Why haven’t lab created gems taken off like lab created diamonds?

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I did not say top gem Ruby was rarer than red Diamond. Don't put words in my keyboard to suit your argument. As a matter of fact, I did not mention colored Diamonds at all. Your would be point is grasping at straws, Gary. You know and everyone knows we're talking about colorless Diamonds. Not a word was mentioned about colored Diamonds by anyone, less I skipped over it.

You have no facts at all about that there are more Sapphires mined and faceted than Diamonds, no proof. Where’s the proof?

The fact that most Sapphires and Rubies are treated is a compelling argument when we are speaking of D flawless Diamonds (not colored Diamonds) verses top untreated blue Sapphire, Rubies and let’s add Pads and orange and purple, just about all untreated top gem corundum. Much rarer than your D, E and F colorless Diamonds of any size. Also, colorless Diamonds come in much larger sizes in quantity than top gem Ruby, blue Sapphire, Pad Sapphire, orange Sapphire, purple Sapphire, etc.

It's not that "better quality natural diamonds will become much rarer.” They'll still be deposits in the earth in quantity ready to be mined if needed, or a better word might be wanted. It's just that karma has caught up with the Diamond or should I say the whole marketing scam that has went on for over 100 years to sell Diamonds to the unsuspecting public that now is suspecting they've been duped for over a century for a gemstone that compared to many other gemstones is quite common, everything being relative.

Nice bat swing at the ball Gary but strike three and next you'll be telling me Americans did not invent baseball.

Simple points overlooked
1. If all the sapphire mines each year was worth as much as all the diamonds then there would be a.lot more sapphires.found because demand is based on market value.
2. As an investor in diamond prospecting I would love to know where all these potential mines are please Fred

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Garry has a fundamental interest in hoping diamond prices remain high. I am not a seer, but really do recommend Robert Genis newsletter, which came out last month and encompasses the Tuscon gem show. While I do not know why lab created color stones haven't aided colored gemstones to have lower prices, colored gemstones have gone through the roof at Tuscon.

Signet reported earnings last month and said their business was starting to recuperate in the bridal category. My thoughts jumped to diamonds, but young couples are buying more colored stones and lab diamonds and once those choices become more acceptable, we will see diamonds fall in demand. IMO diamonds are overpriced, but I think many things are.

Annette

 

[RRfromR]

They were very popular during the art deco period, as side stones to diamonds

 

[T L]

Synthetic diamonds are becoming so perfect, they make most regular diamonds look dull. I was at a case of lab diamonds next to natural at Macy’s recently, and I was almost blinded by the perfect cuts (since rough is grown to optimize cut), and fire. The natural stones looked kind of blah. It even made me less impressed with the stones I saw at Tiffany on the same day.

I think many women can now feel like Elizabeth Taylor, or J. Lo, but on a budget. I was also at a Clean Origin store (they only sell lab diamonds), and the sales associate showed me what her husband is buying her for their anniversary. It was a five or six carat emerald cut diamond in the DEF range, VS, perfectly cut in a platinum ring with another three carats of lab grown rounds of the same quality. I think I needed a sun visor to look at that thing. It was overkill IMHO, but that makes a lot of people happy. Moissanite, CZ, YAG, zircon and other simulants, are just not the same as having that real diamond (albeit lab grown).

I admit I recently bought a lab diamond, but I did buy a less than perfect one online, ( J color) because I wanted it to look more natural. Lol!

 

[fredflintstone]

Simple points overlooked
1. If all the sapphire mines each year was worth as much as all the diamonds then there would be a.lot more sapphires.found because demand is based on market value.
2. As an investor in diamond prospecting I would love to know where all these potential mines are please Fred

Weak, Gary. Weak.

This all started off about lab Diamonds and their affect on the natural Diamond market, but then you had to bring up the old tired argument that Diamonds are rarer than many colored stones. So be it as follows:

Economics 101. If you have a good product with enough plentiful supply to meet demand (of the world) and have the right marketing along with the help of insiders, the GIA and their so called Diamond grading which is all a psychological mind...to get the buyers to pay more money for something they really can't discern between most color grades with their eyes from D to H, let alone the clarity grades with a 10x loupe, you have everything that has made Diamonds so successful.

I still see Diamonds for sale everywhere. I don't see any shortages. If there is a shortage it is created by the Diamond cartels with the advent of created Diamonds now in the picture stealing the naturals thunder and lab prices that are becoming cheaper and a new generation who don't believe, "Diamonds are a girl’s best friend," especially natural Diamonds. The Diamond cartels will do the smart thing and cut off supply until prices rise again. Kind of sounds like big oil, doesn’t it not???

