Shoopman: The diamond business is one that I, as a millennial, am proud to be destroying.
MustLoveLoofah: These one of a kinds are hugely overpriced. DeBeers maintains it by having a near monopoly on supply. It has huge diamond reserves of unreleased diamonds and buying excess supply
I see this Chinese incursion as a good thing.
82ndAbnVet: LOL, if “even the most experienced diamantaire’s in the world can’t tell the fakes from those extracted from mines when using their naked eye,” then what does it matter if you buy a lab-made diamond instead of a naturally occurring one? The genie is now out of the bottle, and one day no one will care whether the diamond comes from a factory in China or a mine in Africa. Perhaps jewelers will begin to focus more on other precious stones (until a process is invented to cheaply make high quality rubies, sapphires, etc.).
infinityxero: So you’re telling me that these “one of a kind” shiny stacks of carbon can be easily replicated in a lab and sold for a fraction of the price, effectively undermining generations of an advertising campaign that’s deeply ingrained in pop culture?
Nielscorn: Where can you buy these chinese lab made diamonds? Looking for a diamond engagement ring and want to buy a loose stone
Need4Cognition: Good! F— DeBeers for juicing people for decades by misrepresenting the scarcity of diamonds.
I hope they are getting their comeuppance for marketing Industrial diamonds as “Chocolate Diamonds”.
82ndAbnVet: Reminds me of one of my favorite Adam Ruins Everything episode, “Why Engagement Rings Are a Scam,”
I mean, seriously, he nailed it with that one. Generations of young men have been duped into thinking that they needed to pay a lot of money in order to give their bride-to-be a proper diamond ring, when that money should have been used to help pay bills and stay out of debt. And don’t get me started on how demeaning all of this is to the women who become convinced that they literally “need” diamonds as well. I truly hope that the bottom completely falls out of the marked for DeBeers.
LethiasWVR: Good. Fuck them and their artificially enforced rarity.
flood_land: Bahahahahahaha. F— you, DeBeers!
Spork_King_Of_Spoons: I just went though this! I recently got married and for the ring i decided that i wanted to get a Moissanite stone (~~lab grown diamond~~). I did a ton of research Diamond and found that their is a LOT of propaganda out there. My favorite quotes are:
“others complain that moissanite’s heightened brilliance can create a “disco ball” effect” -this basically says is too sparkly, which i don’t think any girl would complain that their ring is too flashy
“Moissanites touted as “colorless” can still project a yellow or grayish hue in certain lights” -This is not true and if it is its not noticeable.
These are just from the first link on google.:
https://www.brilliantearth.com/news/moissanite-vs-diamond/
In the End, I was very happy with the decision. I ended up spending under 3K for a stone and band for what would have been a 25K stone (not including the band). On top of that it wasn’t even dug out of the ground by a small child, so that is definitely a win. The only real negative is the lack of nice looking rings but you can always just buy a stone-less ring and put Moissanite in it.
Oh i almost forgot, F— De Beers!
Edit: fact error
titan-808: OH NO NOT COMPLETELY IDENTICAL CHEAP COPIES AS GOOD AS THE REAL THING!!!!!!!!!
quokka70: After decades of marketing the importance of buying a “flawless” diamond, now it is flaw that is “good” because they prove the stone is natural. Diamond marketing is big business and the goalposts are being moved.
https://www.bluenile.com/blog/diamonds-jewelry/inclusions-good-in-diamond
wtfburritoo: Good, fuck the greedy diamond trade that encourages genocide and slavery, all while artificially inflating the value of their stupid clear gems by monopolizing the supply and making people believe they’re incredibly rare when in fact they’re not.
3e486050b7c75b0a2275: The article says they succeeded:
>The AMS2 fires red spectrum light into the gems to detect fake melee stones and can process 500 carats per hour.
The title is wrong.
ToBePacific: This is one area where I’m fully in favor of China flooding the market with knockoffs.
podrick_pleasure: Things have probably changed since I was studying Gemology a decade ago but there was one test that we were shown to differentiate between synthetic and natural diamond. Since synthetic diamond grows so quickly it can develop odd internal stress patterns that can be seen under shortwave UV light. Take this with a grain of salt as it’s been a long time since had anything to do with gemology.
https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/fall-2017-observations-hpht-grown-synthetic-diamonds
I’d also like to say that at least some synthetic ruby producers put a dopant into their stones so they can be identified more easily because people passing synthetic stones as natural can undermine markets for both types.
senmccarthy: its almost as if their value was made up to help people profit off ridiculous things.
OGIVE: To no avail? The article says that they can detect the difference.
From the linked article:
“At a trade fair in Hong Kong on Tuesday De Beers unveiled its latest diamond verification technology, the coffee-machine sized AMS2 that costs US$45,000 – already a substantial discount to the US$65,000 price tag of its predecessor. Within the first few hours of its release, over a dozen orders had flooded in, the company said.
Much of the focus of the Anglo American PLC-owned De Beers is now on so-called “diamond melees,” gemstones normally less than 0.5 carats in weight and widely used in diamond-encrusted watches.
The AMS2 fires red spectrum light into the gems to **detect fake melee stones** and can process 500 carats per hour.”
