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u/NoMeat9096 6h ago
The blood of children gives the diamonds that extra je ne sais quoi.
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u/Coprolithe 4h ago
It's poetic. It says a lot about the highs and lows about life. That's why I keep infant skulls as paper holders on my desks. I have around 30.
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u/ConstructionAny8440 6h ago
On top of that let’s not forget that diamonds are neither valuable nor a rare.. Millions of carats are mined every year. Companies use these for industrial cutting tools rather than jewelry..
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u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 6h ago
Isn't the quality of the industrial diamonds different from diamonds used for jewelry?
From what I understand, artificial scarcity is what gives diamond jewelry their inflated value.
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u/MinnieShoof 6h ago
... after they're labeled "industrial," yes, the quality becomes different: they're cheaper, then.
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u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 4h ago
Well yeah, 80% of mined diamonds are industrial grade. The law of supply & demand dictates that they'd be less valuable.
I meant more that the quality of the diamond themselves dictated their use.
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u/MinnieShoof 4h ago
And I'm suggesting, a bit sardonically, that there is no real difference and it's only after the diamonds are sold for industrial applications are they then declared "industrial grade" to excuse their cheap prices.
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u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 3h ago
But there is a difference, otherwise any diamond could be used as a gemstone, which isn't the case. You can argue that the standard is arbitrary, but the standard still exists.
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u/MinnieShoof 3h ago
Re-read what you said, first: artificial scarcity. I'm saying the "standard" is determined after the fact.
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u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 2h ago
That doesn't make any sense. If the miner pulls the rock out of the ground and it's too small, too cloudy, too inperfect or the wrong color to be turned into a gemstone, there exist zero situations in which that rock was ever making its way to a jeweler.
It's the same with carrots. If they're not orange enough, not straight enough, not plump enough, or not uniform enough, there exists zero situations in which they getting thrown into a bag and sold as whole carrots in your local supermarket. The fact that they're then turned into baby carrots or shipped off as livestock feed doesn't mean their value is changed after the fact. They weren't able to be sold as whole carrots to begin with.
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u/MinnieShoof 2h ago
That doesn't make any sense
Now you're getting it!
That's why my wife's wedding ring is a garnet, peridot and a sapphire. (and because she's a huge LoZ nerd)
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u/PlatypusOk8228 1h ago
No diamond is pulled out of the ground gemstone ready. They are all cut to shape and size, polished and then made ready for gemstone placement.
Diamond is a material, and it is mostly never found in the shape that you associate with diamonds.
So in your comparison, all diamonds mined are the weird looking, unsuitable ones. We just then process them to be suitable, unlike carrots.
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u/Plantain-Feeling 2h ago
Buddy you are falling for the propergander hook line and sinker, there's not a difference, the entire diamond trade is built on a small group of people saying whatever they want. A diamond remains a diamond no matter what, it's not more or less valuable because it's a lil bit dusty
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u/ConstructionAny8440 5h ago
What i meant to say is diamond as a mineral is not the rarest of them bunch. There are plenty of gemstones, like Taeffite, which are a million times rarer but we dont see those in the market and people don't flaunt that, i wonder why..
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u/thecftbl 5h ago
What you are describing is more about the cultural significance of diamonds rather than their rarity. Price wise, there are dozens of gemstones far rarer and more expensive than diamonds. Alexandrite and Red Beryl would be examples.
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u/BrandonsWorld420 2h ago
Probably because they are reserved for the super wealthy and are charge unheard of helper prices for those more rare Gemstones
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u/GoreyGopnik 5h ago
They are kind of valuable...just, like, 3-5x less valuable than retailers will sell them to you for.
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u/load_of_chode 5h ago
They're also not forever. I took inorganic chem in college and one day my professor took a small diamond, put it on a piece of aluminum foil, lit a lighter underneath it, and said "I just made the most expensive carbon dioxide in history".
