Mined diamonds that are not absolutely magnificent or historically significant lose substantial value when you walk out of the jewelry store. You cannot sell them for close to insurance/replacement value. |
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One is real, made by a specific chance occurrence of natural processes happening just right, for millions of years, and the other is fake, created in weeks in a laboratory, perfect each and every time.
They might be chemically identical and indistinguishable - but that doesn’t mean they are the same. Someone could make a gold band that is absolutely IDENTICAL to your own wedding band that your H gave you _______ years ago. But would you just take that one off put on the new one if a stranger gave it to you today? I’d bet you would not. Why ? It’s the same material. Same size, shape, everything. But you probably place a value on the one your H gave you, anyway, right? Same thing with diamonds. That’s why natural stones will always be special and lab stones are just pretty fakes. |
I think you’re describing the emotional difference between the two, and that is a factor. If the recipient of the diamond is ok with a lab created one, it’s fine. |
Once every girl on the metro can afford the indistinguishable lab stone, the mined stones will lose value. Supply. Demand. Very few people share your viewpoint, and it really is flawed, because the mined diamonds are there by the boatload already, the rarity is fake. Lab diamonds will break DeBeers false constraint and that's simply how it is. If you still want a mined diamond, that's your choice. But it's not an investment that is going to appreciate or even hold its value. |
I literally own a jewelry company. When you try to sell the preowned lab diamonds nobody wants them. If you’re buying diamonds from a retail jewelry store like a kay or Jarred’s you will get ripped off and their business model is really to get you to finance it and that’s how they make their money. With the rise of jewelry sales online and more education you can get a good deal online and if you’re willing to buy antique or preowned. A even better deal can be had if you buy from an estate auction. Margins have become thin on natural diamonds. |
You’re correct that lab and natural domains are the exact same chemically but so are lab grown sapphire/rubies/emeralds to their natural counterparts but one trades for a fraction of the other and resale on preowned stones like this is very poor. The sapphire glass used in drone cameras is the exact same chemically as a sapphire gem stone but obviously they are valued differently. When they test for lab diamond what they’re actually testing is if it is a type 2a diamond which is very rare in natural diamonds and means there are no nitrogen impurities. |
+1. It's costume jewelry now. |
And that's the problem with lab grown. There is no consensus on their value. That is why consumers will return to natural diamonds for luxury and milestone gifts. |
Unless there is some famous name attached to it - brand, artist - you’ll be lucky to get 25% of what your spent upon resale. |
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Conflict diamonds will always have a premium because of the trauma inflicted on humans in their extraction.
Pain sells. |
Gen Y and Gen Z have to cheapen everything I guess. Music. Films. Art. And now diamonds. Nothing is special. Just another fast-foodization of life, delivered by Uber Eats. |
| I know two millennial young women that are using the natural diamonds inherited from their fiance's grandmothers in their engagement rings. I also received my diamond from my husband's grandmother and would gladly pass mine along to a young relative who is interested. Reset, cleaned and polished to shine for another three or four decades! |
Family heirlooms are always special and you can’t put a price on that. I don’t think anyone is suggesting people toss the diamonds that they have, we’re just saying be aware that the supply of lab diamonds will impact the price and status of mined diamonds. |
I’d rather have a lab diamond than a hand me down from my fiancés Grandma. |
I like that too, but not enough to buy something that is so ethically problematic. So, lab diamonds for me. |