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45 Comments
- xerigen, on 01/08/2009, -1/+11I credit the movie "Blood Diamond" for bringing this issue to my attention. I will never buy a diamond under any circumstances. Great movie if you haven't seen it.
When you do further research, you realize that the supply of diamonds is just withheld and prices are artificially high. - nigelmansell, on 01/08/2009, -0/+9a macheted limb is forever
- somedudemanguy, on 01/07/2009, -0/+9You can just buy manufactured diamonds. They are identical to natural diamonds, but the jewelry industry has somehow kept them out of most stores in order to make more money.
- haikuFU, on 01/08/2009, -0/+8I know a guy that owns a mine in Sierra Leone. They don't ***** around down there. Steal from the mine, you get your hand chopped off in front of everyone.
The conditions there suck, and workers get paid ***** by american standards. But, they still make more than they would doing most of the other available jobs. Also, it's law that that any diamond over 7 carats must be given to the govt. Failure to do this will get you killed. - atdigg, on 01/07/2009, -1/+8Stop buying that blood soaked carbon.
- MotoFly, on 01/08/2009, -0/+5"American rap artist Kanye West releases 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone' a highly critical indictment of those who have exploited the African nation for their own monetary gain. The song goes platinum and earns West $1.3 million in its first week."
-The Onion - r0g3r, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4Rocks don't have culture. That's some serious marketing talk there. Excepting maybe the blood culture that has been a part of diamond mining.
- fidoda, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4What the *****? It's just 4 bounded carbon structure anyway.
It would be more good for Africa and mankind to just stop exploiting ***** like gold, silver and diamonds just because it's gold, silver and diamonds. - ChromaVita, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4Also diamond companies buy up lots of the diamonds coming out of these mines and just store them somewhere so that the available number of diamonds stays low. Artificially lowering the supply while marketing them to increase the demand.
- Testiculese, on 01/08/2009, -0/+4DeBeers used to uphold perfection in diamonds as the #1 reason to buy from them
"OUR DIAMONDS ARE PERFECT! ARRR"
Then the manufactured diamonds came out, that are better quality than 'natural' (manufactured is still perfectly natural...). What id DeBeers immediately say?
"ONLY NATURAL DIAMONDS ARE IMPERFECT ARRR!"
What a crock. - ChromaVita, on 01/08/2009, -0/+3Unless you're a starfish.
- Pareidoliatic, on 01/08/2009, -0/+3Buying a diamond is just about the worst investment someone could make. The entire diamond industry is a complete scam. Diamonds are neither rare, nor valuable. The entire business is an artificial monopoly, and the "appraised value" of diamonds is a completely arbitrary number, invented out of thin air by the jewelery business to snare suckers. That diamond you bought for $3000? Try selling it on the open market, or to the jeweler who appraised it. Guess what? No one will buy it from you.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond
"Selling diamonds can also be an extraordinarily frustrating experience for private individuals. In 1978, for example, a wealthy woman in New York City decided to sell back a diamond ring she had bought from Tiffany two years earlier for $100,000 and use the proceeds toward a necklace of matched pearls that she fancied. She had read about the "diamond boom" in news magazines and hoped that she might make a profit on the diamond. Instead, the sales executive explained, with what she said seemed to be a touch of embarrassment, that Tiffany had "a strict policy against repurchasing diamonds." He assured her, however, that the diamond was extremely valuable, and suggested another Fifth Avenue jewelry store. The woman went from one leading jeweler to another, attempting to sell her diamond. One store offered to swap it for another jewel, and two other jewelers offered to accept the diamond "on consignment" and pay her a percentage of what they sold it for, but none of the half-dozen jewelers she visited offered her cash for her $100,000 diamond. She finally gave up and kept the diamond.
