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Man-made diamonds are falling in price and appealing to more people

10 points by jseliger 4y ago

jseliger 4y ago
The retail price of a one-carat man-made diamond has been dropping; it declined by about 74% since 2015 when man-made and mined diamonds cost roughly the same, Mr. Zimnisky says. As of early this year, a 1 carat lab-grown diamond retailed for $1,430 compared with $5,635 for the same-size mined diamond. https://archive.ph/0bN3E https://archive.ph/0bN3E
local_crmdgeon 4y ago
Odd that there's no mention of Moissanite, which is a replacement good and has many of the same upsides, with fewer downsides than lab grown diamonds. Not to mention the ridiculous dance where they make methane from the air - I guarantee that is much less green than just buying nat gas or compost gas. Lab grown diamonds don't fix the core problem - diamonds are mined by slaves, in conditions remarkably similar to Hell. Lab grown diamonds help launder blood diamonds into the general supply. Moissanite has none of those problems, looks nicer than diamonds, and doesn't involve any of the human suffering. It's made by and benefits people like the HN crowd. That seems like a clear winner to me.
- dtagames 4y ago
  It seems pretty clear that making diamonds in a lab could and should preclude slave mining. Wasn't that the point of them?
  - local_crmdgeon 4y ago
    You can mix the supply and it's not clear what's from where - citation: https://time.com/blood-diamonds/ https://time.com/blood-diamonds/
    - dtagames 4y ago
      So we shouldn't have manmade diamonds because... people hide things in them? That really seems like a stretch. I would posit that the exact reason manmade diamonds are rising in popularity is that they're not mined at all. It's better for the environment, for workers, and for the customer paying the bill.
      - local_crmdgeon 4y ago
        You misunderstand me. A bag full of manmade and blood diamonds is easily sold as a bag full of manmade stones. Not true with alternatives
- NBJack 4y ago
  Citation needed. You suggest lab grown versions can be used to launder the 'real' ones...to what end? Lab grown versions are considerably cheaper; laundering implies you will mix the two, which will likely reduce what the real ones would fetch. What would be accomplished by laundering beyond a mustache-twirling scheme? How would the alternative be any better at ending human suffering?
  - local_crmdgeon 4y ago
    Citation provided: https://time.com/blood-diamonds/ https://time.com/blood-diamonds/
    - NBJack 4y ago
      Thank you for providing that article; it was great. I was unable to find a reference to lab-grown diamonds and their contribution to diamond laundering. Can you help me find that here?

10 points by jseliger 4y ago

The retail price of a one-carat man-made diamond has been dropping; it declined by about 74% since 2015 when man-made and mined diamonds cost roughly the same, Mr. Zimnisky says. As of early this year, a 1 carat lab-grown diamond retailed for $1,430 compared with $5,635 for the same-size mined diamond. https://archive.ph/0bN3E https://archive.ph/0bN3E

local_crmdgeon 4y ago

Odd that there's no mention of Moissanite, which is a replacement good and has many of the same upsides, with fewer downsides than lab grown diamonds. Not to mention the ridiculous dance where they make methane from the air - I guarantee that is much less green than just buying nat gas or compost gas. Lab grown diamonds don't fix the core problem - diamonds are mined by slaves, in conditions remarkably similar to Hell. Lab grown diamonds help launder blood diamonds into the general supply. Moissanite has none of those problems, looks nicer than diamonds, and doesn't involve any of the human suffering. It's made by and benefits people like the HN crowd. That seems like a clear winner to me.

dtagames 4y ago
It seems pretty clear that making diamonds in a lab could and should preclude slave mining. Wasn't that the point of them?
- local_crmdgeon 4y ago
  You can mix the supply and it's not clear what's from where - citation: https://time.com/blood-diamonds/ https://time.com/blood-diamonds/
  - dtagames 4y ago
    So we shouldn't have manmade diamonds because... people hide things in them? That really seems like a stretch. I would posit that the exact reason manmade diamonds are rising in popularity is that they're not mined at all. It's better for the environment, for workers, and for the customer paying the bill.
    - local_crmdgeon 4y ago
      You misunderstand me. A bag full of manmade and blood diamonds is easily sold as a bag full of manmade stones. Not true with alternatives
NBJack 4y ago
Citation needed. You suggest lab grown versions can be used to launder the 'real' ones...to what end? Lab grown versions are considerably cheaper; laundering implies you will mix the two, which will likely reduce what the real ones would fetch. What would be accomplished by laundering beyond a mustache-twirling scheme? How would the alternative be any better at ending human suffering?
- local_crmdgeon 4y ago
  Citation provided: https://time.com/blood-diamonds/ https://time.com/blood-diamonds/
  - NBJack 4y ago
    Thank you for providing that article; it was great. I was unable to find a reference to lab-grown diamonds and their contribution to diamond laundering. Can you help me find that here?