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The diamond world takes radical steps to stop a pricing plunge

bloomberg.com

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

#471

Post by bombcar »

selcuka wrote: post #242
RationalDino wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are making unjustified assumptions. I am a person who doesn't wish to spend $20,000 on a rock so that my wife won't be embarrassed in front of her friends. And that is why I chose to marry a woman who thinks that spending $20,000 on a rock is a silly thing to do.

> that is why I chose to marry a woman That was my point. If you married someone who doesn't like diamonds, fine. The original comment was about "shenanigans like buying something else and passing it off as a diamond". Isn't there anything your partner likes? Would you buy something else because you don't wish to spend $X on Y , "passing it off as Y ", and embarrass her in front of her friends?

Exactly. The deception is the problem and secretly buying a “real conflict” diamond for a woman who doesn’t want to be involved with it would be just as bad.

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

#472

Post by benj111 »

Retric wrote: post #438
benj111 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but diamonds aren’t worth what you’re paying >Value is defined in free markets by what you can sell something for So if someone can sell you a diamond for X, it is worth X. So the diamond is worth what you're paying. Was Christmas created to sell Christianity? I just don't get the distinction. A 'natural' tradition isn't somehow more wholesome, we've just forgotten who invented it. And the meaning still derives from…

> So if someone can sell you a diamond for X, it is worth X. Note quite, when most people buy land the seller doesn’t receive the full amount you pay realtors get their cut of the transaction. Same deal with used cars etc, the transaction costs are removed from the sales price when calculating value. Commercial Diamonds are just an unusually extreme case. > I just don't get the distinction. A 'natural' tradition isn'…

>Note quite, when most people buy land the seller doesn’t receive the full amount you pay realtors get their cut of the transaction. Same deal with used cars etc.

In my country house selling generally uses an agency model, I (optionally) employ someone to market my house.

I get the full value, and then pay them a fee.

A second hand car seller sells the car, they make money by adding value. If I choose to buy a car I can go direct to a seller but they may not have want I want, may not be available at convenient times, and I'll have less come back if things go wrong.

>Saying someone created it therefore it’s all the same is a meaningless statement. People create different things, saying someone created something doesn’t imply what that thing is.

You're implying who created that thing is more important than what the thing is.

So can we agree that it's the thing that's important, not who made it.

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

#473

Post by nojvek »

dang wrote: post #48

Ruh roh. Related: Diamonds are losing their allure - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37508058 - Sept 2023 (128 comments) Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37396372 - Sept 2023 (11 comments) What's the case for naturally mined diamonds anymore? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37275308 - Aug 2023 (49 comments) Man-made diamonds are falling in price and appe…

dang, this is wonderful.

I wonder if HN would consider a feature where an article would automatically link previous submissions of same topic.

Seems like a great way to get insight of how novel a topic is.

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

#474

Post by huytersd »

tempestn wrote: post #266
huytersd wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s specifically no market for them somehow. I tried to look but the only places I could found that sold them was at pawn shops.

There are lots on eBay, or at least there were some years back when I was in the market.

eBay is sketchy when it comes to this. I want to have someone verify it is what they say it is.

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

#475

Post by paulddraper »

forgetfreeman wrote: post #233
paulddraper wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh yes preference for a diamond ring is definitely a dealbreaker

because I definitely want to spend the rest of my life with someone who's hypnotized by multi-generational marketing campaigns into wearing industrial abrasives as a status symbol. who wouldn't?

That's like saying you wouldn't want to spend the rest of your life with someone who plays video games.

Or eats dessert.

Or likes flashy cars.

There's some level that is perfectly healthy, as long as it doesn't interfere with the important stuff.

---

If she says "diamond ring or else I don't want you"...that's bad.

If she says "I prefer a diamond ring, but either way I want you"...nothing wrong with that.

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

#476

Post by brrrrrm »

ozim wrote: post #370
lukas099 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically you could spend the same amount an some insanely huge used diamond.

"Used things are for poor people" - they know their market well and don't even have to actively diminish used diamonds/rings value, their customers do it for them.

Sustainability is a luxury belief. The market will change when such values disseminate more broadly.

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

#477

Post by smegger001 »

SnorkelTan wrote: post #54
smegger001 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup got my wives ring from a pawnshop cheap

Using the plural of wife might be unintentionally adding context here.

Phone autocorrected the missing apostrophe to a multiple instead

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

#478

Post by ben_w »

ako wrote: post #392
TeMPOraL wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Part of the comparison here is that the alternatives are both cheaper and practically better. It's not the case here, because you're not buying gems for their practical value. If you were, then there would not be an issue - lab-grown diamonds for cutting things would be even cheaper than they are, and you wouldn't care about other gems unless you were playing with lasers or something. As much a I hate it, the entir…

Jewelry is not unpractical, it's like an insurance for bad times. When shit hits the fan you still have your jewelry to sell.

That used to be true, but now, and specifically with diamonds, not so much: https://www.brightonsavoy.com.au/why-does-a-diamond-have-no-....

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

#479

Post by amrocha »

defrost wrote: post #336
amrocha wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think that just because a mine isn't in Africa that means it's a good place to work then I disagree

The marine mining ships I linked work in Africa, I've worked in several types of mines, I've had a career as an exploration geophysicist, and I worked on a resource intelligence mapping project that took me to mines across the globe. There are mines I wouldn't work in, there are many mines I'd have no issue working in. Which mines have you you worked in and what was your role?

The article you linked literally criticizes the Namibia mine for causing ecological damage to the marine ecosystem from repeated trawling. All that for superfluous rocks we can make synthetically.

Granted, maybe there are good mines out there, but I still think commercial extraction of resources is almost surely damaging to its surrounding environment. You can justify that for some useful material, but it's hard to justify it for diamonds.

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

#480

Post by bluGill »

defrost wrote: post #82
bluGill wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Copper is significantly more conductive than gold. Folklore holds a.myth that gold is really good, but basic physics disagrees.

It's not very significant (by most definitions of the word), a typical physics | engineering quote is: The electrical conductivity of copper is slightly higher at 5.96 x10^7 S/m than gold which is 4.11×10^7 S/m. More importantly is the lifespan of the two metals. Copper has a high oxidation level. So, if installed in an unstable environment (such as outside), it will fail sooner than gold. They're close (which is how…

It is significant enough that you would need a thicker wire for many applications. Gold's corrosive properties are often useful and it conducts well enough, though even then gold is used as much because of "gold" when something else cheaper would work good enough.
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