Retail jewelers, especially the prestigious Fifth Avenue stores, prefer not to buy back diamonds from customers, because the offer they would make would most likely be considered ridiculously low. The "keystone," or markup, on a diamond and its setting may range from 100 to 200 percent, depending on the policy of the store; if it bought diamonds back from customers, it would have to buy them back at wholesale prices. Most jewelers would prefer not to make a customer an offer that might be deemed insulting and also might undercut the widely held notion that diamonds go up in value. Moreover, since retailers generally receive their diamonds from wholesalers on consignment, and need not pay for them until they are sold, they would not readily risk their own cash to buy diamonds from customers. Rather than offer customers a fraction of what they paid for diamonds, retail jewelers almost invariably recommend to their clients firms that specialize in buying diamonds "retail." - terrapurus, on 01/08/2009, -0/+3Artificial diamonds can be grown using chemical vapour deposition, but use to be coloured due to impurities inthe gas. Scientists have now discovered how to use microwaves to cook the diamonds in a hydrogen plasma that produces diamonds that have LESS impurities than those found in nature. DeBeers has set up a defensive program to determine how to tell man made from artificial.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16036-artifi ... - darknecross, on 01/08/2009, -0/+3Exactly. How about we start backing cooked diamonds and cut the whole war/death/arms trade thing out of it? Hell, we could probably get them way cheaper too.
The only reason they haven't now is fear of the guys who start wars, kill people, and have a lot of guns. - ladyarcher85, on 01/08/2009, -0/+3When will stupid people realize that a mined diamond is not superior in any way than a synthetic one?
- Testiculese, on 01/08/2009, -0/+2You'd be shocked at what people will do for $50, let alone several million/billion.
- Vash_aka_TK, on 01/08/2009, -0/+2Very great movie. I was shocked at the some of the things they did just for diamonds.
- mattofasia, on 01/08/2009, -0/+2people need to find ways to make money in ways that dont involve hurting other people. Its quite easy if you think about life that way. Its also (well hopefully) possible to flaunt the richness of your life in ways that dont involve other people slaving for your material product or ecological systems being destroyed due to your product. If the fashion industry really is motivated to make the world change, it needs to start thinking long term effects, not seasonal disposable change...
- holmcross, on 01/08/2009, -1/+3What would those lovely ladies do without their diamonds?
- mbtria, on 01/08/2009, -0/+2We, the males at least, are like penguins, dropping a stone at the feet of the love object.
As the above writer notes, there is a tremendous markup on all jewelry. But it is more in the range of 200-300%, not 100-200% -- there are confusing appellations of keystoning ( doubling the price), triple keystoning (tripling) and double keystoning (quadrupling). Retailers use a curious custom in the way they figure markups. Most of us will calculate a percentage increase based upon the initial value -- say if the initial value is $100, then a 100% increase would be $200. But when retailers calculate markup, they start with the target value in mind, then use that as the base value. If an item sells retail for $200, costs the retailer $100, then the markup is ($200-$100)/$200 or 50%.
In any case, laboratory diamonds will make it to the market, just like laboratory sapphires, opals, emeralds, and so forth. The value of the "natural" gems will almost certainly fall with the lifetimes of those now considering their first marriage. It is only artificial scarcity, price manipulation, massive advertising campaigns, tradition, and skillful salesmanship that keep the prices high. Soon the "natural" gems will be replaced by the artificial, and unlike the replacement of wood by MDF, the artificial gems are not just more perfect gems, but far prettier as well. - GlassAgate, on 01/08/2009, -0/+2I have no special person, as of now, but I'm planning on getting a synthetic
ring, assuming that the day someday comes. - shig, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1The culture of exploitation covers more than garments, and runs much deeper than a diamond mine, but isn't Elle trying to clean up their act? Fair trade, greening, and all that?
- mlbwebdesign, on 01/06/2009, -2/+3How about the 12 year olds in Malaysia and China making the 'Elle' branded garments?
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1I don't get the whole value of diamonds crap. It just looks like glass to me and it's apparently not very rare. What the *****?
- holmcross, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1/s
- Sakiris, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1I was unaware that diamonds contained DNA...
- oboy, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Watson invited ELLE, Victoria’s Secret “Angel” and model Selita Ebanks, and photographer and artist Phyllis Galembo to see Sierra Leone.
Why wasn't I invited? - azureskies88, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Moissanite is superior to diamond in every conceivable manner except price.
- sinurgy, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/ ...
- holmcross, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Because diamonds have been marketed heavily to woman since as long as I can remember? The same reason people generally like anything that holds no practical purpose.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1If you really know a guy who owns a mine in Sierra Leone and he's really doing that to his employees, today, after the whole thing was settled in 2003, he's taking his life in his hands in a very real way. Let him know that if he wants his brains to stay inside his head, he'll stay away from his mine.
