r/NonPoliticalTwitter 13h ago

me_irl Meirl

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u/ConstructionAny8440 13h 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..

u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 13h 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.

u/MinnieShoof 12h ago

... after they're labeled "industrial," yes, the quality becomes different: they're cheaper, then.

u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 11h 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.

u/MinnieShoof 11h 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.

u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 10h 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.

u/MinnieShoof 10h ago

Re-read what you said, first: artificial scarcity. I'm saying the "standard" is determined after the fact.

u/SEND_ME_FEAT_PICS 9h 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.

u/PlatypusOk8228 8h 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.

u/Plantain-Feeling 8h 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

u/MinnieShoof 8h 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)