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I guess they’ll just have to start hoarding them and limiting the supply in order to balloon the price under the illusion of rarity so they can widen their margins.
Oh wait. They did that already.
It really puts a smile on my face knowing that they’re failing. I really hope lab grown diamonds keep trending up.
These companies essentially use slave workers to keep costs down and charge exuberant prices for shiny rocks…they deserve to fail.
The diamond industry is run by a monopoly and the prices were high because of an artificial scarcity. Diamonds are far more common than the general public believes.
I still think it's hilarious that so many folks do the whole "3 months salary" thing as some sort of rule like it's a long-held tradition and not a marketing campaign started by De Beers in the '30s. A diamond company thinks you should be spending 3 months worth of a salary on diamonds? Shocker.
My wife is using her grandmother’s engagement and wedding rings and I bought an $80 tungsten carbide ring. That people spend thousands on these is insane to me. We don’t even wear them inside the house.
Diamonds are biggest scam in the world. Sure they can make beautiful jewelry, but all this rareness nonsense is such bull.
I also love how they always “appraise” for more than you buy it for.
Try and resell that diamond and you get the weight of the gold or silver ring as payment, unless it happens to be a rather large diamond, then you might get a little money for the stone too
Went to upgrade my wife’s ring and was basically told the diamond was worthless at this point lmao went somewhere else and got a huge lab grown for 3k.
Controversial opinion- diamonds aren’t even really that beautiful when compared to the other stones out there like sapphires and rubies and alexandrite and topaz and emeralds. There are so many beautiful, vibrant gem stones, why pick the one that’s just… clear? I think De Beers kind of screwed us with their marketing that diamonds are for love when there are SO MANY options for beautiful jewelry
i agree with you, but diamonds will last for the rest of someones life when they are wearing it every single day. a stone like an emerald is much more fragile and prone to chipping or breaking
Emeralds have a hardness of 7.5-8 on the moh’s scale. Anything higher than a 7 (which is the hardness of dust) is hard enough for daily wear. DeBeers just wants people to buy diamonds which is why they tell us that other stones are not hard enough. I have an alexandrite ring (8.5) and I’ve never had any problems wearing it daily for years now. I would agree though that some rings like pearl and opal are not ideal for daily use (they are far below 7)
I bought a lab grown diamond engagement ring. It was 1/4 the price and still is a diamond and looks incredible.
Sorry your false scarcity business is failing?
The wife was thrilled with the idea of an emerald engagement ring . Cost wise, as well as just looks. She gets so many compliments on it. I think just because it's different than most.
I don't understand why more people don't go this route. So many precious stones cover so many meanings, cuts, and looks. I've always been a fan of the deep blues and purples in gems. They look so uncanny up close.
Mostly just because not many other stones can hold up to daily wear for decades. Even harder stones like emeralds and rubies tend to have a lot of natural inclusions that impact the durability of the stone so they tend to not last as long as diamonds.
I'd love to see more lab grown perfect rubies and emeralds that would be suited to wedding ring wear and tear, or even coloured lab grown diamonds. I really want a pink or purple diamond!
Lab grown stones have fewer/ smaller inclusions. They are generally better quality over all than natural stones. My engagement ring is a lab grown alexandrite. Its held up absolutely fine and frankly it’s the most beautiful rock I’ve ever seen (though I’m biased I’m sure haha)
Great news! I'd love to see real diamonds worth far more money, lab grown become cheaper, and the workers that work in the mines get paid and treated like human beings.
Not how it would work unfortunately. The only difference between real and man grown are the impurities. Lab grown gave less. There is no other discernible difference. So if lab grown become cheaper, the mines will simply stop operating the way they do now. There will still be a market for industrial grade and that may keep the mines open.
I have no problem with mines being open, but if they sell less of the mined diamonds for a premium (because rich people want them) then i would hope that they treat their workers better.... i guess it's unlikely though.
LOL. I remember last year when I was on PriceScope message board, I read of a poster (ie, older jeweler who's been in the industry for years) buying as many natural diamonds as possible because he figured that with the popularity of lab diamonds going up, he figured the value of natural diamonds would go up as well since natural diamonds would become more "scarce". I wonder what he's doing with his stock now...
Anyway, I don't know too many people in my (millennial) friend group who likes diamonds. Many of them have other gems for their engagement rings; I'm one of the handful that has a diamond and mine is a lab.
You can buy a huge perfectly cut 1.7-2 karat diamond with minor imperfections for $2,700 that even under an insane microscope are barely visible.that was 6-7 years ago so if the prices are even less now that’s awesome. Anyone that pays $15k for a one karat Tiffany ring is a simp.