Next point:

Here is a true story. My wife had a beautiful 3 carat Mandarin Garnet that was from the late 90's Nigeria find. We went to one of my best friend's high-end jewelry boutique, 93 years and going. We bought a mount from him and since he did not have a bench jeweler, he had to send it out to be set. It came back fine but a little later a Diamond melee fell out of the mount. He sent the mount back for the Diamond to be replaced. The mounting came back, and my friend called me. He said, did your stone have a lot of inclusions in it? I said, no, why? He said to come to the store. The company he sent the Diamond to be replaced had heated up the mounting so hot that the Mandarin looked like a fried orange marble. We called it "the crack baby." My wife was not happy in the least. The company that reset the lost Diamond offered to replace the Mandarin. It took about three months to find one that my wife would accept. All either being more brownish or less orange. Finally, they found one that was very nice in color, but the cut was not as good. My wife wanted to continue to wait but we talked, and she accepted the stone. I offered to source one, but the company wanted only to source one themselves. I could've saved them money, but oh well.

So, do you think if the center stone was a Diamond instead of an orange Spessartite Garnet it would've taken three months? Nah. No way. Point proven, but I'll take it even farther than that, then I'm putting it to bed.

A customer comes in to a high-end jeweler. Wants three stones 10 carats each and flawless by Diamond standards and of the highest quality. A 10-carat flawless D color Diamond. A flawless 10 carat Ruby. A flawless 10 carat Pad Sapphire. Both the Ruby and the Pad to be untreated with an AGL report. Now, you tell me which stone would be found first, but we all know the Diamond would be. The two other stones??? Maybe not found at all. Even traditional heated stones would be a challenge to find, even eye clean, but the customer wants flawless as the customer has been brain washed by the GIA grading Diamond scale. Even though the customer cannot see a single flaw in an eye clean stone in the customer’s mind, that is not good enough.

Good night my friend.

I'm done here.

 

[kenny]

I'd answer, folks are less aware of colored gems than diamonds, and of course diamond's association with marriage.

But mostly those four brilliant words from DeBeers in 1948 ...

1948: De Beers 'A diamond is forever' campaign invents the modern day engagement ring

The iconic tagline ‘A Diamond Is Forever’ was written by copywriter Frances Gerety at Philadelphia agency NW Ayer in 1947. At the time, De Beers was looking for a campaign that would help boost the sales of diamonds which had fallen during the Great Depression.

www.thedrum.com

 

[PrecisionGem]

Gary, you said there are many more tons of sapphires mined and faceted than diamonds. Where are all these sapphires? Who has them? Pretty much everyone I know has a diamond, or a few diamonds, but I don't know anyone that has a sapphire. If I walk into a mall jewelry store it's filled with diamonds, but aside from a few lab created sapphires, I don't see any. So where are all these tons of sapphires? Are the Russians holding the in vaults?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Gary, you said there are many more tons of sapphires mined and faceted than diamonds. Where are all these sapphires? Who has them? Pretty much everyone I know has a diamond, or a few diamonds, but I don't know anyone that has a sapphire. If I walk into a mall jewelry store it's filled with diamonds, but aside from a few lab created sapphires, I don't see any. So where are all these tons of sapphires? Are the Russians holding the in vaults?

Someweher there was a US gov estimate from about the year 2,000 with the number of ton of sapphire mined and estimate of resources

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Ruby-and-Sapphire-Production-and-Distribution.pdf

https://www.gia.edu/doc/sapphires-from-australia.pdf

Yogo sapphire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sapphire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Weak, Gary. Weak.

This all started off about lab Diamonds and their affect on the natural Diamond market, but then you had to bring up the old tired argument that Diamonds are rarer than many colored stones. So be it as follows:

Economics 101. If you have a good product with enough plentiful supply to meet demand (of the world) and have the right marketing along with the help of insiders, the GIA and their so called Diamond grading which is all a psychological mind...to get the buyers to pay more money for something they really can't discern between most color grades with their eyes from D to H, let alone the clarity grades with a 10x loupe, you have everything that has made Diamonds so successful.

I still see Diamonds for sale everywhere. I don't see any shortages. If there is a shortage it is created by the Diamond cartels with the advent of created Diamonds now in the picture stealing the naturals thunder and lab prices that are becoming cheaper and a new generation who don't believe, "Diamonds are a girl’s best friend," especially natural Diamonds. The Diamond cartels will do the smart thing and cut off supply until prices rise again. Kind of sounds like big oil, doesn’t it not???

