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The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

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

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Happy wife, happy life.

[flagged]

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

#92
post #4

Has anyone ever tried to sell an engagement or wedding ring with diamonds? You get cents on the dollar. Even or I should say especially brand names like Tiffany. The whole thing is a scam from start to finish and I wish I could go back in time and avoid the entire thing.

> 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?

Yes and everybody should do it.

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

#93
post #42

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…

Currently the US government holds 8,134 metric tons of gold in reserves. You can call it "hording" (whatever that means) but clearly someone thinks it's worth keeping half a trillion dollars worth of the country's money in it.

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

#94
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends what culture you’re in. Work gold jewelry gives you a lot of social cache in India so it is worn all the time. Additionally it’s used as a mode to transfer wealth across generations with jewelry giving mandated in the cultural milieu.

That's pretty much the point I made, if you're part of a culture that values gold then gold has percieved value .. otherwise it's not especially useful (in that other elements have similar properties and are cheaper to bulk source, with few applications that benefit uniquely from gold). 'Useful' being the pragmatic sense, food, shelter, clothing are neccesary, concrete and steel are useful, copper is useful, gold is…

Gold is somehow universally adored by humans. It’s not just the Indians, different, unconnected civilizations throughout history have given it a vaunted status in their society completely independently. Hence it is pragmatically a good store of value because it taps into a universal, instinctual appreciation for it.

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

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I tend to agree. This falls in the same realm as a fancy wedding versus a trip to a courthouse to get married. Some couples are fine with going to a courthouse, others will never accept it even if they have to borrow to accomplish it. When it comes to big weddings there is no such thing as a smart expense. Most couples would be better off by going to a judge to get married but that just can't be accepted by many. Dia…

I guess if they are desperate to get married they do whatever. Of they can discuss expectations at the beginning of the relationship like they do with other goals (i.e. kids or no kids).

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

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been able to access archive.today in a good long while. Cloudflare's challenge page lets me solve a captcha, but doesn't actually remember that I've solved it. So I'm in an endless loop of challenge pages. If you're wondering, I'm on Firefox connected thru Google Fiber. I've tried disabling Enhanced Tracking Protection, but all that does is make it so I don't have to solve a captcha. I still get the endless…

This happens if you use 1.1.1.1 as your DNS resolver, the result of a long-running dispute between Cloudflare and Archive.is[1]; searching HN for “archive cloudflare” will get you lots of discussion. As I understand it: the technical cause is that the Archive.is authoritative DNS server refuses to respond correctly to requests without EDNS subnet information, and Cloudflare’s resolver refuses to send requests with it…

Sooooo the weird thing for me is that I never actually used 1.1.1.1, and it's not in my DNS. archive.today loads correctly in Chrome without a problem so I suspect Firefox is just using 1.1.1.1 over DoH or something.

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

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Happy wife, happy life.

No, it’s happy life, happy wife. Think about it.

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

#98
post #77
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wedding bands have some utility though as if you get a gold one, you’re always carrying a small amount of gold to barter with.

I feel like if you're in a situation where you're reduced to bartering with someone with your gold wedding ring, chances are reasonably high that you're also in a situation where you don't get a say in whether they take your gold wedding ring.

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

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happy wife, happy life.

[flagged]

Do you, uh... want to explain?

It's definitely a cringy, antiquated phrase, but it doesn't seem harmful. People with wives should tie their own happiness to their wife's, shouldn't they?

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

#100
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what he’s saying, but he doesn’t get it.

Get what?

The diamond ring has no utility, so there’s no calculation to make. It’s an irrational proof of commitment.
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