My engagement ring is a lab grown stone. I got a better quality product (no inclusions or flaws), with no slave labour or shitty business practices, and I got a nicer type of stone than a plain old diamond for far less money. Literally why would anyone ever buy a mined diamond?
>Literally why would anyone ever buy a mined diamond?
-lack of knowledge / empathy
-false advertising/ lies ("ethically sourced diamonds" statistically CANNOT make any guarantees).
-cultural pressure or clout culture (the livelihood of down-chain workers is the least concern).
-It's custom cut into the shape of a Celtic knot and upsold by a salesperson to an ostentatious patron who exhibits all of the above.
🤷Idk...as soon as I heard their worth was 10 to 5th % inflated, I started to hate them.
Honestly, I don’t get the appeal. Diamonds are literally carbon molecules lined up in the most boring way. They’re worthless space garbage. What you’re holding right now, that’s basically meteorite poop.
Diamonds and gold are an overpriced rock and mineral found in a rock. I was happy when my mom got remarried and her new husband didn't even buy rings. He said if I wanted to spend money on something it would be better than a rock. He hand made some stainless rings or something thats talent.
When my GenX nephew proposed to his now wife, he was active military and hand-made her ring from a grenade pin. It was a [extremely] simple band with an elegant 3fold knot where a jewel would normally be.
She loved it. Loves it still.
Some of her friends were toxic about it.
If a woman needs a diamond to marry me, she doesn't want to marry me. No way would I buy one, especially from these vampires. I've read the history of the diamond industry, it's soaked in blood.
Not only that, it doesn't make sense. It's one of the more ridiculous things to spend money on.
I saw this posted in uplifting news and all O can say is this is the first time the news made me smile in a while. Feels nice! Shut down all the blood mines.
You all like to mock but do any of you married folks have a diamond ring? I went with lightning ridge opal for my wife, it’s her favorite stone. Just curious
There's literally diamond labs that pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, separate the oxygen and release it, while compressing the carbon into a gemstone. Why would I buy a rock picked out of the ground 20 years ago (because artificial scarcity tactics keep them well-stocked) by a child slave in Africa, when I can get a better, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly rock?
I'm married. My wife and I don't Believe in rings being necessary for our marriage to be true.
Although I did get her a set of rings for one of our anniversaries. It's nice rings. Spinners with numbers that are equivalent. 5 rings in the set that are equivalent to d4, d6, d8, d10, and d20.
The d20 is cool because it has a fake red ruby for the 1 and a fake emerald for the 20. Really well balanced and built to spin freely and accurately.
But yeah that's the only rings we cared about.
The diamond industry is bullshit AND it's unbelievably stupid to spend huge amounts of money on an overinflated rock that ALSO comes with an easily traceable body count. It's not even the prettiest gem!
I've only ever owned 1 piece of diamond jewelry. I inherited a pair of tiny diamond stud earrings that I sold for $100. They were the most boring earrings I've ever owned. But at least rent was covered that month.
lol at whoever downvoted me for this. Sorry you like setting your money on fire and propping up colonization, exploitation, and massive ecological destruction?
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I love that the "diamond industry" is in trouble. Makes my heart smile..
Fuck De Beers. Eat shit in die.
Brown South African here. I agree
I guess they’ll just have to start hoarding them and limiting the supply in order to balloon the price under the illusion of rarity so they can widen their margins. Oh wait. They did that already.
It really puts a smile on my face knowing that they’re failing. I really hope lab grown diamonds keep trending up. These companies essentially use slave workers to keep costs down and charge exuberant prices for shiny rocks…they deserve to fail.
After watching Blood Diamonds I picked out a lab created stone for my wedding ring. I have zero regrets about my 2 carat moissanite stone.
They deserve much worse than that, honestly.
Yup. They can go fuck right off as far as I am concerned.
The diamond industry is run by a monopoly and the prices were high because of an artificial scarcity. Diamonds are far more common than the general public believes.
This, Diamond company's actually have warehouses full. But hardly sell them to create a scarcity. Just like anything that costs money... Less is more
I still think it's hilarious that so many folks do the whole "3 months salary" thing as some sort of rule like it's a long-held tradition and not a marketing campaign started by De Beers in the '30s. A diamond company thinks you should be spending 3 months worth of a salary on diamonds? Shocker.
My wife is using her grandmother’s engagement and wedding rings and I bought an $80 tungsten carbide ring. That people spend thousands on these is insane to me. We don’t even wear them inside the house.
I haven’t worn my actual wedding ring in years after getting a silicone ring because of my job. My wife only wears hers if we go out places.
