# Are diamonds over priced?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-diamonds-over-priced/141183>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 7, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-diamonds-over-priced/141183 "2002-12-07T20:34:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![shiki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@shiki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiki)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-diamonds-over-priced/141183/21 "2002-12-08T21:34:51Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ralph124c \*  
> \*\*  
> Anyway, once good quality synthetic diamonds become available (should be next year) the market for diamonds will collapse!  
> Take that, DeBeers! \*\*

Actually… here is when I point out that a lot of people only want “the real thing,” even if you can’t really tell the difference. I imagine DeBeers is already ahead of this, and once synthetic diamonds start hitting the shelves, will cut loose with a “but only REAL diamonds are forever” campaign.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-diamonds-over-priced/141183/22 "2002-12-08T21:38:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> once good quality synthetic diamonds become available (should be next year) the market for diamonds will collapse!

Can you give a cite where one can read about that? While I’m aware of the Russians working on this, _who_ says synthetic diamonds will be commercially available next year?

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**Author:** ![Grasshopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Grasshopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grasshopper)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-diamonds-over-priced/141183/23 "2002-12-09T00:14:29Z")

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Diamonds are most certainly not marked up once you consider their magical powers. It’s the one gift you know she’ll love. Every kiss begins with Kay, anybody? Magic!

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-diamonds-over-priced/141183/24 "2002-12-09T00:55:36Z")

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dippin dots, I can find cheaper ways to get a kiss. Flowers, for example, quite effective. Or Mistletoe, at 50 cents a bunch, you can get a lot of kisses.

I’m surprised for what they are worth that the stones don’t bring in that much profit for DeBeers:

" De Beers reported a 31% increase in annual earnings to $838 million and the CSO turned over $5 billion, up 50% –"

Maybe they should just license use of them like MS does for Windows.

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