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I was fortunate enough to discover moissanite. Wife loves it, and the price was somewhere in the ballpark of 90-95% cheaper than an equivalent size diamond. The
by irishcoffee 7y ago
I was fortunate enough to discover moissanite. Wife loves it, and the price was somewhere in the ballpark of 90-95% cheaper than an equivalent size diamond. The added benefit is, everyone thinks it’s a diamond and we haven’t yet felt the need to correct them...
- matwood 7y ago> everyone thinks it’s a diamond and we haven’t yet felt the need to correct them It also avoids conversations that have few good outcomes. Tell someone who spent $$$$ on a diamond that you think diamonds are a waste of money or a humanitarian disaster, and it's not a great way to start a conversation. There are also other colored stones that I think are nicer looking than diamonds, but moissanite provides a nice way to stay within cultural norms without necessarily[1] contributing to the problem. [1] Obviously actively fighting against the whole diamond industry is better, but we all have to pick our battles.
- galangalalgol 7y agoSynthetic diamond will eventually become so easy the industry won't be able to supress it anymore. The collapse will be interesting, in the bloddy sense of the term I suspect.
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- bluedevil2k 7y agoSynthetic diamonds are not easy to produce and they take time and energy (literally). The only reason synthetics are made is because the price of real diamonds help prop up the price of artificial ones. If the market collapses, as you predict, than artificial diamonds don’t become economical to create any more. My prediction: new mines will continue to be found and real diamonds will have the same market hold they have now in 20 years.
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- Ericson2314 7y agoThat doesn't make much sense. The ratio of the mining cost manufacturing cost is the same regardless of the demand.
- dodobirdlord 7y agoResearch on bulk synthesis of diamond will continue for the foreseeable future, it's just too important a manufacturing material. It will be a massive win for thermal engineering when semiconductor chips can easily be embedded in a diamond matrix.
- Aunche 7y agoSynthetic rubies and sapphires have been around for over 100 years and are dirt cheap ($10 for a 15mm one on eBay). However, the market for natural rubies and sapphires is still going strong. A high quality natural Ruby costs about the same as a similar sized diamond. There's no reason to believe the diamond industry is going to crash any time soon.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago> Synthetic rubies and sapphires have been around for over 100 years and are dirt cheap ($10 for a 15mm one on eBay). Rubies are much cheaper than that. At least, I used to order them from Pehnec Gems at prices more like $3 per (in lots of 10+). I haven't bought them in years and pehnec.com currently resolves to 10.0.0.1; not sure what's going on.
- tony0x02 7y agoI think we're close if not already there.
- 77pt77 7y ago"Synthetic" diamonds are better in all objective criteria that "natural" diamonds. Before they were a thing they would even be considered top quality diamonds. Once they were mass produced the criteria changed and now the "natural" with higher degree of impurities (a previously undesirable trait) are considered better. It's not about the rock. The rock is a placeholder. It's about how much you spent on the rock (commitment) and the fact that it's not available to everyone (social proof).
- pzone 7y agoIt is extremely difficult to create large, colorless, flawless synthetic diamonds. Currently synthetics are primarily used for industrial applications like drill bits.
- 77pt77 7y ago"synthetic" diamonds with far fewer impurities are far cheaper than "natural" diamonds of the same size. The goalpost will always move because the things used to justify it are excuses and not real reasons.
- petre 7y agoEven De Beers announced they would start selling synthetics.
- nyolfen 7y agode beers is doing it as a pr move, selling them as 'budget' diamonds as an attempt to devalue them
- petre 7y agoNice try. Manufacturing them also has non negligible costs. I'd only buy synthetics anyway. Not very keen on 18th century slavery, which is pretty close to what happens in diamond mines. In addition to that synthetics are more pure, so better quality if the cut and polishing is done right.
- dorfsmay 7y agoCultural norm? That concept was invented by an ad agency paid for by de Beers. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/diamond-de-beers-marketing-campaign https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/diamond-de-beers-marketin... Does anyone really pay attention and judge others based on their choice of wedding jewelry, or wearing any, or being married even, in 2020?
- CrazyStat 7y agoI also went with moissanite. My wife (then girlfriend) was in the "2-3 months salary for a diamond" camp which I find incredibly crass. Saved $15k on the diamond by going with moissanite and spent a fraction of that on getting a nice custom ring + wedding band made by an independent local jeweler instead. I was happy to support a local craftsman rather than DeBeers & co.
- elcomet 7y agoDid you tell her about the nature of the stone ? That sounds like a disaster to come if she doesn't know, and she learns it by going to the jeweler to clean / repair the stone.
- joering2 7y agoCan you elaborate? You mean the fact all are synthethic (for hewlery purpose) or something else?
- CrazyStat 7y agoIf she thought I gave her an expensive diamond and then learned from a jeweler that it was in fact a moissanite I would expect her to be upset about me misleading her.
- CrazyStat 7y agoYeah I told her exactly what it was when I gave it to her. We had had several discussions prior about my feelings about the diamond industry and the surrounding social expectations, so she knew I wasn't going to get her a diamond.
- raverbashing 7y agoLife Pro-Tip: don't marry a woman that will feel unvalued by the stone in the wedding ring. Spend the money in something better and that will further the relationship, like the honeymoon.
- 7y ago
- chadmeister 7y agoExact same situation here. Wife gets complimented on it all the freaking time and not a single person has ever thought it was anything but a diamond. One of the best decisions of my life second only to marrying this woman!
- mysterydip 7y agoFirst time I've heard of moissanite, unfortunately (7 years too late). Any recommendations on a place to shop for it?
- roganartu 7y agoIt doesn't really matter, tbh. The patent for moissanite is held by Charles and Colvard, so no matter where you shop for them they will be coming from them (and should have an authenticity certificate too, btw). Charles and Colvard has an online shop you can find by googling. No affiliation, my wife's stone is just also a moissanite.
- betab7777 7y agoCharles and Colvard actually lost their patent a while ago...I wanna say two or three years in August? I'm a huuuuge proponent of moissanite, but it's one of the reasons I am slightly wary of purchasing moissanite online without at least speaking to the seller. Moissanite doesn't always come with a certificate. In my mind, though, if you love it and can afford it, who's to tell you it's fake?
- throwawayhhakdl 7y agoIsn’t it a natural gem? How is it patentable?
- pottertheotter 7y agoIt's been 4 years but I got my wife's ring from https://www.moissaniteco.com/ https://www.moissaniteco.com/ and we had a good experience.
- coredog64 7y agoOne downside to moissanite: I bought some earrings that I thought were nice looking and affordable. My wife doesn’t wear them very often and instead wears real diamond earrings that were the same price because the moissanite is too big.