# Why Haven't Diamond Prices Crashed Yet? (Or Did They?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597 "2009-10-04T22:45:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/21 "2009-10-05T09:33:54Z")
The Russians have come close (but not there yet) to making man made diamonds nearly the same as one you dig out of the ground. So close are these that DeBeers already has a process to mark with their brand their diamonds so people will know the diamond they have isn’t man made. Its similar to cultured pearls. You can tell the difference between culutured pearls and pearls that grew accidently in oysters. The cultured pearls are worth less. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/22 "2009-10-05T10:00:54Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Maybe star sapphires are too rare? Everyone has seen a diamind. I’ve never seen a star sapphire. I have, my Organic Chemistry teacher collected rocks and he had two huge star sapphires; he kept them on the shelves behind his chair. He’d put them away when he had “work” visits, because they were so eye-catching people would stop mid-word to stare. Half the times I went to his office (we had to go after every test) we ended talking pretty rocks, good times. But the thing is, the kind of woman who shows off her rock wants… a rock. A big, clunky diamond. She doesn’t want something pretty, she doesn’t want a symbol of her mate’s love, she wants a rock to hit other women like her with. And that means a big, clunky diamond, the bigger the better and it’s got to be a diamond. Other stones are more expensive, other gifts may be more comfortable, more beautiful or more meaningful, but they’re not what those women want; they don’t want a Forget-me-not bracelet or a ruby ring any more than they want your great-grandmother’s engagement ring… because none of them is a Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/23 "2009-10-05T11:07:54Z")
But that’s my point: if the rock were any less expensive, she wouldn’t want it. The whole point of having a diamond is to show off how much money one is willing to spend on it. Thus, the price of diamonds is being driven up by consumers as much as by manufacturers. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > But to render it worth less it doesn’t need to be gem quality; just common. To go back to my example of aluminum; if someone manufactured jewelry out of some really shiny, pretty aluminum alloy it wouldn’t have the kind of aura of status that diamonds do, because aluminum is utilitarian these days. If diamond turns into an industrial materiel like steel or aluminum, something that you run into everywhere you look I don’t see diamonds maintaining their mystique even if the industrial stuff isn’t gem quality. > > In order to be regarded as something ultra-special, it has to be something not used for common purposes. I’ve always said that the the gig will be up the moment Apple figure out how to make a diamond panel for the iPhone. I’m guessing 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/24 "2009-10-05T11:23:50Z")
Here (I don’t know about the rest of the world) it seems the pleochroic zoisite stone known as Tanzanite is the new diamond. I think one of the possible reasons for diamond prices not falling as far as they could have, is the increased affluence of the Indian domestic market? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/25 "2009-10-05T12:08:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’ve always said that the the gig will be up the moment Apple figure out how to make a diamond panel for the iPhone. I’m guessing 5 years. It won’t be diamond, but don’t be surprised to see synthetic sapphire panels on an iPhone sometime soon. Most good watches already use it, and the silly high end jewellry phones (TAG, Nokia’s Vertu) do too. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/26 "2009-10-05T12:13:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But if it’s all about the expense for its own sake, why haven’t diamonds been replaced by gems which are really genuinely rare, like star sapphires? Diamonds are only rare because DeBeers says they’re rare, but star sapphires aren’t found much in the ground or in warehouses. Plus, as anyone who’s actually seen one can attest, they’re far, far prettier than diamonds. I am a cheap bastard, but I own a star sapphire ring. I rarely wear it because the setting says “late 70s” and I haven’t had the inclination to have it reset into something more classical. The Wife’s engagment ring is a small stone, but it did belong to my grandmother/ Heirlooms count for a lot, and she’s a geneology buff, so that added extra points. Diamonds are expensive because enough peopel are still willing to pay that much for pretty rocks. (I agree that \*they \* are trying to position tanzanite as the Next Big Thing. The cruise we went on last fall had a “seminar” on tanzanite to encourage purchasing. It didn’t work on us.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/27 "2009-10-05T12:17:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’ve always said that the the gig will be up the moment Apple figure out how to make a diamond panel for the iPhone. I’m guessing 5 years. Well, they’re already doing Swaroskys, I’m sure doing the same with diamonds can’t be so different. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/28 "2009-10-05T13:12:35Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I have a friend who bought his fiancee (and still wife) a substantial engagement diamond. Some of his friends were needling him about the cost (around $40k). His response: “Are you crazy? If I’d had any idea how much stock women put in this, I’d have bought her one twice the size. She showed it to all her friends and female relatives, and that instantly made me respectable and impressive to a bunch of women I’d never met.” I prefer to cut out the middle man and just give them a copy of my 1040. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/29 "2009-10-05T13:18:22Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > This is what you are buying when you buy a girly a diamond. You are implicitly Richard Burton to her Elizabeth Taylor. As symbols go it doesn’t get much better than that. Well, they did divorce (twice), so maybe it does get better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/30 "2009-10-05T13:31:54Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > I prefer to cut out the middle man and just give them a copy of my 1040. Ha. Guy I knew used to rummage through that rubbish container next to the ATM and find a few receipts showing a five or six figure balance. Kept them in his back pocket, conveniently “found” them when he was chatting up girls in bars and offered to write his number down for them. More than one called back. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/31 "2009-10-05T13:56:50Z")
