This link should have had (1982) after the title. Read the whole article only to be very disappointed that it only covered up to 1982 - wtf?
Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
71–80 of 89 posts
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#72I'm worried it'd fly up my nose! Oh, "sell," not "smell!" My mistake.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#73There are some things you don't learn in college... like the truth about these pieces of carbon
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#74Spending insane amounts of money on a clump of carbon molecules to declare your love seems to me extremely wasteful. If your s.o. really needs a display of conspicuous consumption over spending your - now joint - funds carefully and wisely you might want to talk it over. Easy come easy go, if you have money left over to throw it out more power to you but most people are not in a position to throw away money like this…
Your point certainly sounds reasonable, but it's not how the human mind works. The point of conspicuous consumption is to make believe that the man is "in a position to throw away money like this", because that (imaginary) man is considered to be a good provider/sexually attractive. Talking about it beforehand would be like telling your kids you were going to dress up as Santa Claus to put presents under the tree—the…
You are right that the fantasy needs to be played out and its duly mentioned in the article about the woman already expecting a diamond even though the diamond is a surprise gift. This suspense 'game' was what De Beers invented. I mean they could have marketed black rock if it happened to be their line of business.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your point certainly sounds reasonable, but it's not how the human mind works. The point of conspicuous consumption is to make believe that the man is "in a position to throw away money like this", because that (imaginary) man is considered to be a good provider/sexually attractive. Talking about it beforehand would be like telling your kids you were going to dress up as Santa Claus to put presents under the tree—the…
You are right that the fantasy needs to be played out and its duly mentioned in the article about the woman already expecting a diamond even though the diamond is a surprise gift. This suspense 'game' was what De Beers invented. I mean they could have marketed black rock if it happened to be their line of business.
> I mean they could have marketed black rock if it happened to be their line of business.
Well, if it happened to be their line of business, and they had a monopoly on the supply of it. It's hard to market things you can find in your back yard.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does anybody know where I could buy a synthetic clear diamond?
They don't come any larger than 0.3 karats, which is too small for a solitaire. You can't get them to match either, which makes them bad for side stones. I tried. A good alternative is Canadian diamonds, which are not owned by DeBeers, not mined or polished by slaves, and not the cause of any conflict. That solves about half the problems with diamonds. Get them from Brilliant Earth (I'm not employed there, just a ver…
Though one could argue that by buying a 'clean' diamond you are increasing the prices for dirty ones.
Not that that makes it immoral to do so. I wouldn't go that far.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#77Its been a fantastic fad while it lasts (lasted?) but in the end its always just been "Vans off the wall" for "big people". I wonder what we'll use next. I've always wanted to give my wife a ring with a bit of a meteorite set in it because, hey, its from outer space . Where does one find such things?
These guys were able to procure some to make dice. You might start by sending them a note and/or following up on the source they mention. http://crystalcaste.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Sto...
The banner at the top of the site boasts about winning a lawsuit to prevent someone else (Hasbro) from creating similarly-shaped dice, but the shapes look like they would have ancient origins. Not exactly my kind of company.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah. The article should maybe deal in depth with the start of De Beers. De Beers was basically formed by an English colonialist (Cecil John Rhodes). He controlled a company which basically owned a country ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_South_Africa_Company ). He also had his own private army and tried to overthrow a sovereign government ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson_Raid ).
Rhodesia was named for him. He also set up the Rhodes Scholarship, which enabled people like Bill Clinton and Bob Hawke to go to Oxford.
And the goal of Rhodes in establishing these scholarships for elite students to study in Britain was to establish a global British empire, including "the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire." (from Rhodes' will) I don't go looking for conspiracy theories but the Rhodes Scholarship is hard to ignore.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah. The article should maybe deal in depth with the start of De Beers. De Beers was basically formed by an English colonialist (Cecil John Rhodes). He controlled a company which basically owned a country ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_South_Africa_Company ). He also had his own private army and tried to overthrow a sovereign government ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson_Raid ).
Rhodesia was named for him. He also set up the Rhodes Scholarship, which enabled people like Bill Clinton and Bob Hawke to go to Oxford.
Just because he set up a scholarship in his name doesn't make the things he did any better.
One of the aims of the Rhodes scholarship is Anglicization. A person who did not study in English cannot apply (even though he is fluent).
Until recently they also excluded women.
In any cases, the legacy of Rhodes is despicable - even if he left behind a scholarship program. His creation of the state of Zimbabwe (with two different ethnic groups) results in problems to this day.
Re: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
#80Never even seen one, and I dont get i why diamonds and gold are given so much value. Its true if someone said... the market is driven by women.