I’m very interested to see what will happen over the years.
Are people going to buy the “natural” diamond concept and be willing to pay a large premium for it? This is a bit different than Cubic Zirconia or Moissanite, it is chemically identical, and most likely superior in color and clarity to a natural diamond. A lower price will also let you get a larger diamond for the same or less money, which is nice if you are on a budget. Sure, it’s easy to pay the premium when you’re rich, but do you go for a 1/3rd carat natural diamond over a 1 carat synthetic for an engagement ring?
I think a large segment of the population will be happy to get a lower cost synthetic, which will wreak havoc on the market dynamic. I think the market for natural diamonds will still exist, but be much smaller, focusing on premium jewelry. What would today go into a small engagement ring, or a small earring will now be part of a high end piece. Your smaller rings will fall by the wayside, since most people prefer a bit larger stone (3/4 to 1 carat) to the tiny stones that are the most that many young couples can afford.
[Hijack]I wonder how long before Pat Robertson (who has major money invested in African diamond mines) comes out with a fatwa regarding synthetic diamonds and how they are a harbinger of the End Times and must be destroyed? (This is the man who is rabidly pro-life in America but supports the “one child only” edict of the Chinese government where, coincidentally, he has major business interests.)[/Hijack]
The question for me is: would I really care if my husband had purchased me a synthetic diamond engagement ring? Nope. If you can’t tell by looking at it with the naked eye, then what’s the difference? And anyone who has the guts to ask about it is rude anyway. If I can afford more or nicer jewelry by going with synthetics, you better believe I’m getting a synthetic. And my husband will be told that it’s OK to buy me one. That’s actually a good policy. Women who might be getting engaged soon, tell your men if it’s OK to buy a synthetic. I’m of the opinion that men shouldn’t have to feel pressure to buy a natural stone or fear looking cheap.
If they do, a way will have to be devised to let the casual observer know it’s natural.
I mean if you can’t tell the difference between a big bucks natural and a not so big bucks manufactured, what’s the point of getting a natural (if not simply for the beauty of it)?
Do people still feel a need for diamonds? I don’t even like diamonds! Sure, they’re sparkly, but I just don’t see the big deal. Sapphires are gorgeous, and rubies are beautiful, and opals flash a million colors. Diamonds are lovely but I don’t see why they’re “better” than the other gems, especially in the whole “proving you love your woman” department.
Please, people: Size of rock != Amount of love, ok? If you want to spend thousands of dollars showing me you love me, take me on a vacation so we can both enjoy it!
DeBeers has been suckering people into paying outrageous prices for not-at-all-rare crystals since before I was born. At least 90% of us believe it’s sensible to fork over two months’ salary to De Beers for an engagement ring at a time of your life when you can least afford to do that.
All of those millions are going to support the exploitation of poor black miners. Doesn’t that bother anyone just a little bit?
A special note to the “I’m happy if it looks like a natural diamond.” crowd.
There are already fake diamonds that are so realistic that DeBeers had to come up with special equipment to test those. There was even a newer fake type announced a year+ ago that passed those machine tests.
So you can get a really cheap “diamond” that no one can tell is a fake just by looking at it on your finger.
Agains, it has nothing to do with looks, rarity, etc. It’s all about marketing.
Bothers me a lot. It also bothers me that a lot of diamonds are blood diamonds and provide the money for a lot bush wars.
I hate the fact the DeBeers has kept diamond artificially expensive, it should be cheaper for industrial use.
Some of the synthetic processes will probably bring these costs way down without affecting the gem market however. Industrial diamond is usually way smaller than gem size.
I know that’s the amount they promote, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot like “lather, rinse, repeat”. They figure there’s no point in promoting a small amount, so they’ll mention one that most people think is kind of extreme. This way when the guy is out shopping, he’ll buy one that’s maybe one month’s salary and think he’s already skimping on the cost.
Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who paid even one month’s salary. That’s outrageous. I know that at the L.A. diamond district you can get decent engagement rings for less than $1000, and that’s a lot less than one month’s salary for quite a lot of people.
Not all of us. My engagement ring is a sapphire, because diamonds aren’t as pretty. I also like to be different.
I even know that you can technically get married (spoiler box to protect those who may be shocked):
without any engagement ring at all, like my grandparents did, and they were happily married for over 50 years
Absolutely. That’s another reason I got a sapphire- I don’t want people checking out the size of my “rock” (how I hate it when people refer to their engagement ring that way- the point is to have a beautiful piece of jewelry, not to have the biggest stone you can get!) and drawing conclusions about Mr. Neville’s income, or about how much he does or doesn’t love me. :rolleyes:
In the long run, I think artificial diamonds will undermine the marketing-created mystique of diamonds, and cause fewer people to be willing to spend ridiculous amounts for them. Diamond is so useful that it’s likely to be used all over; the only real limit will be how cheap they can be made. Remember aluminum; before the electrolytic method of extracting it was discovered, it was more precious than gold. Now, we make beer cans out of it. Eventually, a diamond ring will have all the romance of a steel one. Hopefully, this will drive DeBeers into bankruptcy. With any luck, they’ll be driven into the wilderness and eaten by hyenas…well, OK, that won’t happen ( too bad ).
You could also try to go with a vintage ring, pre-DeBeers, assuming that you’ve got all these poor women lined up to marry and that’s all that is standing in your way . Vintage diamonds (and other stones for that matter) are just stunning, they’re often in one-of-a-kind settings and are SO much cheaper than a McRock…
I designed my wife’s ring, and had it cast in platinum. If I could have, I would have purchased a Canadian diamond or a synthetic diamond, but they were basically impossible to find… so I ended up buying a diamond with a “blood-free” certification. How much faith do I have in the industry’s self-policing? Very little. Did I hold my nose and get the diamond anyway? You bet. For our engagement, the stone was ornamentation for the ring, but the ring was the real centerpiece (I spent about half of my ring budget on having it cast and carved). It didn’t matter what I got… but nothing looked as good as the diamond.
I know that most of my peer group would absolutely get a synthetic diamond. “What the market will bear” is a good starting price point, but remember the idea of underselling, too. If DeBeers can sell a “natural” for $5000, SynthaGem (or whoever) can sell a “genuine” or “pure” diamond for $4000. Their profit margin is still huge, and if DeBeers decides to drop prices… then so will SynthaGem. SynthaGem should always be able to undersell DeBeers’ production costs. SynthaGem can also market their diamonds as “cruelty-free” or “renewable”… there’s a whole list of adjectives. Meanwhile, DeBeers has to get approval from the FTC to use words like “natural”.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you Canada has a diamond mining industry now. Last I saw, nobody was working there in slave conditions.
I figure I’ll do my part by teaching any future offspring of mine that diamonds are a silly, expensive pile of nonsense. I told my wife long ago she can have any other gemstone her heart desires, but no diamonds.
Fortunately my wifes mother gave me her old diamond (guess she was trying to hurry me along!) so I didn’t have to pay for one.
I learned a little about this recently from an unlikely source: The Prize, by Daniel Yergin, which is a history of the petroleum industry.
In the 1902s, Kuwait’s number one industry and principal source of foreign exchange was trade in natural pearls brought up by divers in the Persian Gulf. A noodle vendor, Kokichi Mikimoto, after many years of intensive effort, developed the technique for cultivating pearls artificially. By 1930, production of Japanese cultured pearls was so high that within a few years the demand for natural pearls was all but destroyed, devasting Kuwait’s economy. Hence Kuwait’s big push to bring in the British and Americans to develop its oil industry.
