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Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

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Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#91

Post by satvikpendem »

notfed wrote: post #87
crazygringo wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason you can make a print of a classic painting, and digitally brighten and re-saturate the colors to counteract the darkening and yellowing of the original with age. Remove all of the cracking too. And you'll still only be able to sell the print for tens of dollars, while the original is worth millions. People attach value to authenticity and originals and tradition, however they define that.

It sounds like some people want to pay more money. Good for them. I'm happy to have a cheaper option.

Yes, this is a form of signaling in social psychology, an interesting phenomenon that happens with originals versus "replicas."

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#92

Post by euroderf »

fortran77 wrote: post #22
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #11

Over the past 10 years, there has been an explosion in cheap lab diamond and moissanite producers in China and India. 10 years ago, it was hard to find quality lab diamonds at a reasonable price, and moissanite was still reasonably expensive at $400-600/ct. Today, given cutthroat competition and "race to the bottom" pricing strategies, lab diamonds are ubiquitous, extremely high quality, and cheap. Less than $200/ct…

I need diamonds to play my records! What do you think a record stylus ("needle") is made from?

Shibata needles always commanded a premium. Can they now be manufactured in that shape ? Can all vinyl lovers now get Shibata needles ? The great thing about them is that they go deeper in the record grooves, so even if your record has been played a lot using cheaper needles, a Shibata might find virgin vinyl. Which also means that on the first play with the Shibata, it will excavate a lot of gunk.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#93

Post by rowanG077 »

crazygringo wrote: post #81
rowanG077 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Natural diamonds are the inferior product in every way.

For the same reason you can make a print of a classic painting, and digitally brighten and re-saturate the colors to counteract the darkening and yellowing of the original with age. Remove all of the cracking too. And you'll still only be able to sell the print for tens of dollars, while the original is worth millions. People attach value to authenticity and originals and tradition, however they define that.

The prints most certainly aren't better. Hand painted is not something that can't be defeated with a printer currently. Besides you pay for the history of the original not the paint. A natural diamond has essentially the same history as any other rock you can pick up anywhere for free. People pay for the feeling. That doesn't mean a synthetic diamond is physically superior in every way.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#94

Post by stoolio »

indoordin0saur wrote: post #51
DabbyDabberson wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most people taking this strategy that I know use platinum instead of gold. Most engagement rings only have ~~~$200 worth of gold on them.

Do ring vendors put a higher markup on gold than platinum?

The price of gold is through the roof. Gold is ~$2500 per oz, while platinum is $950 per oz. However, most gold is 14kt (58%) or 18kt (75%) while Platinum is 90%+. That, and platinum is a heavier (technically denser is more correct?) metal, so there is more platinum in an equivalent ring, and it weighs more. The actual price on finished jewelry isn't as big as you would think.

However, "retail" jewelry stores often price things using what they call Keystone (2x markup) or even triple keystone (3x). So, a $500 piece would sell for $1000-$1500.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#95

Post by euroderf »

RandomLensman wrote: post #17
jajko wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They never had any value, apart from specialized ie glass cutting tool. Only when DeBeers realized they could push some fictious heavy marketing 'to prove your worth to woman you are asking to marry' for those shiny stones nobody wanted to buy, people who didn't know better got manipulated into buying them. They are supposedly very common in universe, and probably in deeper Earth too. Correction is healthy and benefi…

Diamonds where valued before DeBeers even existed, but diamonds in engagement rings (especially in the US) are (at least partially) from a heavy marketing push by them in the 20th century. Previously engagement rings tended to be colored gemstones.

Yes, I've read that in the early 20th century, other precious gemstones (like rubies & emeralds) had more than a third of the market for engagement rings.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#96

Post by fidotron »

notfed wrote: post #87
crazygringo wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason you can make a print of a classic painting, and digitally brighten and re-saturate the colors to counteract the darkening and yellowing of the original with age. Remove all of the cracking too. And you'll still only be able to sell the print for tens of dollars, while the original is worth millions. People attach value to authenticity and originals and tradition, however they define that.

It sounds like some people want to pay more money. Good for them. I'm happy to have a cheaper option.

The whole point is to spend money and to be an honest signal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_theory

In the event artificial diamonds are genuinely indistinguishable from natural ones they will all, natural and artificial, become worthless aside from practical applications.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#97

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

Kaijo wrote: post #20

This is true with some qualifications. If you're interested in the kind of investment grade diamonds that a major auction house would deal with, then you're looking at heavy weights and/or fancy colors that synthetics can't reach yet. In the diamond trade the word "paragon" is sometimes reserved for flawless or near-flawless stones above 100 carats, of which there is a long list of famous examples, but the largest ge…

Vivid colors are a trivial engineering problem, and one the Chinese have already cracked. Screenshot: https://ibb.co/s6gWTy1

Prices are dropping like a rock from a high tower, and colors and other options are becoming more available. Within 10 years you'll be able to buy virtually any diamond you like, in any common color, for less than a 2ct stone would have cost in 2014.

Also, if you really like huge gems, you can buy a moissanite today at 1000ct. Even on Amazon.com there are examples at 100ct. https://www.amazon.com/Gemonite-15CT-100CT-Moissanite-Colorl...

This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Things in the diamond and gemstone business are changing fast.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#98

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

djtango wrote: post #25
Kaijo wrote: post #20

This is true with some qualifications. If you're interested in the kind of investment grade diamonds that a major auction house would deal with, then you're looking at heavy weights and/or fancy colors that synthetics can't reach yet. In the diamond trade the word "paragon" is sometimes reserved for flawless or near-flawless stones above 100 carats, of which there is a long list of famous examples, but the largest ge…

A diamond the size of a moon? Does that mean it's a single molecule of pure carbon the size of the moon? I wonder what effects gravity has at that scale

It's certainly polycrystalline rather than a giant single-crystal. It would contain lots of every other element that's soluble in it, to its limit of solubility, and whatever's insoluble or over that limit would have to form different mineral inclusions at grain boundaries.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#99

Post by stoolio »

pton_xd wrote: post #7
renewiltord wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does one get these wholesale prices? And I assume that cutting happens at some cost over this?

Wholesale I'm not sure. Retail you can use sites like stonealgo.com to search inventory. And no that's the final cut and graded price.

The trade uses a variety of sites for "wholesale" prices. Rapnet is the standard, and they publish the Rapaport Price List. However, it only covers natural diamonds, and rapnet only lists natural. Diamonds generally go for a % discount off the Rap Price List.

Polygon (.net) is the other major listing platform. They include lab diamonds, and most everyone uses them. There are other platforms, but those are the two majors IMHO.

You need to be a member of the trade to sign up AFAIK.

However, I have seen one retail site, Ritani, actually post "wholesale" prices and they seemed to be pretty accurate. They seem to have good prices too. They list their wholesale/markup/etc. Of course, you should buy from a nice local jewelry store, but if you want to buy lab online they are at least great for checking prices.

Re: Synthetic diamonds are now purer, more beautiful, and cheaper than mined

#100

Post by Noumenon72 »

moralestapia wrote: post #21

(Not related to the content of the article) What a beautiful site. The subtle pink background, the choice of font, the minimal appearance (true to the spirit of being minimal, not just dead-ass simple), the way images are woven through, the footnotes, ... Excellent execution!

I didn't click through the headline, so until you called this out I thought I was skipping a price chart from the AP or something. I almost missed all that history and diagrams. Thanks!
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