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u/DebentureThyme 4h ago
That why the majority of the world's supply is bought up for pennies on the dollar and put in the De Beers vaults. They keep supply artificially low.
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u/Ok-Rich-3812 6h ago edited 3h ago
Marketing exists to entice the gullible.Shiny jewellery is shiny jewellery,it could be a pearl, a ruby, a jade, or a synthetic. The value is in how the wearer perceives it.
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u/Mountian_Rain_8322 5h ago
I once had an argument with someone who wanted a barter system, and in the argument I said, okay well if you wanted to buy something from me for diamonds in that system, I would tell you no. Because I find no value in diamonds. And she could not compute why I wouldn’t want them. It’s all about the perceived value.
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u/1Steelghost1 6h ago
Everytime is gets posted I make sure to upvote and laugh and the diamond market as a whole.
debeers is the most accurate definition of absolute evil
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u/ratione_materiae 5h ago
Not to be DeBeers’s biggest defender or anything but they haven’t had a monopoly in a generation. There’s other companies to direct your ire at as well
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u/ejoburke90 5h ago
I have a three band partner set that is entirely moissanite. It’s so beautiful and sparkly. Sometimes when I get compliments and they ask me where it’s from I explain what moissanite is and I’ve literally seen people’s faces fall with disappointment. Like sorry a child didn’t die for my finger sparkle?!
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u/Principle_Napkins 6h ago
There was already a concerted effort to artificially inflate the cost of diamonds. Letting lab diamonds take over would room their hard work.
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u/jabeith 6h ago
Yeah I like gemstones but I like them for their beauty, not their rarity. Flawless gemstones that are cheaper? You can keep your "real" stones, thanks
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u/mrturret 5h ago
I personally think lab grown gems are way cooler than natural ones. I'd rather have a ring made out if one of a defective industrial crystal. Some of those look wild.
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u/deja_geek 2h ago
You know what really gets me? They used to advertise the "three C's" of diamonds. Color, clarity and cut. Basically, how white/clear and brilliant the stone is under direct light. The better it scored on the three C's, the more expensive it was. Now we can make near flawless diamonds in a lab, and the natural diamond industry (DeBeers) is advertising stones that would be sold as junk just a decade or two ago. They are more or less saying because lab diamonds are too close to perfect, they shouldn't be worth as much as the imperfect diamonds mined out of the ground (by a child sold into slavery)
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u/critical-drinking 6h ago
Well, we all agree to pay more for it, and some people are shallow and only care about the price tag.
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u/DonHuevo91 4h ago
I once went to see some engagement rings and the clerk was explaining me how there are rings for every taste and I kid you not he implied that he could find me a blood diamond if that was my taste
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u/LoaKonran 3h ago
The diamond runners have spent the better part of a century convincing people their shiny rocks are worth anything by pretending they’re scarce. Of course they’d downplay any alternatives that reveal pressurised chunks of carbon aren’t special.
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u/Street_Credit6851 2h ago
Diamond jewelry was stupid way before lab grown diamonds were a thing. They aren't rare, artificial scarcity was created through stockpiling.
What gives diamonds their "beauty" is the quality of the cut. A well cut CZ or moissanite, while appearing slightly different to someone whose been taught to see the difference, will be just as "pretty" to a layman who hasn't been conditioned to think of diamonds are superior.
Problem is CZ and moissanite usually receive lower quality cuts/polish because they are perceived to be less valuable.
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u/Mama_Mega 1h ago
Imagine someone comes out with a fucking clean cigarette that has all the chemical reward with no addiction or health risks. But the cigarette industry relies on old-style tobacco. So they run a giant ad campaign to get all their customers to believe that clean cigarettes are fake. That only cigarettes that give you cancer are real cigarettes.
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u/_AYYEEEE 6h ago
Then rappers get taxed crazy AF on their diamond chains lol, I saw Johnny Dang sell Sauce Walka a basic ass diamond chain for 500K
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u/Diarygirl 4h ago
Decades of propaganda by the diamond industry has really done a number on people. Women that insist on a big rock forget that his debt is going to be their debt, and that money would be better spent on a down payment on a house.
