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Diamonds have had their supply artificially restricted for decades, inflating their prices. That, combined with the ethical dilemmas (blood diamonds, etc.) asso

Diamonds have had their supply artificially restricted for decades, inflating their prices. That, combined with the ethical dilemmas (blood diamonds, etc.) associated with the stones, it doesn't make sense to me to get them. They don't even look prettier than an emerald or sapphire either, there's just too much hype.

hangonhn 7y ago
The demand for diamond was entirely driven by their very successful marketing campaign: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/how-an-ad-campaign-invented-the-diamond-engagement-ring/385376/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/ho... IIRC the whole 2 months salary "rule" was also invented by them.
- dbalbright 7y ago
  Which was brilliant (no pun) as it keeps up with inflation.
  - astrodust 7y ago
    "Diamonds are forever. Coincidentally that's also the term of our sub-prime loan to get one."
  - ralusek 7y ago
    Keeps up with wages
irrational 7y ago
My wife doesn't like colored stones, so emeralds and sapphires are right out. We are looking at Moissanite stones. Not synthetic, but significantly cheaper than diamonds.
- jtaillon 7y ago
  Moissanite is also synthetic (typically grown via a chemical vapor deposition process). It's not carbon (like diamonds), but made of SiC, a material long used for abrasives and more recently for high-power electronics and LEDs. The 4H-SiC polymorph is actually extraordinarily rare in nature, even moreso than diamonds! We chose moissanites as the primary stones in my wife's engagement rings and everyone talks about how pretty it is. It's a bit more "firey" or "sparkly" than a regular diamond (because of more birefringence), but I guarantee no one outside a very highly trained jeweler would know the difference (if that's important to you). It's worth it to spend the money on the higher quality ones though, since just like diamonds, the inexpensive ones will have yellowish or greenish tints. Even still, they're at least an order of magnitude cheaper than similar diamonds ($600 vs. $6,500 at my quick search for ~1 carat).
- therealx 7y ago
  White sapphires are a thing.
- wcarron 7y ago
  I proposed to my fiancee with a Moissanite stone. One is hardly able to tell the difference. It looks like I paid many thousands of dollars more than I did for it, and no one is ever the wiser. Go for it.
sizzzzlerz 7y ago
Hype has always played a huge role in the marketing of diamonds. It's been a myth for decades that the price of a diamond was somehow correlated with its rareness. Diamonds were, and are not, rare. DeBeers, as a cartel, was able to control the market and release diamonds from their cache such that the demand always out-stripped the supply. Now that diamonds are being mined outside of South Africa and the manufacture of synthetic stones is a reality, their hold is slipping away.

hangonhn 7y ago

The demand for diamond was entirely driven by their very successful marketing campaign: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/how-an-ad-campaign-invented-the-diamond-engagement-ring/385376/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/ho... IIRC the whole 2 months salary "rule" was also invented by them.

dbalbright 7y ago
Which was brilliant (no pun) as it keeps up with inflation.
- astrodust 7y ago
  "Diamonds are forever. Coincidentally that's also the term of our sub-prime loan to get one."
- ralusek 7y ago
  Keeps up with wages

irrational 7y ago

My wife doesn't like colored stones, so emeralds and sapphires are right out. We are looking at Moissanite stones. Not synthetic, but significantly cheaper than diamonds.

jtaillon 7y ago
Moissanite is also synthetic (typically grown via a chemical vapor deposition process). It's not carbon (like diamonds), but made of SiC, a material long used for abrasives and more recently for high-power electronics and LEDs. The 4H-SiC polymorph is actually extraordinarily rare in nature, even moreso than diamonds! We chose moissanites as the primary stones in my wife's engagement rings and everyone talks about how pretty it is. It's a bit more "firey" or "sparkly" than a regular diamond (because of more birefringence), but I guarantee no one outside a very highly trained jeweler would know the difference (if that's important to you). It's worth it to spend the money on the higher quality ones though, since just like diamonds, the inexpensive ones will have yellowish or greenish tints. Even still, they're at least an order of magnitude cheaper than similar diamonds ($600 vs. $6,500 at my quick search for ~1 carat).
therealx 7y ago
White sapphires are a thing.
wcarron 7y ago
I proposed to my fiancee with a Moissanite stone. One is hardly able to tell the difference. It looks like I paid many thousands of dollars more than I did for it, and no one is ever the wiser. Go for it.

sizzzzlerz 7y ago

Hype has always played a huge role in the marketing of diamonds. It's been a myth for decades that the price of a diamond was somehow correlated with its rareness. Diamonds were, and are not, rare. DeBeers, as a cartel, was able to control the market and release diamonds from their cache such that the demand always out-stripped the supply. Now that diamonds are being mined outside of South Africa and the manufacture of synthetic stones is a reality, their hold is slipping away.