Diamonds .. Why?

[mrclose]

A local company here is running a promo on their diamonds.

The women (in the promo) are complaining that until they went to this store (Diamonds Direct) their husbands, boy friends, etc. etc. couldn't purchase the Big Rock that they always wanted, (lusted after).

Other than diamond sellers pushing these rocks and every woman wanting a bigger one than they could afford .. where's the value come from??

I understand industrial use diamonds but the rock on women's fingers .. ??

Does greed push the price?

What?

[Alpha Mare]

The supply of quality diamonds is small (the 4 C's), and the majority are owned by just a few companies. They run one of the most successful ad campaigns ever.  Most diamonds sold are G-I grade, but if you ever see a "D", you'll know it.

[thundley4]

I had heard at one time that De Beers has pretty much a monopoly on supply, pricing and distribution of all diamonds, even from mines they don't own. Fortunately, my wife prefers colored gemstones, and silver instead of gold. 

[mrclose]

Thanks but that still doesn't answer the question.

Why is there any value in diamonds .. any diamond, perfect or not?

[EagleKeeper]

Thanks but that still doesn't answer the question.

Why is there any value in diamonds .. any diamond, perfect or not?

Actually, the answers you have received does help to answer the question.

But what I will add is that the formation of diamonds occurs roughly 100 miles deep in the earths mantle and are only brought to the surface (where we can get to them) by tectonic or volcanic activity.

Also, many of the diamonds recovered are only fit for industrial use, gem quality diamonds are rarer and require people that are skilled in gem cutting to make them desirable for mounting in jewelry.

Heavy metals, like gold and silver were delivered to this planet during its formation, basically a gift from supernovae, but they ended up close to the surface while diamonds are formed deep within the earth and require geologic influence to have access to. 

[Chris_]

The Incredible Story Of How De Beers Created And Lost The Most Powerful Monopoly Ever

Up until the mid-1800s, diamonds were a rarity and could be seen only on the hand of a monarch. But the diamond rush that began in South Africa in the second half of the 19th century flooded the market with diamonds, which, as any good businessman knows, kills demand.

It would take some ingenious plotting and advertising to keep the diamond's reputation as intrinsically valuable and desirable, which is where De Beers comes in.

Under Oppenheimer, De Beers and its Central Selling Organization established exclusive contracts with suppliers and buyers, making it impossible to deal with diamonds outside of De Beers.

The structure of the business remained the same for much of the 20th century: A De Beers subsidiary would buy the diamonds. De Beers would determine the amount of diamonds they wanted to sell, and at what price, for the whole year. Each producer would then get a cut of the total output, and buyers would take their diamonds to be resold in places like Antwerp and New York.

Business Insider

The De Beers story is an interesting one.

[DefiantSix]

I said to Hell with De Beers when I bought the diamond for my wife.

When it came time to pony up, instead of buying an overpriced undersized diamond chip from a traditional jeweler, I went to http://www.stauer.com and bought a 2 1/2ct lab-created rock for a tiny fraction of the price of a mined stone. 

My wife actually likes it more than she would have a "natural" stone (it helps that I was always up front with her about the nature of the thing from the start.) Whenever she gets to talking with the clucking hens, she almost always leaves the circle with bragging rights, and she's happily embarrassed more than one jeweler who assumed that just because it doesn't have the De Beers serial number etched into it, it's a lump of paste.

[Lacarnut]

Thanks but that still doesn't answer the question.

Why is there any value in diamonds .. any diamond, perfect or not?

It is a status symbol; to many bigger is better. What is the difference between a million dollar yacht and a 10 million one? If one has the cash, they may want to flaunt it. Plus, value is in the eyes of the beholder.   

[Alpha Mare]

I collect gemstones/jewelry, but not diamonds. I have a 'D' diamond ring that my father made for my 16th birthday. It's not the biggest, but it is unbelievably bright.

[Dori]

I'm not particularly drawn to diamonds.

One of my favorite museums is the museum of natural history in Los Angeles and my favorite part of the museum is the gem room.  It has armed guards at both the entrance and exit.  I could spend the day in there.  They display the rocks beautifully, from the rough stone to a piece of set jewelry.  There are so many beautiful gems in so many different colors, it would be hard to pick just one as a favorite.

[catsmtrods]

I have Nana's engagement ring. It's 60 years old and very rare they tell me. Its 18 kt white gold with a 1.17 carat round brilliant cut diamond, VVS1 clarity, G color.   "extraordinary" they say.  Me I don't get it either? But its appraised replacement value is $13,000!! If you know anyone who wants to wow their sweetie I'll sell it for $5,000.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It is a status symbol; to many bigger is better. What is the difference between a million dollar yacht and a 10 million one? If one has the cash, they may want to flaunt it. Plus, value is in the eyes of the beholder.   

Yeah, basically it's not all that different than primitive societies where the women wear all the family wealth in the form of necklaces made of whatever is valuable to them.  The value of gold, diamonds, or about anything else beyond basic subsistence items is an entirely artificial construct.  Of course, the ability to abstract value into functionally-useless items from jewels to coins has enabled us to have a technological society based on complex commerce networks instead of a simple one based on subsistence farming...

[JohnnyReb]

It's the Jooooooos.

Hey, it was bound to come up sooner or later, right?

[mrclose]

But what I will add is that the formation of diamonds occurs roughly 100 miles deep in the earths mantle and are only brought to the surface (where we can get to them) by tectonic or volcanic activity.