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u/FriedTreeSap 6h ago
Exactly, this person gets it. But I’ve always been disappointed with blood diamonds….like with marketing like that I want them stained red with the blood of innocents.
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u/Euphoric-Taro-6231 5h ago
Lab grown diamonds are not really cheap tbf.
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u/Shinonomenanorulez 5h ago
But are cheaper than comparable real diamonds
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u/Beneficial-Act-9933 3h ago
And by a huge margin too. A pair of diamond earrings worth 2000 dollars would be worth 700 of the same quality.
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u/drager_76 5h ago
Diamonds as a whole suck. Get moissanite. Almost as hard as diamonds while refracting more light than them.
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u/HenriSnufftail 6h ago
Only a small percentage of diamonds come from conflict zones. It's easy to not buy them.
Something a billion years old is cooler than something a week old.
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u/spackletr0n 5h ago
I hear the reasoning that a billion years old is cooler, but this is the first time I’ve heard someone use it. It kinda just sounds like the industry shifting the marketing messaging after a century of other messaging, to position against a new competitive threat.
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u/mrturret 5h ago
That's not the only problem. The Diamond supply is controlled by a cartel that keeps the price extremely high. The reality is that diamonds aren't actually rare or valuable. The scarcity is completely artificial.
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u/HenriSnufftail 5h ago
Before I explain why you're wrong, which Cartel do you think controls diamond prices?
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u/Background-Spot-5068 5h ago
Of all the people I know who wear diamonds, I have never, ever, ever heard anyone even once say that. I’d argue they don’t even know how old the diamonds are. This is some serious cope
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u/HenriSnufftail 5h ago
My own personal opinion is not "cope".
A natural diamond is unique due to the impurities, it was created when earth only had microorganisms. lab grown diamonds are all the same.
My coffee table is unique, it was made by a local artist. Other people like coffee tables made in factories. There's nothing wrong with either of those things, people are allowed to like what they like.
To suggest that people who like things different to you because they 'enjoy suffering', while having almost no idea what you're talking about is ignorant.
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u/BetApprehensive7064 3h ago
God you sound so pretentious you would own a coffee table by a local artist. Only someone like yourself could care about this.
Quite literally everything is unique
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u/OkMortgage6723 3h ago
Who cares? Go on about your day instead of getting so butthurt about some random Redditor's opinion.
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u/HenriSnufftail 1h ago
Maybe craftsman was the right word instead of artist. You prefer to support pottery barn instead of local businesses?
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u/BetApprehensive7064 1h ago
Not the point that was made the point that was made is somehow your coffee table is more valuable because its "unique" and an IKEA coffee table isnt. Somehow two coffee tables identical in everyway except one is made by a random dude somehow makes it more valuable
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u/HenriSnufftail 1h ago
I think you should go back and read my comment. I said I like it more because it's unique.
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u/Few-Needleworker8110 4h ago
exactly how i feel about lab grown/plant-based meat.
meat eaters get SO grossed out at the thought of even trying non-animal meat it's actually pathetic. even if it tastes completely fine.
like... isn't it better that an innocent creature doesn't have to suffer and die to end up on your plate?
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u/FlowerFaerie13 6h ago
It's wild that we even chose diamonds as something sooo special like... it looks identical to quartz. Actually identical. You cut and polish a good hunk of quartz and it looks exactly like a diamond, you can even have multiple colors just like diamonds. It doesn't even look special what is the POINT (unless you need it for the hardness and if you're doing that you're not buying jewelry).
Now, I'm not saying diamonds aren't cool, as a geology nerd they are in fact pretty awesome, but like... visually you can get goddamn near any other mineral to look the same as a diamond.
