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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

#351

Post by ginko »

Animats wrote: post #227

The diamond industry has a terrible problem. They promoted diamonds as "perfection". The most valuable diamond is supposed to be a crystal with no flaws. Then they ran into the semiconductor materials industry. Wafer fabs want every atom where it is supposed to be. So semiconductor materials manufacturers are very good at making crystals with few or no flaws. So, now the synthetic diamond market looks like this.[1] D…

Diamonds are still too expensive as long as you can't get phone screens, PC heatsinks and chip wafers made from the stuff.

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

#352

Post by Retric »

oblio wrote: post #339
callalex wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it count as a cultural tradition if it was manufactured within the last 2 generations? It’s kinda like asking a family if they celebrate Toyotathon or Hondadays as a tradition.

Yes, it counts. If you look at most modern traditions, 90% of them are less than 100-150 years old. Christmas today looks nothing like Christmas in 1900, across the world. Most of the foods today (and I'm not talking about fast food) were invented in the same period. At least their modern incarnations, sometimes they have really old names but the old versions had very little in common with the current food.

I disagree, Tinsel is at the edge of that 150 year window only going back to 1890’s, but Christmas hasn’t changed that much from 200 years ago. If you look at old pictures Christmas trees taken in 1900 it looks basically the same as one today except for the LED lighting showing how slowly things evolved.

Documentation isn’t that great, but back in the 1450’s people decorated fir trees with apples alongside other ornaments which is the origin of modern round ornaments. By the 1530 there where rules limiting people to one tree in their homes. Massachusetts outlawed Christmas celebrations back in 1659 outside of Church attendance.

The tradition had spread well outside of Germany even back in 1841 Winser Castle had a Christmas Tree.

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

#353

Post by jojobas »

kamray23 wrote: post #338
jojobas wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of perfectly legal scams. You can buy "quantum radiation remover stickers" on eBay, have been there for years. Apple stores get overnight queues of people on release dates. Homeopathy is paid for by the German public health system.

You can buy lots of "quantum radiation remover" and "negative ion quantum shield" products which purport to create negative ions and shield you from radiation on all platforms. Most of them do actually generate ions if you measure air around them with a legitimate calibrated ionometer. But of course, that takes energy. Where is a rock or a sticker going to obtain the energy to constantly ionize the air around it? Rad…

Pretty sure most of them have nothing to do with radionuclides, not even in smoke detector quantities. It's just a silly sticker that can't work by definition, yet is somehow legal enough for eBay not to remove them en masse.

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

#354

Post by makeitdouble »

Horffupolde wrote: post #100
squigz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get what?

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

> It’s an irrational proof of commitment.

I think that's a bridge too far.

There's many clear reasons why people want a diamond, and even an angle like "I want to follow society's expectations" is to me far from being irrational when you're prepping yourself to build a whole life with someone else.

A couple can discuss these matters and come up with alternative paths, people are referencing other materials and I'd include not buying anything fancy and save up for the first payment of their home for instance. But brides requesting a diamond is usually far from lacking rationale.

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

#355

Post by imtringued »

mjamesaustin wrote: post #89
Loughla wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Because the marketing goal of the diamond industry is to convince buyers that the amount of money you spent indicates how much you love your spouse.

But that doesn't dictate how much you're supposed to be paying for each individual diamond. If you have a "proof of love" budget of $6000 you could just buy five used diamonds instead. You could then start an arms race with other married couples and claim they don't love their spouses, because they only bought them a single diamond.

Edit: I checked and multi diamond cluster rings look way more impressive and make single diamond rings look cheap and icky.

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

#356

Post by gtirloni »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #278
atleastoptimal wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't marry anyone whose happiness is dependent on a artificially expensive hard and shiny rock whose prestige was inflated for years by an industry built on slave labor, especially when far less expensive alternatives exist. If she is apprised of the alternatives and still demands "No I want EXPENSIVE shiny thing" then it's cultural shaming factoring into the decision making. You have to reevaluate what she see…

>I wouldn't marry anyone... yeah but I wouldn't tell someone that seems reasonably happy with the person they married that I wouldn't marry them. As long as we're listing the things we wouldn't do.

On top of that, I wouldn't give my opinion about someone's life partner unless requested to do so.

Even then, I'd be very careful to deliver the message in the most amenable way possible.

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

#357

Post by benj111 »

manmal wrote: post #270
friend_and_foe wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it is capacity to build the life they want and to do the same for their kids. Financially, yes, I need to leave them better off than me, inflation adjusted of course. Education, good habits, good examples, all of these things matter to me as well.

My priority is giving my kids the tools to build their life themselves. For me, that means being smart about education if they want it (doesn’t need to be an elite uni IMO, but in our country there are none anyway) and the ability to maintain long term relationships. I think the latter is tricky and there’s no guarantee, but we go out of our way to always leave shame out of the equation (big relationship destroyer),…

I concur.

For me, raising a child is about raising a functioning future adult.

Bunging them £x000 when (hopefully) they're in their 60s seems a bit too late for me to have done my job properly.

Further, what does the parent expect from their parents when they die? Are they going to be annoyed if they don't get 'enough'?

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

#358

Post by oblio »

Maxion wrote: post #253
Animats wrote: post #227

The diamond industry has a terrible problem. They promoted diamonds as "perfection". The most valuable diamond is supposed to be a crystal with no flaws. Then they ran into the semiconductor materials industry. Wafer fabs want every atom where it is supposed to be. So semiconductor materials manufacturers are very good at making crystals with few or no flaws. So, now the synthetic diamond market looks like this.[1] D…

That first link makes me want to buy some 1 carat CVDs to play around with. I mean at those prices, making my own diamond chandelier isn't too out of the question.

Well, if you think about it, mass manufacturing, progress in industrial chemistry, plastics, etc, did a lot of impossible things super cheap.

We have disposable pieces of plastics worth 10 cents that if teleported back to 1600 in bulk (say, 1000 units) would have cost entire counties back then, including the people living on them: light, strong, elaborate and very precisely machined.

Look at this thing:

https://www.decathlon.be/fr/p/mp/moma-bikes/velo-de-ville-ho...

About $240, by modern standards quite bad, but for someone in 1600, the ability to go most places in comfort with a decent chunk of stuff with you in some baskets and bags.

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

#359

Post by gtirloni »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #328
RandomLensman wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A large diamond actually looks pretty nice (and very different from mossianite), not sure why that is devaluing the agency of anyone (provided the costs are relatively easy to afford). Even uncut diamond crystals have a very particular "fatty" shine to it that some people might like and enjoy.

I agree, diamonds are cool. However I've seen demands that a fiancé purchase a real diamond, not a much cheaper "synthetic" one, even though it's structurally identical. That this was even a notion affirmed my assumption that the psychological importance of purchasing a diamond is tied to the price itself.

Wait until you hear about this rock in outter space that has some very social and weird carbon life forms. You'll be amazed about how stupid they are.

Luckily we dodged that bullet.

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

#360

Post by oblio »

ginko wrote: post #351
Animats wrote: post #227

The diamond industry has a terrible problem. They promoted diamonds as "perfection". The most valuable diamond is supposed to be a crystal with no flaws. Then they ran into the semiconductor materials industry. Wafer fabs want every atom where it is supposed to be. So semiconductor materials manufacturers are very good at making crystals with few or no flaws. So, now the synthetic diamond market looks like this.[1] D…

Diamonds are still too expensive as long as you can't get phone screens, PC heatsinks and chip wafers made from the stuff.

I imagine they're working on it.

But why heatsinks and chip wafers? I know diamond is carbon, but does it have some specific properties except hardness that help with those?

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