Saw the teevee movie The Core where they had to drill to the center of the earth in a laser cutting passenger thingy.

They ran into some roadblocks when they encountered diamonds .. the size of Manhattan.

[EagleKeeper]

Saw the teevee movie The Core where they had to drill to the center of the earth in a laser cutting passenger thingy.

They ran into some roadblocks when they encountered diamonds .. the size of Manhattan.

Yeah...I'd sure like to get my meat hooks on one of those.

[Big Dog]

Thanks but that still doesn't answer the question.

Why is there any value in diamonds .. any diamond, perfect or not?

Value is simply the amount that someone is willing to pay for a thing or service. This principle applies whether you're talking about a bale of cotton, a gallon of oil, or a diamond.

A $1,000 diamond is less useful than $1,000 worth of cotton or oil, but cotton and oil won't get you laid.

[Purple Sage]

Neither will a $1000 diamond.  :P

[EagleKeeper]

Neither will a $1000 diamond.  :P

Oh, I think you are wrong.

[longview]

I don't understand the value of diamonds, either.  Nor the desire to wear a piece of jewelry with a large diamond, or several, on it.

There was a fellow that wanted to marry me once.  He presented a ring with a ridiculously large diamond on it and insisted that I would wear it.  No, I would not.  I was ranching and putting up hay to support my family at that time and that stupid ring could have caused injury or even killed me.  Figured out the guy was more in love with some image and didn't even know what that entailed.

I'm more of a pearl girl, I guess.  Though pearls are quite odd, too, aren't they?  And there are so many pretty stones, though.  I like those and have quite a few sets of jewelry with semiprecious stones.

[Dori]

I don't understand the value of diamonds, either.  Nor the desire to wear a piece of jewelry with a large diamond, or several, on it.

I know someone who had a very expensive diamond engagement ring.  She lost the diamond out of the setting and was more upset about telling her husband that the diamond was lost, than the fact that it was gone.

She replaced the diamond with a manmade one and never told her  husband about it. 

Another story was a woman I worked with wore a very expensive heart necklace with lots of diamonds in it.  She had stopped at a store after work and just as she was getting out of her car, a man came up to her, grabbed it and jerked it off her neck and took off. 

Lesson...If your going to wear expensive jewelry, probably best to insure it.






 

[JohnnyReb]

I never cared for wearing jewelry, to dangerous. I know a couple of people that lost their ring fingers to a wedding band. Also knew a guy that had a minor motorcycle accident. He was wearing a heavy gold necklace and it got caught on the side mirror of an SUV and instead of breaking instantly it cut his jugular vein then broke. He bleed to death in a few seconds, not another scratch on him.

[SaintLouieWoman]

I know someone who had a very expensive diamond engagement ring.  She lost the diamond out of the setting and was more upset about telling her husband that the diamond was lost, than the fact that it was gone.

She replaced the diamond with a manmade one and never told her  husband about it. 

Another story was a woman I worked with wore a very expensive heart necklace with lots of diamonds in it.  She had stopped at a store after work and just as she was getting out of her car, a man came up to her, grabbed it and jerked it off her neck and took off. 

Lesson...If your going to wear expensive jewelry, probably best to insure it.






 

The other lesson is to be careful where you wear expensive jewelry. As an outside sales rep with an office equipment company with a territory that took me into some dangerous areas, where some of the government offices were located, I early on learned not to wear too much jewelry. That's when I started getting white gold instead of yellow gold--as I figured thieves would think it was silver and not worth taking it. That was before the white gold became the dominant choice in jewelry.

As far as diamonds go, they don't matter much to me. I have a beautiful old ring from my great-uncle, then given to my father, with rubies that I love more than diamonds. Besides, it's not the rock, it's the thought behind it.

[longview]

I never cared for wearing jewelry, to dangerous. I know a couple of people that lost their ring fingers to a wedding band. Also knew a guy that had a minor motorcycle accident. He was wearing a heavy gold necklace and it got caught on the side mirror of an SUV and instead of breaking instantly it cut his jugular vein then broke. He bleed to death in a few seconds, not another scratch on him.

Railroad out here won't let their crews wear jewelry like rings and chains for that reason.  I seen some pretty mangled hands and heard some horrible stories from men and women who wore that stuff around unforgiving equipment. 

I never would have thought about a car, though!

[Big Dog]

Railroad out here won't let their crews wear jewelry like rings and chains for that reason.  I seen some pretty mangled hands and heard some horrible stories from men and women who wore that stuff around unforgiving equipment. 

I never would have thought about a car, though!

No rings for me, either. Farm folk, horses and farm implements- I grew up that way, and had all ten fingers when I left home!

In paramedic school, I saw a really scary picture of a welder's finger electrocuted from a ring. I had to cut a couple smashed rings off fingers over the years.

A volunteer fire chief of my acquaintance lost his ring finger at an MVA. He reached in where he oughtn't, and the ring caught on a sharp edge. The surgeon reattached it, but a finger is not something you can just stick back on with crazy glue.

Nope, no rings for me. My ex-wife hated the fact that I never wore a ring, but it was my finger- not hers.

[JohnnyReb]

Nope, no rings for me. My ex-wife hated the fact that I never wore a ring, but it was my finger- not hers.

Mine too....she wore hers all the time but I was the one that didn't forget he was married.