# diamonds are whose best friend?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 26, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146 "2003-12-26T18:00:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/21 "2003-12-27T00:01:08Z")
Aha! the old heat conductivity test!
Here’s a commercial [link](http://ziamond.com/faq.html) to some interesting info about the differences between diamonds and cz.
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/22 "2003-12-27T00:01:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Derleth \*
> \*\*Ah, but doesn’t DeBeers use its clout to prevent people from flooding the market. \*\*
Something like that.
> [@](#):
>
> It is not simply that DeBeers mines much of the world’s diamonds; DeBeers has persuaded the world’s diamond miners to market virtually all their diamonds through DeBeer’s Central Selling Organization (CSO), which then grades, distributes, and sells all the rough diamonds to cutters and dealers further down on the road toward the consumer.
>
> …
>
> So far, DeBeers has been holding the line by buying up the “over-supply” caused by the influx of Angolan diamonds; this year, the cartel may be forced to buy no less than $500 million in “illegal” Angolan diamonds, twice as much as that country’s [p. 322] official output.
>
> Overall, DeBeers’s CSO had to purchase $4.8 billion of rough diamonds in 1992, while being able to sell only $3.5 billion. This huge pileup of inventory could break the cartel price; to stave off such a perceived disaster, DeBeers ordered cartel members to cut back 25 % on the diamonds they had already contracted to market through the cartel.
[Cite](http://www.mises.org/econsense/ch91.asp)
Debeers is pretty much a case study for cartels (google Debeers Cartel), though lately they’ve been undermined by some coming out of Russia and Canada.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/23 "2003-12-27T00:22:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by moonovercity \*
> \*\*My husband is forever naysaying diamonds but when I ask him the specific reason for their political incorectness he is a little vague. Something about groups with guns in South Africa… Can anyone shed some light on this issue for me? Is it really bad to buy diamonds or is he just being frugal? \*\*
The cold, hard truth is that there’s blood on a lot of the products we desire so strongly. That may include CZs, but definately includes oil, tobacco, clothing, and shoes to name just a few.
The question is, how far do we distance ourselves so that we can have what we want without guilt attacks.
Me? I’d prefer a CZ _and_ a two or three week cruise. In 1st class.
They give you _chocolate_, **moon**. All you can eat. 😉
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### Author:  [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/24 "2003-12-27T00:59:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mangeorge \*
> They give you _chocolate_, **moon**. All you can eat. 😉 \*\*
No mustard?
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### Author:  [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/25 "2003-12-27T01:38:26Z")
Not all of us, **TexasSpur.** I want a sapphire again, should I be lucky enough to get engaged again.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/26 "2003-12-27T04:17:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by whiterabbit \*
> \*\*Not all of us, **TexasSpur.** I want a sapphire again, should I be lucky enough to get engaged again. \*\*
Real, or fake?
And how will you know? 😉
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### Author:  [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/27 "2003-12-27T05:53:25Z")
Well, if it’s fake but looks good, I wouldn’t mind, since I intend to be along picking it out!
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### Author:  [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/28 "2003-12-27T06:15:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adirondack\_mike \*
> \*\*Not quite - if there were other stones that had the same or higher RI then diamonds wouldn’t be unique. It is pretty to look at because it has a high RI. If it didn’t then it wouldn’t be as sparkly and “pretty to look at,” and therefore wouldn’t command as high a price.
>
> RI of diamond approx 2.4
> cubic zirconia approx 2.2.
> \*\*
Of course, you could always get Moissanite, which has an even higher RI than diamond - 2.65 IIRC, and it is nearly as hard as diamond as well.
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### Author:  [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/29 "2003-12-27T15:38:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mangeorge \*
> \*\*Is there an inexpensive artificial diamond that I could be confusing with a cz? \*\*
Yes. It’s called Moissanite, and it is indistinguishable from diamond in every respect, even to trained experts with the best optical tools. The test?
Moissanite floats.
That’s it. At about half the cost of a diamond and flawless every time, it’s a good facsimile of the real thing. (Just don’t let your woman find out.)
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/30 "2003-12-27T16:06:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by hyjyljyj \*
> **Moissanite floats.**
Floats on what? Every source I can find quotes the density of moissanite at 3.21 gcm[sup]-3[/sup]. Water is 1.00. Diamond is 3.52.
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### Author:  [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-are-whose-best-friend/221146/31 "2003-12-27T22:16:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mangeorge \*
> \*\*From **TexasSpur** ’s link. Weingarten is a gem dealer in Antwerp.
> The implication is, I think, obvious.
> BTW; TexasSpur posted while I was replying. \*\*
It’s not completely straightforward – he _can_ tell diamond and CZ apart, but when presented with three identical stones which he is nearly-certain are diamonds, he has to choose between
1. admitting his assessment was wrong (relatively easy),
or
2. being dumbstruck by the incredible odds against three such diamonds existing.
The truth is neither (1) nor (2), but that the diamonds are artificial and will eventually destroy the DeBeers cartel.
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