Slashdot Mirror

I'm not so sure I'd agree with all of that. At least the first paragraph or two.

I went looking for a diamond for my fiancee in the mall first. It drove me absolute nuts that every diamond in the mall had visible scratches on the top facet. And these had "good" polish.

Before this short post turns into a long story, I'll say that I ended up going to bluenile.com, picking out a 5/8 carat, VVS2, F color, ID/ID polish/symmetry diamond from their signature collection ("signature ideal" cut, basically more strict than ideal).

Granted, it cost me just over $2900, but it appraised (independently) for $3700, and the thing looks like glass when cleaned. And there are NO SCRATCHES on the top facet! Or anywhere, for that matter. Woo hoo!

This part of the parent post is entirely false. As a matter of fact, it highlights the most common misconception about diamonds.

Within the United States, you can buy a diamond for exactly what you can sell it for, no more, no less (otherwise, you couldn't buy and sell diamonds on eBay, for being able to buy something on eBay is defined as being able to buy it for what you can sell it for). If you buy a raw diamond for anything more than 1%-2% more than you can sell it for, you are being ripped off. Indeed, it is THAT fact which "hasn't sunk into the brains of the population yet". Diamonds are one of the most fungible goods known to mankind, even more fungible than gold (because the value of gold fluctuates widely and regularly, but the value of diamonds typically do not).

However, finished jewelry is different. A Diamond + A setting will ALWAYS cost more than the sum of the parts. If you're looking to buy a diamond ring, the best thing to do is to buy a diamond wholesale and take it to a jeweler to have a setting custom-made. Alternatively, sites such as BlueNile will allow you to buy a diamond and then have a setting made (although you will pay more than it is worth, you will not get as ripped off as with pre-finished jewelry.)

I first became interested in diamonds several years ago (when traveling to Russia and then Brazil) and have taken several courses in identifying and appraising diamonds from different Gem Labs in the US and overseas. One of the first things they taught us was the misconception in the parent post, and how to exploit it.

I'm glad I just bought my enagement ring online in December... no tax.

Blue Nile

Posted anonymously to avoid the Internet Revenue Service.

I just bought a diamond engagement ring last weekend and I ended up getting a "RAND" diamond. I didn't look at Canadian diamonds, so I can't compare the two, but there were some cool things about it that I liked:

- its guarenteed conflict free and the guy who mined it signs the certificate.

- RAND diamonds are cut much more precise than a typical diamond. This affects how sparkley (sp?) the diamond is. The only salesperson who really talked about the Cut "C" was this person selling the RAND. Other places referred to "cut" as the category of shape, when in fact cut has to do with how precise the diamond is shaped. [I was told] diamond makers will often sacrifice precision and symmetery in the cut to squeeze as many carats as possible out of a rock (thus increasing price)--however, this negatively affects the overall quality of the diamond cut since light doesn't reflect as nicely and it's less sparkley.

From what I understand, not many places sell RAND diamonds. If you're having trouble finding a place, I got mine from the brick and mortar version of http://www.frankadams.com (family run business, so there's only one store). Also, I noticed http://www.bluenile.com rates the quality of the cut on their site; although I don't think they sell the RAND brand.

As far a price... I paid about a 5% premium to get the RAND over a similiar non-RAND diamond in clarity and color (although the RAND's cut is typically much better). Anyways, I thought the cost was well justified for the good cut and fact that my money won't go to support terrorists.

Anyways, am I glad I got it? You bet! Is my girlfriend/future fiancee? Ask me after I surprise her this weekend! (posted anonymously in case she's reading!)

I got married last year and had to get an engagement ring. My wife wanted a simple ring with a simple diamond. I don't have any answers to the ethical questions you raise, but I can address the "I know I'm going to get screwed by the jeweler". You don't have to be.

I got my diamond from Blue Nile, as have two other people I know at work. The diamond was very reasonably priced, and of exceptional quality. I had a custom setting made in white gold (~$500) at a local jeweler. When I took the diamond to have it set in the ring they were *stunned* at the price I got for the diamond given its quality. Comparable diamonds were priced easily $1000 over what I paid for it at Blue Nile.

And you know what? My wife loved it. Absolutely loved it. It was exactly what she wanted.

(FWIW I checked bluenile.com and didn't see anything about whether they have ethical diamonds. It might be worth calling them to find out.)

De Beers managed to increase the preceived value of diamonds though a carefully planned campaign of giving them to female Hollywood stars in the 1940s. Before that they were (rightly, IMO) considered rather boring.

A chunk of a Diamondtalk.com Forum has some nice information on this. In particular, one poster cited an article in The Atlantic entitled "Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?" notably, it says the following:

The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., incorporated in South Africa. As De Beers took control of all aspects of the world diamond trade, it assumed many forms. In London, it operated under the innocuous name of the Diamond Trading Company. In Israel, it was known as "The Syndicate." In Europe, it was called the "C.S.O." -- initials referring to the Central Selling Organization, which was an arm of the Diamond Trading Company. And in black Africa, it disguised its South African origins under subsidiaries with names like Diamond Development Corporation and Mining Services, Inc. At its height -- for most of this century -- it not only either directly owned or controlled all the diamond mines in southern Africa but also owned diamond trading companies in England, Portugal, Israel, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland.

Just like any other cartel, like the Cocaine People(tm).

Yeah, but diamond mining requires moving a huge amount of material to get a few diamonds. Titanium mining requires moving a large amount of material into a smelting facility. This process is not going to substantually change things other than making it cheaper. But it is going to change the lifestyle of titanium salesmen.

That's true now, but remember that previous article in The Atlantic? Well, it links to another article which has this next juicy tidbit:

Diamonds arrived in Namaqualand millions of years ago, tumbling down the rivers and into the sea. When the ocean receded, some of the diamonds remained on the beach.

Namaqualand is described slightly above that snippet of text as "...a sandy slab of South Africa along the Atlantic coast. Namaqualand's pan-hot desert and scraped little hills start north of Cape Town and run up to the Orange River..." which is striking, because what that means is that at one time, you could head off from Cape Town, go to the beach with a rake, and just dig up uncut diamonds.

Also, the American Museum of Natural History has a nice diamond web exhibit which contains, among other things, this page which points out that diamonds were discovered in South Africa by a boy finding one just lying around on his father's farm. Nice anectodal evidence.

And just to make you ill without sending you to goatse.cx, consider this article (in Red Herring) which talks about a company (now called Blue Nile) which got billions of dollars (literally) in two rounds of VC funding in one month.

So when you're forking over two months' salary for an engagement ring like a barmy git, keep in mind that once upon a memory you could walk on the beach in Cape Town and spontaneously find a diamond in your toes. How often do you think that happens nowadays?

Enough data mining for tonight. You're all on your own from here on out.