# Well, the Standard for Engagement Rings Just Went Up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 27, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640 "2008-11-27T01:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/1 "2008-11-27T01:46:05Z")
[Forget offering even the triple digit carats now.](http://www.universetoday.com/2004/02/13/astronomers-find-a-huge-diamond-in-space/) > [@](#): > > When choosing a Valentine’s Day gift for a wife or girlfriend, you can’t go wrong with diamonds. If you really want to impress your favorite lady this Valentine’s Day, get her the galaxy’s largest diamond. But you’d better carry a deep wallet, because this 10 billion trillion trillion carat monster has a cost that’s literally astronomical! > > “You would need a jeweler’s loupe the size of the Sun to grade this diamond!” says astronomer Travis Metcalfe (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), who leads a team of researchers that discovered the giant gem. “Bill Gates and Donald Trump together couldn’t begin to afford it.” > > When asked to estimate the value of the cosmic jewel, Ronald Winston, CEO of Harry Winston Inc., indicated that such a large diamond probably would depress the value of the market, stating, “Who knows? It may be a self-deflating prophecy because there is so much of it.” He added, “It is definitely too big to wear!” > > The newly discovered cosmic diamond is a chunk of crystallized carbon 50 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus. (A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, or about 6 trillion miles.) It is 2,500 miles across and weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds, which translates to approximately 10 billion trillion trillion carats, or a one followed by 34 zeros. To put that into perspective, it is nearly 400 miles larger in diameter than our Moon. [Kenobi] That’s no Moon. That’s a diamond![/Kenobi] ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/2 "2008-11-27T01:52:40Z")
Link to picture? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/3 "2008-11-27T02:06:02Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Link to picture? [Here ya go!](http://www4.ncsu.edu/~chking/fark/galactus.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/4 "2008-11-27T02:15:26Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [Here ya go!](http://www4.ncsu.edu/~chking/fark/galactus.jpg) Ok, I feel stupid. I never opened your first link. That’s one helluva diamond. New levels of bling. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/5 "2008-11-27T02:23:15Z")
I envy the corpse of the girl lucky enough to slip that on her finger. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/6 "2008-11-27T04:27:43Z")
If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, what does that make _this_? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/7 "2008-11-27T05:05:56Z")
From the article linked by the OP: > [@](#): > > When asked to estimate the value of the cosmic jewel, Ronald Winston, CEO of Harry Winston Inc., indicated that such a large diamond probably would depress the value of the market, stating, “Who knows? It may be a self-deflating prophecy because there is so much of it.” He added, “It is definitely too big to wear!” Here we see encapsulated the biggest fear of the diamond industry: that some day the emotionalism, monopoly, and artificial scarcity that keeps the price of diamonds so high will be broken, and you’ll be able to buy them for a fraction of their current price. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/8 "2008-11-27T06:24:24Z")
Judging from the photo, that’s a terrible cut… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/9 "2008-11-27T12:34:38Z")
The only diamond that wears you. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/10 "2008-11-27T13:02:12Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The only diamond that wears you. Must be Soviet. ---
**Author:** ![tilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58956e/32.png) [@tilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tilde)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/11 "2008-11-27T14:07:10Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, what does that make _this_? Anything it wants to be. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/12 "2008-11-27T16:13:54Z")
This isn’t really news - the story is four years old. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/13 "2008-11-27T16:26:19Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > you’ll be able to buy them for a fraction of their current price. Wouldn’t they be entirely worthless, if that massive space diamond was available? How much diamond (in tonnes) is 10 billion trillion trillion carats exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/14 "2008-11-27T17:05:52Z")
That’s a big-ass rock! Don’t anyone show my wife this thread – our 10-year anniversary is coming up and I’m pretty sure I can’t afford to buy her something like that! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/15 "2008-11-28T12:06:40Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > That’s a big-ass rock! > > Don’t anyone show my wife this thread – our 10-year anniversary is coming up and I’m pretty sure I can’t afford to buy her something like that! Meh. As **supply** goes **up** , **price** comes **down**. Try to interest your partner in other gemstones. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/16 "2008-11-28T17:00:19Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Wouldn’t they be entirely worthless, if that massive space diamond was available? > How much diamond (in tonnes) is 10 billion trillion trillion carats exactly? The weight in pounds was given as five million trillion trillion, so divide by 2000 for short tons (2.5 thousand trillion trillion) and take about eight-ninths of that for long tons or tonnes, which are about the same. So 2.25 thousand trillion trillion, more or less. Mind you, there’s inevitably some wastage when it’s cut. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/17 "2008-11-28T17:02:26Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > The weight in pounds was given as five million trillion trillion, so divide by 2000 for short tons (2.5 thousand trillion trillion) and take about eight-ninths of that for long tons or tonnes, which are about the same. So 2.25 thousand trillion trillion, more or less. > > Mind you, there’s inevitably some wastage when it’s cut. 😃 Those numbers are too big for me to comprehend… how many elephants or double-decker buses is that? I need it in a standard tabloid format! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-the-standard-for-engagement-rings-just-went-up/474640/18 "2008-11-28T17:33:22Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Those numbers are too big for me to comprehend… how many elephants or double-decker buses is that? I need it in a standard tabloid format! 😃 More than enough for everyone in the world to give everyone else in the world an elephant-sized diamond… easily. 🆒