CVD diamond manufacturing cost was approximately $3 a carat several years ago, and single crystals can be effectively grown to size with modern techniques. Alternatives such as cubic zirconia are for all intents and purposes optically comparable, yet people still willingly pay a significant premium for the concept of a ‘natural’ diamond. In short, individuals and markets don’t behave rationally, or appraise the value of a crystalline lattice of one of the most common elements, with any measure of sense. Those with a vested interest will seek to maintain their perceived value, typified by current practices of etching ‘non-synthetic’ examples. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/32 "2009-10-05T14:02:02Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > The Russians have come close (but not there yet) to making man made diamonds nearly the same as one you dig out of the ground. So close are these that DeBeers already has a process to mark with their brand their diamonds so people will know the diamond they have isn’t man made. > > Its similar to cultured pearls. You can tell the difference between culutured pearls and pearls that grew accidently in oysters. The cultured pearls are worth less. You can tell the difference between Cultured Pearls & Natural Pearls only with an x-ray machine. Natural pearls are vanishingly rare–partly because of pollution & over-harvesting. Nearly all pearls sold today are cultured, but the prices vary greatly. Cultured Freshwater Pearls are fairly inexpensive–although still lovely. Fine Cultured South Seas or Tahitian Pearls can be quite pricey–especially when you need enough well-matched specimens to make a necklace. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/33 "2009-10-05T15:14:15Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > plus bigtime discoveries in Northern Canada not known about at the time of the Atlantic article DeBeers runs mines in Canada now too. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/34 "2009-10-05T15:29:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But if it’s all about the expense for its own sake, why haven’t diamonds been replaced by gems which are really genuinely rare, like star sapphires? Diamonds are only rare because DeBeers says they’re rare, but star sapphires aren’t found much in the ground or in warehouses. Plus, as anyone who’s actually seen one can attest, they’re far, far prettier than diamonds. I personally prefer opals … I would rather have an opal over a diamond any day. Only problem is they can be damaged very easy =( ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/35 "2009-10-05T15:40:05Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > As the decade proceded, we found the market even weaker, so in or about 2005 we lowered our buys to the public to about 35% of Rap, and today we’re at about 30% or Rap. except for 2+ carat diamonds. It sounds hearless, but there is truly _NO_ wholesale market for most diamonds. This is extremely interesting, but it leaves off one point–what are you \*selling \*diamonds for? Do you still sell them for 100% of Rap, and if so, why? You could make the same profit you made in the 80’s selling at 60% of Rap. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/36 "2009-10-05T17:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > It won’t be diamond, but don’t be surprised to see synthetic sapphire panels on an iPhone sometime soon. Most good watches already use it, and the silly high end jewellry phones (TAG, Nokia’s Vertu) do too. Sapphire is actually fairly easy to synthesize, as gems go. One of the planned upgrades for the LIGO detectors is to make the mirrors out of 40 kg flawless single crystal sapphires. But that’s for flawless; it’s different if you’re trying to deliberately add defects, like a star (yes, a star in a sapphire is technically speaking a kind of defect). I don’t think (though I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong) anyone’s managed to make synthetic star sapphires yet. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/37 "2009-10-05T19:00:31Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Ha. Guy I knew used to rummage through that rubbish container next to the ATM and find a few receipts showing a five or six figure balance. Kept them in his back pocket, conveniently “found” them when he was chatting up girls in bars and offered to write his number down for them. > > More than one called back. People keep that kind of money in their bank accounts? Aside from being way over the FDIC insurance limit, it’s wasteful to get that kind of yield on the money. I suppose if you’ve got $100 million it doesn’t matter much. I may have to sell all my stock and put it in my savings account for just long enough to print out a bunch of ATM receipts. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/38 "2009-10-05T19:07:14Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > People keep that kind of money in their bank accounts? Aside from being way over the FDIC insurance limit, it’s wasteful to get that kind of yield on the money. I suppose if you’ve got $100 million it doesn’t matter much. > > I may have to sell all my stock and put it in my savings account for just long enough to print out a bunch of ATM receipts. Not following you. FDIC insures up to $250,000 per account. He was finding receipts reading $73,500 or $106,417. I’m with you on the interest though. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/39 "2009-10-06T00:13:46Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Diamonds are expensive because enough peopel are still willing to pay that much for pretty rocks. (I agree that \*they \* are trying to position tanzanite as the Next Big Thing. The cruise we went on last fall had a “seminar” on tanzanite to encourage purchasing. It didn’t work on us.) Oh, _please_! Tanzanite is so _yesterday_. 😛 Seriously, tanzanite took off about 15 years ago, peaked probably 5 years ago. Now we don’t care much. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597/40 "2009-10-06T00:42:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t think (though I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong) anyone’s managed to make synthetic star sapphires yet. Wrong! 😃 IN 1947, the Linde company, later a division of Dow Chemical, invented synthetic star sapphires. These are the ones that were used in most rings in the 1960s and 1970s. They have NO value as gems. > **[All About Jewels Glossary: L](https://www.enchantedlearning.com/jewel/glossary/indexl.shtml)** > > Illustrated jewelry glossary, L. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-diamond-prices-crashed-yet-or-did-they/512597.md?page=3)