Jessey77: Love to hear about the good things the Chinese are doing in the world. What with pink elephant horns and fake diamonds being the same as real ones they might actually solve some legit problems in Africa.
nuublarg: Hopefully the newer generations will be educated enough to know that material is a material, its source doesn’t change what it is; Diamond is just an isomer of Carbon, it doesn’t matter if it was made underground millions of years ago or in a lab yesterday.
PublicAccount1234: That is a shame. I mean, this was kinda inevitable but, at the same time, perhaps if they hadn’t spend 100 years completely raping the market someone somewhere would feel a shred of pity.
Imissyourgirlfriend2: At one point in history, aluminium was worth more than gold! The Washington monument was originally capped with aluminum. Now, it’s practically cheaper than dirt thanks to better manufacturing. It will be wierd to watch movies like Snatch, a few years from now, when diamonds are just as cheap as aluminum is now.
budzib: Except lab rocks are much “cleaner” and real rocks have tiny imperfections which act as tattletale between real vs fake
Bill_Taught: Not one [Family Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c82z_bxy60E) reference so far?
Ok, getting it out of the way.
jnj3000: Where can I buy these cheap Chinese lab grown diamonds??
Dixnorkel: Serves them right, greedy murderers.
timberwolf0122: Good. Time to end the over pricing of modified coal
sour_creme: de beers diamond detecting machine will be one of those fake detection machines made ATSC (UK).
spbfixedsys: When it’s China, it’s “dumping”, but when it’s western countries it’s “disrupting”.
flamingboard: Good.
Dogeholio: DeBeers sits on stocks exceeding 1 billion carats and then tries to market the product based on scarcity…
“Diamonds are forever” Because their resale value is about 10% of retail pricing.
Horrible investment and a marketing scam.
ArMcK: Good. Fuck De Beers.
lostan: these guys deserve to go bankrupt
perrythebigplatypus: Good, blood diamonds are awful
Seraph062: You might also be interested in “Bellataire Diamonds”. Basically someone figured out that about 1/3rd of the “Yellow” diamonds out there could be turned clear with a fairly simple heat treatment. This kicked off a huge shitstorm over how these diamonds should be classified (basically should they be “repaired” diamonds which are pretty cheap). The end result was that they ended up being marketed at a premium as “better than nature”.
goochisdrunk: If this is true this is great news. For the humanity. Not for the diamond mining industry.
david_1199: Well De Beers is fucking evil so I’m cool with seeing them fail
kkeey: Chinese mass-production for the win
Hyo38: well now they wont really be able to artificially inflate the price.
AFlawAmended: It’s almost like diamonds are actually worthless. /s
wezli333: You mean we might one day live in the world where sparkly rocks don’t cause untold human suffering?
The nerve of those dastardly Chinese…
/s
Vulguero: Lab grown diamonds have few, if no, flaws. Real diamonds do. Diamonds are the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the general populace. It’s just a rock, and the market has been manipulated by one corporation forever.
StrangeCharmVote: As i understand it, these “cheap” diamonds are also probably on average of a considerably *higher* standard than the “real” ones.
Due to the fact that mined diamonds have imperfections and are chemically tainted. Whereas lab diamonds are essentially flawless.
PillarOfWisdom: The lab grown diamonds are expensive as the real ones. At least, for now. Hopefully, the prices start coming down.
Sir-Hops-A-Lot: Good. Fuck De Beers. They’ve fleeced everyone with artificially high prices long enough.
Speaking of which, fuck the Swiss watch industry while we’re at it.
Flemtality: This is fantastic news.
bombilla42: Dude. They’re all just frickin rocks!!!
Lagblamer: Any idea if these lab diamonds are decreasing purchase from Africa??
Is this the new “paper or plastic?” of the future: “good conscience or possible blood diamond?”
Evenlymade: Every single time a gem commercial comes on, I laugh. I will go to every creative length necessary to never buy a “precious” stone. Even though they will likely stay in business, I’m certain their profits will be miniscule in comparison to what it used to be.
aksoileau: ITT: Wrong/misguided information.
Lab created diamonds are nothing new, but they weren’t cost effective to create until recently. Really nice ones run about 30% less than a diamond from the ground. I wouldn’t call it “cheap.” The machines that are used to make these diamonds cost a shitload of money, and the power it takes to run the machines is exorbitant.
Large gem quality colorless diamonds *are* rare. Most rough that comes out of the ground isn’t good enough for jewelry. Most rough is heavily included and brownish that will go straight for industrial purposes. Large diamonds are still hand cut by a person. Its a interesting craft.
Chocolate diamonds is a marketing term owned by the Le Vian corporation. All it means is a natural brown diamond. That’s it. Other companies call them cognac or champagne diamonds.
De Beers doesn’t have a monopoly anymore. Many of world’s largest mines aren’t associated with De Beers anymore. If you truly want a diamond that’s responsibly sourced, get one from Canada or Australia.
Moissanite is a fancy word for silicon carbide. But that’s not sexy sounding now is it? Its too small in nature so they create large crystals in a lab. Its not supposed to be a diamond alternative even though people buy it that way.
Diamond Pricing: Its supply and demand. Companies aren’t buying them cheap and marking them up hugely. Some larger diamonds will literally only have a markup of several percent. Gold and platinum on the other hand? That shit is marked up big time.
SOURCE: I work at jewelry manufacturer. A really big one. Jewelry is romanticized, but it follows the same rules as most industries.