Not a diamond fan either, myself.
My husband had a real hard time with the engagement ring. This is because, at the time, I was into making jewelry, and I was wearing my best piece ever, custom designed by me to be exactly what I wanted. How was he going to get that off my finger?
He wasn’t, and he didn’t. No engagement ring at all, plain silver band (because the great ring was silver and peridot and I didn’t want to clash).
Maybe it technically degrades faster, but I can hardly play a single CD from 5 years ago or more. If one does miraculously work, it’ll skip so much that it’s totally impossible to listen to. Yeah, I know, I should have taken care of them better - but I can still play tapes that my parents bought back in the 80s today!! I really wish CDs were surrounded by some kind of protective casing the way cassettes were.
I’ve got a friend, great guy, a teacher, who is dating a woman who recently made a snide comment about another friend’s engagement ring (he’s two years out of grad school and works in a nonprofit). The couple are very happy and I’m sure if he offered a rubber band they’d both be happy. I told my teacher buddy to watch the hell out, if that’s the kind of stuff he’s hearing in the dating phase.
Having said that, if all parties want to place that much importance on the ring or the diamond, hell, it’s a free country. Go for it. I would hope it wasn’t a blood diamond, though.
There was a recent thread about expensive weddings in IMHO or MPSIMS recently, and I find myself agreeing with many from that discussion. It’s the couple’s decision on what they want to value and what they want to prioritize.
My sister used to work at chain jewellery store that sold engagement rings. She said that once they had a guy come in to exchange a ring for one with a larger diamond. Every diamond ring was sold with a valuation so the guy returned the valuation as well - but it had very obviously been ripped in half and taped back together later. There could be another explanation, but all the sales assistants figured that the fiancee had thrown a tantrum over the size of the diamond, the guy had shown her the valuation saying it was worth X amount, and she’d torn it up and made him buy a bigger one. Poor guy. I hope he either grew a spine or dumped the greedy bitch.
Wait, how in the hell do you rip a diamond in half? Was this guy getting engaged to Supergirl?
The valuation was ripped in half (and taped back together), not the diamond.
If his fiancee had the strength to rip diamonds I wouldn’t blame him for being all “yes dear, anything you want dear.” :eek:
I never had an engagement ring - we were only “engaged” for two days before we got married. Last summer, when we had been married over 17 years, my husband surprised me with a ring he got online - I think on e-bay. It’s a medieval-looking band of sapphires, rubies and emeralds with tiny diamonds on the sides. Not only is it very unusual looking, it is ME! I love that ring, which I am sure didn’t cost more than $150 or so, because it shows he thought about what I would like.
I have a diamond pendant that was my mother’s - 9 stones with a total weight of about 5.5 carats. The center stone is a 1.5 carat. I think I’ve worn it two times in the 20 years I’ve had it. I don’t like diamonds - too cold looking.
And I don’t like roses either; I like daisies or sunflowers!
I feel sorry for guys who fall for the “if you love me you’ll put two months or more of your salary on my finger.” And I feel sorry for girls who want that.
As someone living in the SF Bay area: With no lube and no reach around. 
But back to the OP- why mild pitting? It is a senseless act of stupidity that aids a major monopoly and directly or more like indirectly- helps fund genocidal warfare in Africa. Not to mention paying several more times than it is worth. Stupid, greedy and evil. Winnah!
Why would a woman want some guy to spend $30,000 of her money on a piece of jewelry?
Well, I put mild in the title because I couldn’t quite summon enough vitriol to compare to some of the best pitters. I didn’t want this to be a thread full of “How lame. I give this OP a 4.”
I agree about funding genocide- I hadn’t even thought of that when I posted this, I just think the idea of spending so much on a rock is ridiculous. I agree with another poster that it’s their money to spend as they like, but I still hate putting so much value on a useless material object. I can see spending oodles on a house or car, because those are items that serve some purpose. I might not need 3 extra bedrooms for guests or understand buying a car that can suck you off in addition to having state of the art safety features, but honestly, a diamond is just a sparkly rock.
But when you throw blood diamonds into the mix it just makes it that much worse. Once again, fuck diamonds.
Whadda ya mean, “no other purpose”? Why isn’t being pretty purpose enough? Some people like pretty things. Like red roses, for instance.
Ah see, if you’ll notice post #16, I don’t actually like red roses. 
And, there’s also the point someone else made that a diamond from Tiffany’s and one from a back alley (of the same grade) are petty much identical, unlike cars or clothing where there’s a lot of variation. So you pay a buttload for the name which has nothing to do with the quality.
And a pile of $30K is prettier than anything I can think of. Ever.
For what you pay for a Tiffany diamond, you could go to Emitations and get something fake, but just as pretty.
Feh, like I said in the other thread-diamonds are vastly overrated. Hell, get yourself some peanut butter, coal, and a microwave you don’t mind losing, and MAKE a freaking diamond. (I think there was a thread about it in GQ).
See, it’s things like that which make me WANT to give you a ring! .
and I’m not even into that, but just knowing she’d do it if I wanted is pretty cool
A-fucking-men. Hell, the technology even exists to create jewelry diamonds in a lab that are no different from the mined kind. The diamond “market” is an artificial creation that has basically mugged people for a century by overcharging for otherwise-worthless rocks. Anyone who goes and spends big money on jewelry is either just trying to show off how rich they are or a sucker.
I actually tried to talk my husband into buying me no ring, or a ring with no stone, but finally allowed him to buy me a diamond, although not as large as he’d have liked. Don’t ask me how big it is, I forgot.
In part, I believe he thought I was just denying myself. I also think he was worried about appearances, or expectations of other people. When I was showing it to people at work, he was quick to chime in that he wanted to get a bigger one.
I like my ring and I think it’s pretty, but I wish my husband hadn’t felt he was under such obligation.
Ya gotta hand it to deBeers-they are geniuses in marketing those worthless rocks. take yellow diamonds-20 years ago, yellow diamonds were worthless in the gem trade-they were used to make industrial abrasive tools. Now, Deberrs have given them a new name-they are now called “Champaign” or "Canary’ diamonds-and now sell for more than the clear variety! I’m wondering if they will be able to sell “Black” diamonds-those are next to worthless-althoughg, if some Hollywood star starts wearing them, watch out!
But dollars are not different from diamonds in that regard. The only value they have is the value people give them.
I like small diamonds. It’s the big ones that look like cut glass. I admit, I really wanted the three-stone anniversary ring I got for Christmas. It was modest in both size and price, and is very pretty.
Then I saw Blood Diamond. Yes, I knew about the plight a long time ago, and Mr. K said they told him it is a conflict-free diamond ring, but I’m pretty sure we were taken for a ride on that. 