Natural Diamonds - New Campaign - Good timing or too little too late?

[freddyboston]

we should all look so good at billion+ years old and after a 100 mile high speed ride up a volcano....

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

It’s the “prettier” factor that IMHO is not being weighted enough in the industry. That one carat natural G color I1 clarity oval versus that one carat lab grown oval… how many young people are really going to sacrifice quality for origin? Beauty sells.

I love my collection of little natural diamonds in all the different traditional diamond shapes and would not trade them for a lab grown collection just to get better quality lab grown versions. Most people aren’t diamond geeks though and since beauty sells, more consumers might prefer quality over origin.

I'm with you, LMNOPs and inclusions. I have lab diamond earrings, my Stepford wives.

 

[Karl_K]

we should all look so good at billion+ years old and after a 100 mile high speed ride up a volcano....

Many are not that good looking until they are modified and become a manufactured product in a... factory.
All polished diamonds are legally a manufactured product.

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

Maybe some. But have you seen the rise of “salt and pepper” and other objectively “ugly” diamonds on IG and especially among smaller designers? Beauty is not and has never been objective or universally defined. Signaling “natural” (ie expensive) could be more important for some than “beauty”.

I have a couple! Just got an I1 oval that is somewhat opalescent. Love it.

I think some people will always prefer low color, low clarity, less-than-well-cut diamonds, whether they be lab or natural. The natural low quality diamonds have take such a hit in price, it just doesn’t seem that most consumers will make that choice.

The fact that the LGD market skewed toward high color and high clarity so quickly seems to indicate that many consumers prefer high quality. As more and more people get high color, high clarity diamonds, the next competition might be in cut, at which point all of PS will erupt in joyful cheers.

 

[Chelsea Palmer]

Maybe some. But have you seen the rise of “salt and pepper” and other objectively “ugly” diamonds on IG and especially among smaller designers? Beauty is not and has never been objective or universally defined. Signaling “natural” (ie expensive) could be more important for some than “beauty”.

Are “salt and pepper” diamonds, which seems to be a relatively new thing, being pushed in order to make them stand out from the perfection of lab-grown diamonds? Assuming salt and pepper diamonds are heavily-included diamonds, I don’t think most folks chose those in the past. (Please correct me if I mistaken.) Are they now being marketed as “unique” and therefore inherently “special”? Because that would go back to an irony I remarked on earlier, which would be that poor-quality (but they’re “ real, rare, natural”) diamonds might now be the must-have gemstone for discerning brides-to-be.

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

I believe salt and pepper diamond preceded lab diamonds in the marketplace, at least they did in my recollection. Much of these can be filed under "There's no accounting for taste." You might agree, considering the amount of resistance you've encountered.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I have a couple! Just got an I1 oval that is somewhat opalescent. Love it.

I think some people will always prefer low color, low clarity, less-than-well-cut diamonds, whether they be lab or natural. The natural low quality diamonds have take such a hit in price, it just doesn’t seem that most consumers will make that choice.

The fact that the LGD market skewed toward high color and high clarity so quickly seems to indicate that many consumers prefer high quality. As more and more people get high color, high clarity diamonds, the next competition might be in cut, at which point all of PS will erupt in joyful cheers.

High color and clarity were valued in natural diamonds as well as a signal of “quality” before the eruption of labs, plus I thought colorless and no inclusions was part of the process of manufacturing synthetic diamonds and not a manufacturing choice per se? Regardless, I don’t think current buying patterns tell us much about inherent desires for purity or colorless or any other thing. I think those desires are shaped by cultural values and the status signifiers of the diamond characteristics, and as those shift, so too will consumer behavior. But time will tell.

I do think it will be interesting to see how cut quality evolves as a valued trait in synthetic diamond. It is a feature that is perhaps most objectively related to enjoyment of diamond.

 

[Chelsea Palmer]

we should all look so good at billion+ years old and after a 100 mile high speed ride up a volcano....

High color and clarity were valued in natural diamonds as well as a signal of “quality” before the eruption of labs, plus I thought colorless and no inclusions was part of the process of manufacturing synthetic diamonds and not a manufacturing choice per se? Regardless, I don’t think current buying patterns tell us much about inherent desires for purity or colorless or any other thing. I think those desires are shaped by cultural values and the status signifiers of the diamond characteristics, and as those shift, so too will consumer behavior. But time will tell.

I do think it will be interesting to see how cut quality evolves as a valued trait in synthetic diamond. It is a feature that is perhaps most objectively related to enjoyment of diamond.

I always thought high color and clarity were valued as well. Is that not why a high-color high-clarity earth-extracted diamond cost so much more than a non-high color non-high clarity earth-extracted diamond? 30 years ago a coworker was proposing to his girlfriend and he said he bought her a smaller diamond then he wanted to, because he wanted it to have nice color and clarity. I think he purchased a .75 carat diamond. He had to choose between size and quality, and he went with quality. That no longer has to be a choice. You can have both.