I think your post is a little confusing because “the ring” you refer to is actually two different rings. The one in the second paragraph is the same as the one in the OP, which was expected to sell for $70 million or so. That was a few years ago and I can’t find if it ever sold or for how much. The one in the first paragraph is the proposed but not yet cut one that’s the subject of the thread revival. It’s made from an “artificial” not natural diamond. The plan was to offer it in a charity auction for perhaps a quarter-million dollars. If it sells, only then will it be cut.
Thank you for the interesting link.
This paragraph should be read by anyone headed to the jewelry store as it pertains to most “precious gemstones”:
“De Beers knew their product wasn’t intrinsically valuable (like gold and silver is). So instead of marketing to their product, they mastered the art of marketing to values – in this case, the values and ethics surrounding love, romance, and marriage. No one was interested in buying diamonds when they conducted their first round of extensive market research, so they had to create that value themselves”
So…your (totally valid) complaint about units can be extended to the description of the cutting technology: a PR flack has rejiggered the terminology to maximize apparent niftiness.
They’re almost certainly using the laser microjet (LMJ) processs to cut this ring.
The annoying thing (to me) is that LMJ is a maximal-niftiness process already—the ring press release gilds the lily. LMJ uses a narrow, low-pressure stream of water to guide the laser to the material being cut. This has two big advantages: simplified focusing/minimal beam divergence due to the water stream’s total internal reflection, and cooling of the material being cut.
The water stream acts like an optical fiber, taking the beam right up to the material (which it cuts) and then splashing away. This makes LMJ good for cutting relatively thick materials, as the pulsed beam doesn’t need to be re-focused as it cuts deeper and deeper.
The water also pulls heat away from the work. Diamond conducts heat (cough) reasonably well, so the whole piece would heat up quickly during the cutting process if the water weren’t carrying that heat away. More capacity to dump heat means cutting speeds can be faster, which helps contain the (admittedly insane) costs.
LMJ is pretty fascinating on its own, and calling it “a water jet into which a laser beam is cast” makes it sound like the though the press release author might be the same one who brought us a film about a tornado filled with sharks.
Here’s a link to a great schematic/explanation and an entirely underwhelming video:
Speaking of diamond marketing, I have to praise the people at LeVian, who are somehow able to market “chocolate diamonds”, apparently as a premium product. I believe these are simply diamonds that naturally are colored brown, and traditionally were used mostly in industrial processes.
Oh my! You must be a great mind because we certainly think alike! I was going to post about Chocolate Diamond which BTW is a term trademarked by Le-Vian.
The marketing stories of many/all? precious gemstones follow a similar path. Someone has a surplus of gems or stones (sometimes a byproduct of another mining operation) and plays up their beauty and/or rarity (usually artificial), and suddenly the value skyrockets. There used to be a series on one of the cable channels that followed a group of buyers as they negotiated for batches of precious gems and stones. The prices they gave the suppliers were at most pennies on the dollar of the final retail price. In fairness, much of the weight of gems is lost in the cutting, faceting and polishing stages.
Carbon neutral diamonds? They’re nothing *but *carbon!
They ain’t forever, don’t go kidding me
I know you ladies like your jewelry
But it’s only make believe
ShallowDiamonds
For each karat they sell, they drive a Mercedes around the block.
They’re sequestered carbon.
It could be my ‘best friend’, just saying.