
Would You Pay $32,709 for a Lab-Grown Diamond? - jseliger
https://www.wsj.com/articles/would-you-pay-32-709-for-a-lab-grown-diamond-11551464478
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chias
Lab grown diamond... brand new Tesla... lab grown diamond... brand new
Tesla...

I'd go with the car, personally.

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throwawaymath
Well the Tesla will definitely get you a lot more utility. In fact any car is
probably a better purchase than any diamond. Probably depreciates less quickly
too...

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bb88
I'm not sure that's true. Teslas still depreciate at a rapid clip. Many cars
will depreciate at 40% once you drive 50k miles on them. Tesla may get a break
on that because of their brand, but as long as Tesla keeps punching out cars,
they will depreciate.

The issue with diamonds is that once they're cut and given to someone else as
part of a ring, they immediately depreciate. Because, as the diamond marketing
agencies point out: "Who wants a second hand engagement ring?"

That said, raw diamonds (cut or uncut) hold their value. While DeBeer's has a
stockpile of diamonds, they only let a fraction of their holdings out into the
market every year to keep the prices artificially high. Which get turned into
rings, which then depreciate immediately.

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reitzensteinm
In my opinion, there's a significant marketing opportunity for lab grown
diamonds - a not for profit that makes beautiful artificial pieces that cost
just as much as one that's mined, and with the cost difference pays for a
significant amount of charity.

Rather than a shameful knockoff, it should aim to draw attention to the fact
that it is what it is.

While not universal, I think a $5k artificial ring that looks great and also
comes with a story of saving a life on Watsi or building a well in a village
would be a compelling product to a substantial number of people.

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hotsauceror
Of course not. I’d rather it be used for some useful scientific purpose rather
than a gaudy jewel. Young couples have way better things to save their money
for, like a down payment on a house, or child care, or a college fund. My wife
and I got matching tungsten carbide rings that look way cooler than any
diamond, and we spent less than $600 on the pair.

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throwawaymath
The diamond I purchased for my wife's engagement ring costed about the
headline price, and it wasn't lab-grown. If the lab-grown diamond was
significantly better in specification for the same price, I'd probably have no
issue buying it. If no one can tell without specialized equipment and your
spouse doesn't care, why not?

But if there wasn't a significant improvement in the diamond across several
dimensions, I'd stick with the "real" one. When I purchased one I used diamond
screener[1] to find as efficient a price as possible for what I was willing to
spend. My research at that time showed that there wasn't a significant price
improvement in lab-grown diamonds compared "real" diamonds at the most
efficient prices for similar quality. But maybe that's changed now.

In any case, I think it would be great if the price of diamonds came down
overall. Lab-grown diamonds are hopefully a good step in that direction.
Though I'm concerned they'll evolve to be just as expensive, but marketed to a
different set of values.

EDIT: Am I being offtopic? Why am I being downvoted?

__________________

1\. No affiliation, but I highly recommend.

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odnarupoque
you need to catch up on lab-grown stones. Basically, they look better, keep
their shine longer (i.e. no need to polish that often) and cost 10% of the
"real one".

Just realize that intrinsic cost of diamonds is basically 0. Supply is
artifically limited by De Beers and Co, demand is pushed up by shiny
catalogues and stereotypes etc.

Now that many more labs are going to create moissanites and likes due to
expiring patents, diamonds are going down the same path as pearls went ages
ago (when people started growing them on mass scale).

So, my prediction is diamonds will lose at least 90% value in coming years,
and lab-grown stones take over by storm, pushing overall bling-bling value
even further down, making it as common as zirconia or stuff like that.

p.s. 2 of my first engagement rings were real diamonds, north of $5k value
each. The most recent one is a custom made moissanite of better clarity and
bigger size at < $1k. All girls were happy with their rings ;)

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throwawaymath
When you say they cost 10% of the real one, do you mean 10% at the same
metrics? That wasn't the case when I looked; do you have some reading material
on this?

When I looked, I found the best I could get for the same specification was
about 70% of the price. Also, I'm glad you've been successful with your ring
purchases but I don't think how much you spend will have anything to do with
how happy the recipient is. At least for me it's more of a point of pride.

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azhenley
I wouldn’t buy any diamond.

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skrebbel
It is very important and dear to me that any diamond I buy caused sufficient
pain, death and bloodshed.

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JohnTHaller
If you _really_ want the silliness of the traditional* diamond engagement
ring, just remember those three magic words: created white sapphire.

* Created by DeBeers marketers

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kylec
I wouldn't pay $32 for a lab-grown diamond... or any diamond

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m0zg
Don't see any reason whatsoever to pay more than a fiver for a shiny rock. As
in $5, not 5K.

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hinkley
You’ll pay more than that for semiprecious gems. Heck I don’t think I could
get more than a chip of amethyst for $5 as a kid.

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m0zg
No _I_ won't. I don't need shiny rocks. :-)

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drcongo
I stopped reading at `“conscious shopping” has become almost unbearably
trendy`

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bsder
I have been seeing these links for CVD diamond for almost 10 years now, and
yet I still can't buy a CVD diamond in any store.

I wonder why that is?

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hinkley
My history is probably a little off, but the first time I heard of lab grown
diamonds in the press was right around the time a couple people were testing a
theory that they could identify diamond bearing rock from aerial surveys.

They bought a chunk of land in Canada and turned it into a big ol’ diamond
mine. Another source of conflict free diamonds (other than the poor bastards
who sold their mineral rights) and at a comparable price.

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supermw
Like many I always thought I wouldn't buy a diamond, I saw no reason to buy
what was basically just a rock (to me), but when I proposed to my girlfriend,
since the ring didn't have a diamond, she said no.

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jdormit
Damn seriously? I know you're not looking for unsolicited relationship advice,
but that's a bit of a red flag...

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hotsauceror
I’d say buying that non-diamond engagement ring was an even better investment
than my dude realized.

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mastrsushi
We should stop posting links to article posts that block and require payment.
I have no idea why no one else has mentioned this.

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grzm
> _" I have no idea why no one else has mentioned this."_

It certainly has been mentioned before. It's a FAQ:

> _" Are paywalls ok?"_

> _" It's ok to post stories from sites with paywalls that have workarounds."_

> _" In comments, it's ok to ask how to read an article and to help other
> users do so. But please don't post complaints about paywalls. Those are off
> topic."_

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

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mastrsushi
Im away from a desktop, but on mobile WSJ has no workaround, as far as I know.
I signed in with Google and still had to register a payed subscription.

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monocasa
Just got our wedding rings in the mail: matching meteorite, dinosaur femur,
and titanium rings. $600 for the pair. So god no, I wouldn't pay that much. I
could have a pretty dope hobbiest genetic engineering lab for that money.

