5 ms·
Why don't we start with an easier lab-grown animal product than something we ingest? Because it's a prestige product, Where "authenticity" counts? (e.g., http:
by nsns 13y ago
Why don't we start with an easier lab-grown animal product than something we ingest?
Because it's a prestige product, Where "authenticity" counts?
(e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_diamond http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_diamond)
Or perhaps because millions of animals are slaughtered each day to be consumed as food?
- rorrr2 13y agoSynthetic diamonds are actually not cheap at all, maybe third of the price of the real ones. I expected them to be dirt cheap when shopping for the wedding ring.
- wikiburner 13y agoShe's a lucky woman. :)
- rorrr2 13y agoThe idea was to get a much bigger identical rock for the same money.
- wikiburner 13y agoWhoops, sorry. I thought the smiley made it clear I was just kidding around. Seriously, I don't blame you one iota, the De Beer's racket is an absolute crime.
- 3825 13y agoI am not surprised. I'd expect the "jewellery-grade" synthetic diamonds to have the same artificial inflation of price that we see in natural diamonds. I would imagine industrial diamond dust has a different cost.
- VLM 13y ago"I would imagine industrial diamond dust has a different cost." I have a tube of diamond lapping compound somewhere in my basement shop. Dirt cheap because its full of inclusions and not clear. They generally don't use jewelry grade diamonds for industrial work, although to manipulate the market I suppose anything could happen. I was motivated enough to check amazon for the stuff I have and you're probably doing something wrong or weird if you're paying more than $3/gram delivered. One problem with buying a 5 gram plastic syringe of diamond lapping paste for $5 is the plastic syringe and shipping and handling probably cost a significant fraction... I would bet on industrial 55 gallon barrel scale its under $1/gram.
- deveac 13y agoWhen researching lab-made, I found them to be 70% - 80% of the cost of nats across the board. My jeweler told me that (at least for the brand he carried) DeBeers bought the company that had the technology and patents for creating them in the lab, and thus the prices will remain close to nats as they will not set them at a point where they erode pricing on nats. Based off my research, if the poster above you got his/hers at 30% of nat cost, I'd say that is a pretty great deal, and I'd have liked to have found it myself before I purchased mine for my wife. I'm just happy that there is a humane alternative to blood diamonds. If there wasn't a lab-made option, I wouldn't have purchased a diamond at all.
- bayesianhorse 13y agoActually it's not a humane alternative. The profits from the lab-made diamonds flow into the holding company owning all those mines. The prices would be a lot lower if not for the identical owners. While I normally try not to judge corporations, DeBeers looks, to me at least, like the ultimate prototype for "evil monopolist manipulating the masses".
- chc 13y agoIn my experience, the best alternative (in terms of retaining the virtues of diamond without the inflated costs and human rights abuses) to natural diamonds is ironically not artificial diamonds, but moissanite. It looks a lot like a diamond, but more fiery.
- icebraining 13y agoDiamonds are supposed to be status object, allowing the owners to display their wealth. They wouldn't fulfill the goal if they were cheap.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]