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u/thehobbyqueer 6h ago
Diamonds are literally the hardest thing in existence (besides me). People love having the "strongest thing ever" as a shiny little trinket on their finger.
Plus the whole thing about other minerals scratching so much easier. Not too much of a problem if you take care of your jewelry, but everyday wearing is probably gonna be rough.
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u/Dragonfucker000 5h ago
Mohs is about scratchability, not genuine strenght. There are other gems that dont have such a high Mohs number but are actually better suited for daily wear depending on the setting, size, and cut. While it does have qualities that make it apealing for jewlery, even then is all about marketing.
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u/babassu_seeds 6h ago
I'm convinced it's social conditioning. Rubies, emeralds, topaz, etc. look better
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u/Graybeard_Shaving 5h ago edited 3h ago
The only thing that makes something valuable is the human effort put into providing the thing.
It’s exactly why so many people judge AI slop to have no value even when it produces some slop that is genuinely useful.
I’m not saying it’s right but it is the truth.
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u/realparkingbrake 5h ago
Lab diamonds are not as valuable as natural diamonds. Something is worth what people are willing to pay, and lab diamonds are not as prized as natural diamonds.
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u/Beneficial-Act-9933 3h ago
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I worked in the gemstone business for years, lab grown has increased in popularity. The regular pedestrian buyer is looking at two similar products, seeing one lab grown is worth 300 dollars while the same size and shape from a natural stone is worth 1000 it's going to be obviosu which one they're going to pick.
Regular folks love lab grown. Natural stone dealers have been shitting themselves over it.
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u/dz2048 5h ago
I flat out asked a couple women how they would feel if they hypothetically received lab diamonds instead of mined diamonds. And yes they would prefer a mined diamond. They didn't give a shit that it was the product of a terrible system. If the guy gives them a lab diamond, they don't want to know where it came from.
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u/inotocracy 6h ago
There are unique traits to a diamond that was grown naturally over a billion years vs a lab grown diamond.
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u/PurpleCandles 5h ago
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. One is mass produced in a Chinese lab in a couple of weeks. The other is formed over a billion years in the earth. It’s not hard to see why many people prefer natural diamonds.
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u/Acceptable_Mind_5883 6h ago
Will she accept a lab grown engagement ring?
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u/_AYYEEEE 6h ago
If she doesn't wanna marry you because the ring has a lab grown diamond in it then she isn't worth marrying. The love is the most important thing and everything else is secondary
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u/ButUncleOwen 6h ago
Why wouldn’t she? I told my now husband not to waste money on a natural diamond when he could get an identical product for a fraction of the price.
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u/Acceptable_Mind_5883 6h ago
Why wouldn't she? Social pressure, the internet, and most importantly the fact that people say all sorts of shit they don't mean on the internet.
It's not the dudes that want to buy the expensive diamonds. If she didn't give a fuck and if her social circle didn't give a fuck, this market would collapse
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u/snehkysnehk213 4h ago
Then let's do our part to collapse the blood diamond industry. Be informed and spread awareness.
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u/Shinonomenanorulez 5h ago
If something that petty makes a difference then the marriage was doomed anyway. Marge Simpson accepted an onion ring and they stay together through thick and thin
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u/OnlyTheOkayest 3h ago
I would say this tweet of hers taking a very obvious stance in favour of lab diamonds and against natural diamonds would lead anyone with a working brain to to conclude yes obviously, but here you are proving me wrong
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u/Tax_this_dick_1776 5h ago
When my mom lost the diamond out of her ring my dad replaced it with a lab grown one. When she found out, I had never seen a woman that damn pissed off. Called him every name in the book, how cheap he was, blah blah blah.
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u/qualityvote2 6h ago
Heya u/l_ll_lll! And welcome to r/NonPoliticalTwitter!
For everyone else, do you think OP's post fits this community? Let us know by upvoting this comment!
If it doesn't fit the sub, let us know by downvoting this comment and then replying to it with context for the reviewing moderator.