Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 270 posts

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

#131

Post by pickingdinner »

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.)

You can make clear ice. Has nothing to do with the water, and everything to do with how you freeze the water. Just google "clear ice".

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

#132

Post by bluedevil2k »

TylerE wrote: post #101
spiderxxxx wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diamonds are not that rare. They're durable, so it's not like an old diamond is going to break or something. So, there should be plenty of diamonds for everyone who wants one. Rings made in the 1920s and up probably have some sort of diamond in it, and if you don't like the ring, keep the gem and craft a new ring around it. I prefer more rare stones, such as a padparadscha sapphire, or Alexandrite. I prefer to give m…

They are extremely hard, which is in most respects the opposite. Doesn’t take much to shatter one into a million pieces… Try hey will also burn readily at house firm temperatures

You obviously haven’t seen the video of a diamond being hit by a hammer against a steel anvil…and it was fine, even putting a dent into the anvil. You have to cleave it in just the right spot to split it - blunt force isn’t going to do it.

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

#133

Post by mortureb »

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?

Because it’s something women show off precisely as a signal of how much it cost. It has only so much to do with its aesthetic beauty.

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

#134

Post by downWidOutaFite »

typest wrote: post #104

I just got engaged. When we looked at rings, the jeweler asked my fiancé if she wanted natural or synthetic, and she responded “I don’t want a blood diamond!!” Of course, mined diamonds aren’t blood diamonds, but her impression was still they were a little ickier. The jeweler told me that one reason to get a natural diamond was that the prices of lab grown diamonds had been falling, whereas natural hasn’t as much, so…

Interesting that your salesperson used the same line as DeBeers does at the end of the article about lab diamonds being too cheap. It must be a sales talking point that comes from on top.

It's seems crazy that Debeers is actually trying to drive lab prices down to make them seem too cheap for bridal use. Their strategy is to try to retain the higher-end luxury market while giving up the more mainstream market where they can't compete.

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

#135

Post by bluedevil2k »

Fezzik wrote: post #95

What a great opportunity to re-share one of my favorite articles: https://priceonomics.com/diamonds-are-bullshit/ I really can’t think of an example better than people buying shiny rocks for absurd amounts of money that demonstrates how non-advanced we are, as a society generally.

The same can be said of BMWs, Philip Patek, Louis Vuitton, and dozens of other luxury brands. People like buying status signals, but it doesn’t signal how “non-advanced” we are. It’s how society has always worked and will always work.

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

#136

Post by lostlogin »

willcipriano wrote: post #90
zokier wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of things have happened in the 40 years since that article was written. De Beers do not control the market anymore the way they did before. Wikipedia says > De Beers's market share of rough diamonds to fall from as high as 90% in the 1980s to 29.5% in 2019 > De Beers sold off the vast majority of its diamond stockpile in the late 1990s – early 2000s and the remainder largely represents working stock (diamonds th…

[flagged]

Has John Oliver done an episode about diamonds?

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

#137

Post by Tao3300 »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #52
webignition wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might lab-grown diamonds have reached a point of being indistinguishable from natural diamonds such that people pass off lab-grown diamonds as natural diamonds without anyone being able to tell?

I have read that the distinguishing feature is that natural diamonds have flaws. Entrapped dirt or what have you that is not found in the sterile environment of the synthetic ones.

I worked for QVC a million years ago and the Diamonique they sold at the time was super clear and bright compared to authentic diamond.

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

#138

Post by sagarm »

leechy wrote: post #129
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,…

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.

Assuming you work 9-5 in an office, would you be happy getting a commuter pass or an alarm clock as a gift? I imagine some work-obsessed people would, but most would prefer something more personal.

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

#139

Post by thaumasiotes »

satvikpendem wrote: post #126
thaumasiotes wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"This crystal isn't impure - it's just full of pockets of an alien substance"?

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

#140

Post by Tao3300 »

hinkley wrote: post #80
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have read that the distinguishing feature is that natural diamonds have flaws. Entrapped dirt or what have you that is not found in the sterile environment of the synthetic ones.

Like honey, the inclusions are the only thing that distinguish it from counterfeit.

Rubies and sapphires are just different flavors of impure corundum.
Post reply on HN