Dead Cat Diamond
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by jewelerman » May 22nd, 2008, 2:19 pm
I did a presention of this topic for a ethics /communications class.I still find it hard to believe that there are web sites that will take ashes from your dearly departed pet or SPOUSE and make a created stone out of them!It costs about $20,000!I think its un-ethical to pray on people in this way who have lost a loved one.
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No it's actually more like $3500. You can get more expensive pieces if you want. I have to disagree with all of you. I think it is a great way to heal and remember your loved ones. They are not preying on anyone  they are not coming to your door when someone dies and going here make them into a gem. I think it's a great service and it has helped a lot of people with the healing process.Here are the prices http://www.lifegem.com/secondary/LGPrices2006.aspx |
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The price list you provided from this website shows that you can indeed spend $20,000 on a stone. These are outragious prices for a created gem stone and Lifegem should be ashamed that its over charging for this type of service to people who are so venerable.They compare their stones to rare fancy colored diamonds that cost$100,000.They use look-a-like gemological certs that mean nothing.A russian created diamond of a carat costs thousands less per carat.It should bother a client that they are suggesting that they set up a plan to prepay for a future need when a loved one is dying.
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I''ve read about this before. I think it''s weird and creepy. JMO, of course.
What happens if you lose it? You can''t exactly get a replacement, and you would never know where your cat, spouse, etc was ever again. Is it in a sewer somewhere? Is it in the trash? I''d rather have my loved one where I know where they are and I can go visit. Not wear them. |
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Hence why I said you can get more expensive stones if you want. Your post was read as their starting price was $20,000 when that is the HIGHEST price. Do you even know what "preying" on someone is? It's the lawyers that sent their paralegals to the scene when TWA crashed and had them act like their family was on the plane just so they could refer clients. That is what preying on someone is. If this makes someone happy and it helps them heal I am all for it. It is so hard to lose a loved one and no one is forcing them to buy these stones anyway. |
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Well many people prefer cremation, then keep the ashes as a way to mourn and remember their loved ones. Some find it creepy but it works for others. Did you know that aside from traditional urns to hold the cremated remains of loved ones, there are many jewelry urns that can hold a tiny amount of ashes so you can actually wear them? There''s even a company that puts ashes into beautifully hand blown glass pendants, which I always thought was a beautiful idea and I suppose quite similar to this diamond thing. I don''t think I''ll personally do this, price does seem outrageous and way out of anything I can afford, but if someone has the money for it and this helps them deal with their grief then what''s the harm? Everyone deals with grief in different ways 
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Exactly my point but put so much better  No one calls people crazy for keeping their loved ones ashes. |
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I don''t have anything against cremation at all. I was referring to taking a loved ones ashes, pressing them together and wearing them as jewelry as creepy...not cremation itself. If one of my loved ones was cremated, I would bury or scatter the ashes. I couldn''t have them sitting on my mantle or on myself. That''s just me of course.  |
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On the face of it this sounds odd but honestly anything dealing w/ death and body remains scares most and is a
forbotten topic in most cultures. After my dad died last Nov. he wanted to be creamated so I had this done and saved some ashes (believe me I went back & forth on this one). After reading about this service I am curiously intrigued. I agree w/ Legacy. Hmm. gonna check it out. I don't see why a created gem can't be considered a memento just like an urn or photos or memoribilia. |
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Lisa 1,
i dont object to the stone being created as a momento.What i object to is the exceptionally high costs that they charge people and the websites way of selling the people who have lost loved ones.They sell the stones as if they have value like natural gems.If you look on the web you can purchase a russian made/ man made diamond for about $3,000-$5,000 per/carat...why would these people have to charge $20,000 for a carat size stone.Also gemologically speaking there is no way these stones should be called diamonds because they dont have the exact same properties as diamond.Then to use a gemological grading system to compare quaily on bogus certifications is less than compassioninate or ethical. |
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The cost of the diamond (made from ashes) has to do with the size of the finished stone. People do it with pets as well as "loved ones" they have lost.
It''s an alternative for some people. I know of someone who did it for a child they lost. You don''t have to use very much of the ash so you can have multiples made. Kinda odd but only because it''s so new. |
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Personally I think the idea of a cemetery is strange and bizarre - I don''t understand why our culture spends thousands of dollars on caskets, embalming, plots, and monuments, so while I don''t think I''d personally turn my loved one into a diamond (for some reason, I think I''d be more inclined to do this with a pet''s ashes than a human''s though), I really don''t think it''s all that bizarre. A hundred years ago, people made jewelery out of the deceased''s hair, and I don''t find those at all bothersome when I see pieces in antique stores and museums...so a diamond from a loved ones ashes doesn''t seem all that abnormal to me.
I do agree though with jewelerman that prices for such a service seem unnecessarily inflated, which is sad, but if you look at the funeral industry as a whole, you find the same thing for almost every service relating to the loss of a loved one. |
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Personally, I would love to be a diamond. I''d like someone to wear me during the best times of their lives, and would rather be above ground shining than below it....the thought of having a scientist dig me up a couple hundred years from now bugs me.
The practical side of it is that it is too expensive, and my kid would probably want to have more fun than that with any possible inheritance. |
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Hi Clicker,
I just wanted to let everyone know that there''s is quite a heated debate/info. debacle going on in RT about one of the co''s that does this. http://www.pricescope.com/forum/rockytalky/memorial-diamonds-out-of-cremains-anyone-do-this-need-info-t86541.html |