- ladyarcher85, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Great! Sadly though most women have this mentality that just because their boyfriends did not spend thousands on a piece of rock they are not that loved.
Ladies, what's important is he considers you awesome enough to even think about spending the rest of his days with you. - jackson32, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Jarreds is going to hunt you all down for speaking harshly about the way diamonds are mined.
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Yeah, the Sierra Leone thing ended in 2003. Over 99.6% of new diamonds currently coming into the market (and for the last five years or so) have been blood-free. You can ask to see certification of this from any reputable diamond seller. If they refuse, go somewhere else. Simple.
- Testiculese, on 01/09/2009, -0/+1Twistie, of course. I like small women, but not one so small her ring finger would fit one of those plastic squares!
- inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Greenwashing.
- GlassAgate, on 01/09/2009, -0/+1@ Testiculese
Do you mean a twist tie (or twistie) or one of those squarish c thingies? - Testiculese, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Same here, I'm not telling her it's manufactured.
Then again, I won't marry a woman that demands an $8000+ ring in the first place. A bread wrapper tie should be sufficient. - phobia2001, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Whatever this and any other corporation has going on in Sierra Leon is probably not for the betterment of the people living there. More likely it's like most MNCs- keeping thousands of locals as off-the-books employees and laborers and paying them staggeringly poor wages that serve as just enough to create a culture of dependency on foreign companies so that people living in the region will have no choice but to work for the corporations in the area.
It is not, nor will it ever be, the locals in this region who will prosper based on diamond sales. Women may read this article and buy their "socially conscious diamonds" and figure they are making a difference. But it is foolish to that think a company, regardless of mission statement, is out for anything but their own gain.
I might just be jaded when it comes to stories relating to people making a profit in impoverished areas. Maybe they are out to do some good. But I still wear my engagement ring, with lab-created diamonds, proudly. - Pareidoliatic, on 01/09/2009, -0/+1Actually, mbtria, my understanding about this massive con job is that the actual worth of diamonds is closer to 10 cents on the dollar, because of the vertical integration in the business. While it's true that the jewelers make 75% Gross Profit, ( ie a stone selling for $1000 costs $250 ) these kinds of margins are repeated all along the artificially created distribution chain. So the jeweler may buy from his cousin, the distributor, who also makes 75% GP, while those stones were acquired from his uncle, who is also making 75% GP. This is why it's almost impossible to sell a diamond back to a jeweler.
The last time I dug into this, I found that best way to buy gems and gold or silver was at a customs auction, and the going rate was about 10% of the "appraised" value. Similar savings can also be made all sorts of seized jewelery and precious gemstones ; gold, silver, and platinum settings sell by their carat weight. The major bidders at these events were , you guessed it, jewelers. So why would a jeweler buy from you at 1/2 price, exposing the scam, when he can easily save another 40% over that at auction?
I remember finding a fabulous star-sapphire in a white gold setting for a girlfriend with an appraised value of $2500. I paid $260 for it . When she decided a few years later that a car to get to school and back made more sense, and tried to sell it ... you guessed it, nobody would buy it, including two jewelers who had appraised at at more than $3000. - inactive, on 01/08/2009, -1/+1And the people he talks about wont see a nickel of that money.
- aznbumsta, on 10/19/2009, -0/+0Diamonds are still bought and sold today despite the artificial monopoly and knowledge of what's happening in Sierrea Leone. People still buy diamonds because of the associations society has placed on the gems. I personally, would rather buy cubic zirconia jewelry. That way I can spend less and get more, without supporting the ridiculous diamond industry.
http://www.emitations.com/ - cfuse, on 01/08/2009, -1/+1Or we could ask women to give up on their carbon addiction - that isn't going to happen either.
- buydiamonds, on 04/18/2009, -0/+0Agreed with Pareidoliatic. Buying a diamond is just about the worst investment someone could make!!!!
full info about natural diamonds, precious metals like gold, platinum and silver
http://www.buydiamonds-usa.com - gemaffair, on 03/20/2009, -0/+0Natural diamonds have long been prized for their unique beauty, but today lab created diamonds are identical in every way to a natural diamond. They are a green alternative because not only are they not connected with the truths of diamond mining, but require less energy to create.
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