my opinion) chintzy sparkle of moissanite.

Shout out to Friendly Diamonds for a recent purchase. My spouse knocked the center stone out of her wedding ring. Ordered a much larger, much (much much much) higher quality in terms of cut color and clarity, and WAY cheaper lab diamond from them.

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#65

Post by zmgsabst »

pbj1968 wrote: post #49

These threads are always great for men posting about how their wives love the imitation stones “just as much” and “I didn’t foolishly spend money.” As always, if it worked for your marriage, it worked, but many of us can sniff out a fake from across the room. And it will always look tacky and cheap and she will be wearing it, in theory, the rest of her life. I have visited exactly one jeweler in my life that set man…

So it’s a win-win:

I get a better ring for the price and people who talk about “sniffing out fakes” because in their mind conspicuous consumption creates social value will avoid me.

Sign me up!

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#67

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

xwdv wrote: post #41

Diamonds are worthless, but reject them at your own peril. When my friend proposed to his girlfriend of 3 years, because the ring didn’t have a diamond she said no.

If you think about it, a ring is just as unneeded as a diamond. The situation is that a diamond ring has become a social norm. I would bet that if you ask most women whether they want a diamond engagement ring or another type of rock, they will pick the diamond ring by an overwhelming majority. Imagine a woman telling others about their engagement and showing a rock other than a diamond. It would be a disappointment any way you see it. The "diamonds are a scam" reason just won't cut it. The diamond industry has been extremely successful at planting that notion in society.

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#68

Post by Loughla »

huytersd wrote: post #33
SenAnder wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Has anyone ever tried to sell an engagement or wedding ring with diamonds? You get cents on the dollar. Does that mean you can buy one second-hand at a low price, and avoid the inflated market entirely?

There’s specifically no market for them somehow. I tried to look but the only places I could found that sold them was at pawn shops.

Honestly, second hand diamond and other gemstone jewelry seems like such a missed opportunity. I feel like people would go for it, with the new focus on sustainability and what-not. I wonder why that's not a thing?

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#69

Post by dmoy »

gumby wrote: post #22
adolph wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a reasonable conjecture that stretches the meaning of the word rain. Naomi Rowe-Gurney: So I mentioned methane being the reason why these two planets are blue. Well, methane has carbon in it and that carbon can occur by itself and also be crushed by the immense pressures that happen, like, deep in the atmosphere, so much deeper than the levels that I look at. And inside the planet, when it gets really hot…

More snow, really.

Neither rain nor snow. Both don't form from pressure, and require some kind of particulate nucleus thing, which isn't water.

Closer to a mesospheric cloud?

Re: The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

#70

Post by bombcar »

xivzgrev wrote: post #46
brink wrote: post #3

I would like to take this moment to thank https://diamondssuck.com/ for preventing me from buying my wife a diamond, and getting her a much prettier moissanite instead. It's been on hn's front page several times.

Guys, buying diamonds, can complain all day about what a rip off it is (it is). But if you apprise your fiancé of the alternatives / opp costs (moissanite, man made, second hand, etc) and she still wants a new diamond, just get her a new diamond. It will make her happy for years. My wife had her heart set on a pink diamond, so that’s what I got her. I made it clear though that if I got this, she is not getting a new…

And make sure you appraise her of it - shenanigans like buying something else and passing it off as a diamond could result in her being absolutely embarrassed in front of her friends, which should not be a position you want to put her in.
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