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Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

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Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#121

Post by OJFord »

Trias11 wrote: post #42
OJFord wrote: post #5

It's crazy to prefer a natural diamond for anything other than a collectors' item. It's not about being 'cheap' - whatever your budget is, if you're picking an engagement ring say, why not get a technically superior (or larger) stone for the same price tag?

..and add here technically superior plastic flowers with a selection of natural scent sprays :)

They're not though, because they are actually a different thing (plastic) and you can tell that from some distance.

Lab-grown diamonds are the same thing as natural, the same material, and can be produced to a higher specification for the same cost as finding (due to scarcity, labour, etc.) an objectively worse stone. (Or equivalently a given spec can be manufactured cheaper than it can be found.)

The correct flower analogy would be growing nicely coloured varieties in a nursery vs. hunting for those random mutations in the wild.

(Nobody does the latter!)

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#123

Post by [deleted] »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #117
another_poster wrote: post #102

A good analogy is ice. We all use “freezer-grown crystalline water,” but prior to the invention of refrigeration, we harvested natural ice from frozen lakes and stored them in ice houses for use throughout the summer. Sure, there’s some romance from hand-harvested ice, but you can’t beat the price and purity of ice from a freezer.

Ice from a freezer is extremely impure. If it was pure, you could see right through it, the same way you can with a pure diamond. (The freezer, of course, has nothing to do with this - it's the water you're putting into it that's impure.)

[deleted]

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#124

Post by thaumasiotes »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #55
pjot wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the Apple App Store first came out there was an app called “I am rich” that cost $1000. It’s only functionality was a button that when pressed displayed the text, “I am rich!”

So funny.As I understand it, $1000 was the highest price tier Apple provided for the App Store. There must be a lesson (or perhaps even a metaphor?) in that half a dozen or so copies sold. At least one or two of the "marks" claimed they bought it on accident. Maybe. Or maybe some people have a lot more disposable income than I do. It still feels to me like developer performance art.

> At least one or two of the "marks" claimed they bought it on accident. Maybe.

Not really a problem if you're the developer; just offer an absolute refund guarantee.

My mother likes to tell the story of an American company that used to sell pills to determine the sex of your baby. You'd buy (and take) a girl pill if you wanted a girl and a boy pill if you wanted a boy.

If your baby came out the wrong sex, they'd give you a refund.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#125

Post by deeg »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #117
another_poster wrote: post #102

A good analogy is ice. We all use “freezer-grown crystalline water,” but prior to the invention of refrigeration, we harvested natural ice from frozen lakes and stored them in ice houses for use throughout the summer. Sure, there’s some romance from hand-harvested ice, but you can’t beat the price and purity of ice from a freezer.

Ice from a freezer is extremely impure. If it was pure, you could see right through it, the same way you can with a pure diamond. (The freezer, of course, has nothing to do with this - it's the water you're putting into it that's impure.)

It has little, if anything, to do with the water. Ice made in a freezer is cloudy because of air bubbles. There are techniques for making clear ice using directional freezing. Here's one way: https://altonbrown.com/recipes/cocktail-ice-cubes/

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#126

Post by satvikpendem »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #117
another_poster wrote: post #102

A good analogy is ice. We all use “freezer-grown crystalline water,” but prior to the invention of refrigeration, we harvested natural ice from frozen lakes and stored them in ice houses for use throughout the summer. Sure, there’s some romance from hand-harvested ice, but you can’t beat the price and purity of ice from a freezer.

Ice from a freezer is extremely impure. If it was pure, you could see right through it, the same way you can with a pure diamond. (The freezer, of course, has nothing to do with this - it's the water you're putting into it that's impure.)

No, being able to see through it has nothing to do with water purity (unless your water is so muddy that it's not clear even as a liquid), it's to do with the formation of the ice and the incorporation of air bubbles. You can make clear ice pretty easily with molds.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#127

Post by [deleted] »

paxys wrote: post #50
slashdev wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pitched this to my wife a few years back. She insisted she’d rather have a smaller natural diamond. It makes no sense to me. Shiny carbon is shiny carbon to me. There’s no real logic in it. But given it’s a status symbol that derives its value from its rareness, I suppose it’s no different than a Luis Vutton or a Rolex. It’s not about the function, it’s about the fact that you can afford one. I hate that mentality,…

I personally find the decision to buy lab grown diamonds to be weirder, because if you are already thinking logically rather than emotionally and can resist the social pressure then why waste money on a diamond at all? There are plenty of gems or metals out there that are cheaper, prettier, more rare and hold their value better than diamonds (whether natural or lab grown).

[deleted]

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#128

Post by dbg31415 »

arcticbull wrote: post #7

De Beers basically controls the whole diamond market. They make it almost impossible to resell them and strictly control the supply. They were also responsible (via advertising agency N. W. Ayer) for the idea that diamonds should be used in engagement rings in 1938-1941. This write-up from The Atlantic from 1982 explains the situation well. [1] Not sad to see the cartel taking an L. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/ma…

Adam Ruins Everything…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N5kWu1ifBGU

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#129

Post by leechy »

slashdev wrote: post #8
OJFord wrote: post #5

It's crazy to prefer a natural diamond for anything other than a collectors' item. It's not about being 'cheap' - whatever your budget is, if you're picking an engagement ring say, why not get a technically superior (or larger) stone for the same price tag?

I pitched this to my wife a few years back. She insisted she’d rather have a smaller natural diamond. It makes no sense to me. Shiny carbon is shiny carbon to me. There’s no real logic in it. But given it’s a status symbol that derives its value from its rareness, I suppose it’s no different than a Luis Vutton or a Rolex. It’s not about the function, it’s about the fact that you can afford one. I hate that mentality,…

The trick about gifts for most women seems to be that they are more valued the less inherent uses they have. Roses and diamonds are good gifts. A vacuum cleaner or an alarm clock: not so much.

Re: Diamond prices are in free fall in one key corner of the market

#130

Post by thaumasiotes »

Xcelerate wrote: post #82
OJFord wrote: post #5

It's crazy to prefer a natural diamond for anything other than a collectors' item. It's not about being 'cheap' - whatever your budget is, if you're picking an engagement ring say, why not get a technically superior (or larger) stone for the same price tag?

I want a lab grown diamond in the shape of a giant wafer. That way I can build a pan around it and use that to cook food in. That incredible thermal conductivity is wasted sitting in a piece of jewelry.

Lab diamonds are routinely grown in the shape of giant wafers. (And then smaller parts are cut out of the wafers.) This shouldn't be that hard to get if you really want it.

(I have a friend who used to have a job drawing cut plans for diamond wafers at Kyocera Unimerco.)

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