Diamonds Are No Longer A Girl's Best Friend

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-7-2006 | Chris Hastings - Stephanie Plentl - Beth Jones

[Jaysun]

I saw a program about the conflict diamonds on History channel. It showed that diamonds are not rare but how the Debeers Co held all of its ownership to raise the price.
Very interesting..

It is interesting. But I read somewhere that the inventory kept by DeBeers and others is much less than previously thought. And that the high cost of diamonds can mostly be attributed to the fact that they really are scarce and rare.

[najida]

But the fakes look just as good,
cost less and if you loose it,
no biggie.

Personally, they're best when paired with something of color.

[Jaysun]

Good for you. Stay healthy and happy.

[DesignerChick]

Sooo where do we stand on emeradls?

[nopardons]

I know whereof I speak. I was raised in a family whose women wore REAL stones and I was taught how to tell fakes from the real stuff, at a rather early age. My alexandrite ring, which I bought in Bermuda was real; it was appraised. I really never cared much for it and gave it to my dear friend, who is still a very dear friend, to this day.

I don't know what they sell for today ( which is patently obvious by my previous posts ), but I certainly DO know what they were going for several decades ago, in Bermuda.

Garnets look NOTHING at all like alexandrites. Garnet was my great grandmothetr's birthstone and I grew up being allowed to wear them, when I played dress-up. Garnets and alexandrites are semiprecious stones, but garnets do NOT change color.

If you want to discuss this further, I suggest that we do it in private, since the topic of this thread is diamonds. :-)

[blam]

"So enjoy your ice."

I don't own even one piece of jewelery.

[Jaysun]

Sooo where do we stand on emeradls?

Or opals? I'm a man so I can't very well wear opals but my wife has a couple. They're the most intriguing and beautiful of stones, I think. Her cousin married a man from Australia (a lot of opals mined there) and they gave her some opals for her birthday.

[groanup]

Did you read my post? I said barter. That's what they're worth. Just like dollar bills. Sheesh. Where do they come from?

[longtermmemmory]

PR BS for the film

I suspect this is all about viral advertising.

[uglybiker]

I can't get it to work, either.

So I'll post this one, instead.

The New Diamond Age (Wired Magazine)

[groanup]

Diamonds are over hyped just like a Rolex watch.

You are right. Diamonds are like gold but don't have the historic monetary link. I have never been one to put much weight in diamonds but I surely understand that they have value for others. I think the most nauseous sight is a grown man with a diamond ring. It's worse than a termite with a wooden leg.

[longtermmemmory]

What about the Champaign diamonds from australia?

Those are the color of the sparkling wine hence the name.

So those can't be subject to this sucker PR campaign.

[sageb1]

You're not even wearing a watch on your homepage. :)

[ClearBlueSky]

I hereby officially offer to take all those nasty, conflict-stained, evil unPC diamonds . I could deal with the guilt...really!

[longtermmemmory]

Next week the hollyweird set will stop shaving their armpits in order to support fair wages for the razor blade factories.

Perhaps the hollyweird types are spending a bit too much money on high colonics.

[LukeL]

Also, most people don't know that the diamond market is manipulated to create shortages to drive up the wholesale price.

I also cannot understand why people love diamonds, or jewlery in general. Give me a leather lazyboy recliner over a watch anyday.

[dhs12345]

LOL. All women like to feel like they are queens. Diamonds are one of many ways of doing this.

[blam]

"You're not even wearing a watch on your homepage. :)"

Nope. I do have gold though...Krugerrands

[najida]

I think the black opal is probably the most beautiful stone out there!

[sageb1]

lol! Good for you! :)