21–30 of 82 posts
The real trick isn't that they get people to buy expensive rocks. The real trick is that they convinced so many of us to rebury them. Cemeteries are most certainly the richest untapped diamond fields in existence.
The punchline is the second to last paragraph: > Today, De Beers hold on the industry supply chain is less strong. And yet, price continue to rise as new deposits haven’t been found recently and demand for diamonds is increasing in India and China. For now, it’s less necessary that the company monopolize the supply chain because its lie that a diamond is a proxy for a man’s worth in life has infected the rest of the…
There are very real and noticeable differences between a $30k and $90k BMW other than top speed. There are NOT noticeable differences between a $30k diamond and a $3k moissanite stone. A better analogy would be $100 "professional HDMI cable" and a $10 standard HDMI cable.
Personally I think a synthetic diamond is better than a natural one, but IFLS.
I agree in principal that it's silly to buy a diamond engagement ring. But I also feel like the large expense helps solidify your intent. Without the ring, proposals would lose some of their weight. The ring helps keep more proposals serious, which benefits everyone involved.
Doesn't it happen that lots of people use their Aunt's wedding ring, or a ring from a previous failed proposal? I feel as if I see this on TV pretty often (I'm 25 and unmarried and not particularly familiar with the diamond buying process although I'm always fascinated walking through the Diamond District in New York City). If that's the case doesn't it bring it back to a lesser investment? Although it's true that if…
I'm not sure about family rings. I don't really have any evidence regardless, just going off personal experience.
The punchline is the second to last paragraph: > Today, De Beers hold on the industry supply chain is less strong. And yet, price continue to rise as new deposits haven’t been found recently and demand for diamonds is increasing in India and China. For now, it’s less necessary that the company monopolize the supply chain because its lie that a diamond is a proxy for a man’s worth in life has infected the rest of the…
There are very real and noticeable differences between a $30k and $90k BMW other than top speed. There are NOT noticeable differences between a $30k diamond and a $3k moissanite stone. A better analogy would be $100 "professional HDMI cable" and a $10 standard HDMI cable.
I think the biggest problem is that most people have not seen moissanite in person, and don't realize that it can compare very favorably (if not more so) to a diamond. Glad to say I've managed to sway a couple of my friends so far on that front ;) Here's some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chix0r/sets/72157637715040063
The punchline is the second to last paragraph: > Today, De Beers hold on the industry supply chain is less strong. And yet, price continue to rise as new deposits haven’t been found recently and demand for diamonds is increasing in India and China. For now, it’s less necessary that the company monopolize the supply chain because its lie that a diamond is a proxy for a man’s worth in life has infected the rest of the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well gold and land both have a resale value that is pretty much exactly what you paid for it, assuming other things are equal. The point of the article is that diamonds (as used in jewellery) really don't, and therefore are not suited to investment (or currency, or some other store of value) as gold and land might be. If you buy gold or land in a fair auction, you can flip it in a day or two for roughly the same pric…
Gold jewelry generally resells for ~1/2 of its initial purchase price +/- whatever the gold market did. Land also has a high transfer cost (Real Estate Agent etc) and it's often paid for with a loan which also inflates the purchase price, not to mention taxes, none of which is reflected in the sale price. Generally, if you’re moving in less than 5 years it's better to rent.
You can even hoard gold under your bed and buy gold coins and bullion (albeit at a ~10% premium to market rates). If you want to hoard gold jewelry however, there is typically a 100-400% retail markup so that’s probably not a wise investment.
Your comments on land are closer to accurate but neglect to point out the massive leverage common in such an investment. You can effectively buy a $200,000 asset with only putting $40,000 (or even less) down. If you get a 20% appreciation in the asset over a period of time you've doubled your money. You also get a tax deduction on the interest from the loan and rates are ridiculously low right now.
The punchline is the second to last paragraph: > Today, De Beers hold on the industry supply chain is less strong. And yet, price continue to rise as new deposits haven’t been found recently and demand for diamonds is increasing in India and China. For now, it’s less necessary that the company monopolize the supply chain because its lie that a diamond is a proxy for a man’s worth in life has infected the rest of the…
There are very real and noticeable differences between a $30k and $90k BMW other than top speed. There are NOT noticeable differences between a $30k diamond and a $3k moissanite stone. A better analogy would be $100 "professional HDMI cable" and a $10 standard HDMI cable.
My wife and I felt the same way too, until we actually compared them. The sparkle and brilliance in the diamond was dramatically better than any other stone we compared it to. We went into ring shopping pretty determined to not get a diamond, and yet still bought one.
I tried to explain all that to my gf, but she was having none of it. It was either a diamond or hit the road, Jack. Proposed to her last Saturday with a shiny diamond ring, she's now my fiance, so I think it was worth it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well gold and land both have a resale value that is pretty much exactly what you paid for it, assuming other things are equal. The point of the article is that diamonds (as used in jewellery) really don't, and therefore are not suited to investment (or currency, or some other store of value) as gold and land might be. If you buy gold or land in a fair auction, you can flip it in a day or two for roughly the same pric…
Gold jewelry generally resells for ~1/2 of its initial purchase price +/- whatever the gold market did. Land also has a high transfer cost (Real Estate Agent etc) and it's often paid for with a loan which also inflates the purchase price, not to mention taxes, none of which is reflected in the sale price. Generally, if you’re moving in less than 5 years it's better to rent.
The loan interest has nothing to do with real estate. That's just what happens when you take a loan for anything.
Jewelry is nothing like real estate. If it was, you would see billion dollar hedge funds buying up all of the jewelry.
I've always wondered if there's a space for some serious disruption in this industry. One of the things I've always seen, having gone to lots of auctions as a kid, is that you can buy diamond rings for a fraction of the price on the auction block. Even if you just rip the diamond out, and set it in a new ring, you'd be saving money, not to mention the metals you have left over from the ring. If there were a company w…
Not sure about how to do the disruption on Earth but when we can start, effectively, mining asteroids? Well precious metals should be able to take a nose dive. Not sure how much diamonds exist in asteroids but I wouldn't be surprised if a company can effectively mine asteroids to disrupt all precious metal industries.