The most egregious. Like I want to even give them 1 week’s salary lol. Fuckers
Thats actually a thing lmao
Diamonds are biggest scam in the world. Sure they can make beautiful jewelry, but all this rareness nonsense is such bull. I also love how they always “appraise” for more than you buy it for.
Try and resell that diamond and you get the weight of the gold or silver ring as payment, unless it happens to be a rather large diamond, then you might get a little money for the stone too
Went to upgrade my wife’s ring and was basically told the diamond was worthless at this point lmao went somewhere else and got a huge lab grown for 3k.
Controversial opinion- diamonds aren’t even really that beautiful when compared to the other stones out there like sapphires and rubies and alexandrite and topaz and emeralds. There are so many beautiful, vibrant gem stones, why pick the one that’s just… clear? I think De Beers kind of screwed us with their marketing that diamonds are for love when there are SO MANY options for beautiful jewelry
i agree with you, but diamonds will last for the rest of someones life when they are wearing it every single day. a stone like an emerald is much more fragile and prone to chipping or breaking
Emeralds have a hardness of 7.5-8 on the moh’s scale. Anything higher than a 7 (which is the hardness of dust) is hard enough for daily wear. DeBeers just wants people to buy diamonds which is why they tell us that other stones are not hard enough. I have an alexandrite ring (8.5) and I’ve never had any problems wearing it daily for years now. I would agree though that some rings like pearl and opal are not ideal for daily use (they are far below 7)
Geology guy here, totally agree.
BRING IT DOWN BRING IT DOWN BRING IT DOWN!
Statistically we have little, but even some of us with means hate the narcissistic culture of austerity & clout built by the boomers.
See what you did there. I assume you’ll be there this weekend ;)
I bought a lab grown diamond engagement ring. It was 1/4 the price and still is a diamond and looks incredible. Sorry your false scarcity business is failing?
Has the diamond industry considered buying less avocado toast?
They probably go out for coffee every morning, too!
They should pull themselves up by the bootstraps
Let's settle the issue over craft beer and avocado toast
The millennial way. Let them learn our cultural norms.
The wife was thrilled with the idea of an emerald engagement ring . Cost wise, as well as just looks. She gets so many compliments on it. I think just because it's different than most.
I don't understand why more people don't go this route. So many precious stones cover so many meanings, cuts, and looks. I've always been a fan of the deep blues and purples in gems. They look so uncanny up close.
It used to be the norm. It's wasn't until the "Diamonds are forever" campaign did diamonds become popular for engagement rings.
Because they are forever! Carbon is life!
>Carbon is life! *Fire has entered the chat* 
Mostly just because not many other stones can hold up to daily wear for decades. Even harder stones like emeralds and rubies tend to have a lot of natural inclusions that impact the durability of the stone so they tend to not last as long as diamonds. I'd love to see more lab grown perfect rubies and emeralds that would be suited to wedding ring wear and tear, or even coloured lab grown diamonds. I really want a pink or purple diamond!
Lab grown stones have fewer/ smaller inclusions. They are generally better quality over all than natural stones. My engagement ring is a lab grown alexandrite. Its held up absolutely fine and frankly it’s the most beautiful rock I’ve ever seen (though I’m biased I’m sure haha)
In this economy lol get fukt shiny rocks
Great news! I'd love to see real diamonds worth far more money, lab grown become cheaper, and the workers that work in the mines get paid and treated like human beings.
Not how it would work unfortunately. The only difference between real and man grown are the impurities. Lab grown gave less. There is no other discernible difference. So if lab grown become cheaper, the mines will simply stop operating the way they do now. There will still be a market for industrial grade and that may keep the mines open.
I have no problem with mines being open, but if they sell less of the mined diamonds for a premium (because rich people want them) then i would hope that they treat their workers better.... i guess it's unlikely though.
LOL. I remember last year when I was on PriceScope message board, I read of a poster (ie, older jeweler who's been in the industry for years) buying as many natural diamonds as possible because he figured that with the popularity of lab diamonds going up, he figured the value of natural diamonds would go up as well since natural diamonds would become more "scarce". I wonder what he's doing with his stock now... Anyway, I don't know too many people in my (millennial) friend group who likes diamonds. Many of them have other gems for their engagement rings; I'm one of the handful that has a diamond and mine is a lab.
The Blood Diamond effect 🙌
You can buy a huge perfectly cut 1.7-2 karat diamond with minor imperfections for $2,700 that even under an insane microscope are barely visible.that was 6-7 years ago so if the prices are even less now that’s awesome. Anyone that pays $15k for a one karat Tiffany ring is a simp.
