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Another alternative is synthetic, lab grown diamonds. They are superior to naturally occuring diamonds, cheaper, aren't tainted by human misery and suffering
by FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
Another alternative is synthetic, lab grown diamonds. They are superior to naturally occuring diamonds, cheaper, aren't tainted by human misery and suffering like conflic/blood diamondst, and arent extracted from ecologically damaging mining techniques like open pit mining.
- moyta 10y agoPlus they create jobs!
- joecool1029 10y agoYeah, well... this is the future. The prices on these are still artificially inflated. I was told directly by the president of one of these synthetic companies that De Beers will move into large production in a few years For now, the other synthetics are just being allowed to exist as the cartel makes the transition provided they don't undercut too much and stay carefully in a few niches.
- baby 10y agoWhere can you buy that?
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y agoThey're mostly made for industrial purposes, but just google synthetic diamonds.
- pault 10y agoBe careful googling synthetic diamonds. There are a lot of scammy companies out there using slippery language to fool you into thinking their cubic zirconias are sythetic diamonds. AFAIK there are only a few companies making real jewelry grade synthetic diamonds and they are just barely cheaper than mined diamonds, so if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y agoYeah. The real advantage of synthetics over naturally occurring is they don't come with human exploitation baggage or contribute to climate change.
- delecti 10y agoThere's also a side-benefit if you're like me. I think the idea of a synthetic diamond is way more interesting than one we dug up. To me it's the difference between "hey look at this shiny rock I found" and "look at what beauty our technology has allowed us to create"
- 77pt77 10y agoIn Amsterdam there was a factory that sold them to the public. I believe they were reputable.
- ryuker16 10y agoOr just buy used stones.
- 77pt77 10y agoBut here's the thing, even though they are purer and "better" in any objective measure they sell for a much lower price because people don't want them. Diamond ring purchase is about status projection and having an "artificial" one screams low social status and is to be avoided at all cost. I found that the hard/funny way while visiting Amsterdam and witnessing a woman choosing a diamond at bulk retailer. When checking the beauty of the stone she clearly preferred the lab created one. Once informed that it was "artificial" and thus much cheaper she immediately changed her opinion stating that the "natural" one was much better and totally refusing the "artificial" one. It's all about status.
- rhino369 10y agoThey've probably gotten better since I looked in 2012, but at that time, they weren't much cheaper and they had both superior and inferior properties. IIRC, they had less imperfections in the crystalline patterns but more impurities that lead to a more yellow color because of impurities leaking in during fabrication. So they were kickass for practical uses, but didn't look at good. Maybe they are overall superior now.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y agoNo one is getting killed for them and they aren't extracted from open pit mines. Those are two big pluses for me