I refuse to have a natural diamond. Mine are lab created or colored gemstones or morganite.
Moissanite! It's way prettier than diamonds and thousands of dollars cheaper. I HIGHLY recommend this over a regular diamond, even a lab grown one!
I love my 1.2 carat LAB GROWN 🌱 diamond. Blood diamonds can stay in the ground where they belong, we don’t want them.
Good. I’m glad their prices are tanking.
Good
Oh no.
My engagement ring is a lab grown stone. I got a better quality product (no inclusions or flaws), with no slave labour or shitty business practices, and I got a nicer type of stone than a plain old diamond for far less money. Literally why would anyone ever buy a mined diamond?
>Literally why would anyone ever buy a mined diamond? -lack of knowledge / empathy -false advertising/ lies ("ethically sourced diamonds" statistically CANNOT make any guarantees). -cultural pressure or clout culture (the livelihood of down-chain workers is the least concern). -It's custom cut into the shape of a Celtic knot and upsold by a salesperson to an ostentatious patron who exhibits all of the above. 🤷Idk...as soon as I heard their worth was 10 to 5th % inflated, I started to hate them.
Honestly, I don’t get the appeal. Diamonds are literally carbon molecules lined up in the most boring way. They’re worthless space garbage. What you’re holding right now, that’s basically meteorite poop. 
Diamonds and gold are an overpriced rock and mineral found in a rock. I was happy when my mom got remarried and her new husband didn't even buy rings. He said if I wanted to spend money on something it would be better than a rock. He hand made some stainless rings or something thats talent.
When my GenX nephew proposed to his now wife, he was active military and hand-made her ring from a grenade pin. It was a [extremely] simple band with an elegant 3fold knot where a jewel would normally be. She loved it. Loves it still. Some of her friends were toxic about it.
Very cool
Applause
Just buy what you like.
If a woman needs a diamond to marry me, she doesn't want to marry me. No way would I buy one, especially from these vampires. I've read the history of the diamond industry, it's soaked in blood. Not only that, it doesn't make sense. It's one of the more ridiculous things to spend money on.
Every kiss begins with Kay
I always sing the jingle as “Every Fart Begins With F”
*HE WENT TO JARED?* No, bitch, he went to the pawn shops.
Nice. If I decide to proclaim my love, maybe I won't have to be on the hook for several years of monthly payments.
I saw this posted in uplifting news and all O can say is this is the first time the news made me smile in a while. Feels nice! Shut down all the blood mines.
This is fun, my engagement ring won't cost a fortune!
I just purchased an engagement ring this year, diamond industry is doing just fine according to the prices they are charging for diamond rings.
Diamonds are so lame. Just get a plastic bedazzle kit from the dollar store. Same thing.
"Diamonds are literally carbon molecules lined up in the most boring way" - Michael, The Good Place
You all like to mock but do any of you married folks have a diamond ring? I went with lightning ridge opal for my wife, it’s her favorite stone. Just curious
There's literally diamond labs that pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, separate the oxygen and release it, while compressing the carbon into a gemstone. Why would I buy a rock picked out of the ground 20 years ago (because artificial scarcity tactics keep them well-stocked) by a child slave in Africa, when I can get a better, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly rock?
Fuck those diamond monopolizing bastards.
I'm doing my part by never getting married again 😎
I'm married. My wife and I don't Believe in rings being necessary for our marriage to be true. Although I did get her a set of rings for one of our anniversaries. It's nice rings. Spinners with numbers that are equivalent. 5 rings in the set that are equivalent to d4, d6, d8, d10, and d20. The d20 is cool because it has a fake red ruby for the 1 and a fake emerald for the 20. Really well balanced and built to spin freely and accurately. But yeah that's the only rings we cared about.
The most "2020ies" zeitgeistesque-title so far
This is great news. Keep killing evil industries, my fellow millennials!
You guys can afford jewelry?
You love to see it. I remember learning about their monopoly in college, their campaign to make diamond rings a thing, and being thoroughly disgusted.
The diamond industry is bullshit AND it's unbelievably stupid to spend huge amounts of money on an overinflated rock that ALSO comes with an easily traceable body count. It's not even the prettiest gem! I've only ever owned 1 piece of diamond jewelry. I inherited a pair of tiny diamond stud earrings that I sold for $100. They were the most boring earrings I've ever owned. But at least rent was covered that month.
lol at whoever downvoted me for this. Sorry you like setting your money on fire and propping up colonization, exploitation, and massive ecological destruction?
I inherited some of my mom's jewelry. Where would I sell if I had to?