Next point:

Here is a true story. My wife had a beautiful 3 carat Mandarin Garnet that was from the late 90's Nigeria find. We went to one of my best friend's high-end jewelry boutique, 93 years and going. We bought a mount from him and since he did not have a bench jeweler, he had to send it out to be set. It came back fine but a little later a Diamond melee fell out of the mount. He sent the mount back for the Diamond to be replaced. The mounting came back, and my friend called me. He said, did your stone have a lot of inclusions in it? I said, no, why? He said to come to the store. The company he sent the Diamond to be replaced had heated up the mounting so hot that the Mandarin looked like a fried orange marble. We called it "the crack baby." My wife was not happy in the least. The company that reset the lost Diamond offered to replace the Mandarin. It took about three months to find one that my wife would accept. All either being more brownish or less orange. Finally, they found one that was very nice in color, but the cut was not as good. My wife wanted to continue to wait but we talked, and she accepted the stone. I offered to source one, but the company wanted only to source one themselves. I could've saved them money, but oh well.

So, do you think if the center stone was a Diamond instead of an orange Spessartite Garnet it would've taken three months? Nah. No way. Point proven, but I'll take it even farther than that, then I'm putting it to bed.

A customer comes in to a high-end jeweler. Wants three stones 10 carats each and flawless by Diamond standards and of the highest quality. A 10-carat flawless D color Diamond. A flawless 10 carat Ruby. A flawless 10 carat Pad Sapphire. Both the Ruby and the Pad to be untreated with an AGL report. Now, you tell me which stone would be found first, but we all know the Diamond would be. The two other stones??? Maybe not found at all. Even traditional heated stones would be a challenge to find, even eye clean, but the customer wants flawless as the customer has been brain washed by the GIA grading Diamond scale. Even though the customer cannot see a single flaw in an eye clean stone in the customer’s mind, that is not good enough.

Good night my friend.

I'm done here.

Another few point answer Fred,
If the colored gem world marketed better maybe they would create more demand?
Colorless diamonds go with everything
Diamonds are the hardest and forever-est
Diamonds have always thru history been the most coveted gem
Supply and demand is economics 101 - diamonds are the most popular - therefore the total value of diamonds taken from the earth vs the total value of all other gems is probably roughly the same
Diamonds are much harder to find than almost all other gems

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Gem quality sapphire/ruby in wearable sizes is much rarer than white diamond. Gem quality emeralds are also rarer than white diamonds. Gem quality pearls are rarer than white diamonds. Gem quality spinels are much rarer than white diamonds. The list goes on.

Many gem quality colored stones are rarer than white diamond, which is what we're talking about in jewelry attainable by the vast majority of the market.

White diamonds are common.

This is well known.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Gem quality sapphire/ruby in wearable sizes is much rarer than white diamond. Gem quality emeralds are also rarer than white diamonds. Gem quality pearls are rarer than white diamonds. Gem quality spinels are much rarer than white diamonds. The list goes on.

Many gem quality colored stones are rarer than white diamond, which is what we're talking about in jewelry attainable by the vast majority of the market.

White diamonds are common.

This is well known.

Larger diamond sizes are much rarer than almost all gems.
It is why double the weight equals 3 times the cost.
All the rest is just sour grapes.
The rarest diamond is orange and costs way more than any other gem.
'This is rarer than that' is no way related to diamond is not rare

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Sure, Gary. Sour grapes, indeed.
Marketing is why they're more expensive. Diamonds are carbon. Carbon is the most common element on the planet and millions of carats of white diamonds are stored underground. There are miles of undiscovered diamond still unmined under the Earth's crust. There are whole super earth sized planets made of diamond.

But we don't even need those. Look in any jewelry box.
Or on this board.

Rare colored diamonds are something almost no one owns. They are the exception proving the rule.
We're talking white diamonds. Most people have at least one of those.

Anyone who says anything else is trying to sell you something.

Lab gems haven't taken off because they aren't aggressively marketed to be the symbol of culturally accepted primary token of promise.
Lab diamonds being identical don't have that hinderance, so they're exploding in popularity.
It really is that simple.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Sure, Gary. Sour grapes, indeed.
Marketing is why they're more expensive. Diamonds are carbon. Carbon is the most common element on the planet and millions of carats of white diamonds are stored underground. There are miles of undiscovered diamond still unmined under the Earth's crust. There are whole super earth sized planets made of diamond.

But we don't even need those. Look in any jewelry box.
Or on this board.

Rare colored diamonds are something almost no one owns. They are the exception proving the rule.
We're talking white diamonds. Most people have at least one of those.

Anyone who says anything else is trying to sell you something.

Lab gems haven't taken off because they aren't aggressively marketed to be the symbol of culturally accepted primary token of promise.
Lab diamonds being identical don't have that hinderance, so they're exploding in popularity.
It really is that simple.

Synthetic diamond had the most money spent and aggressive anti natural diamond marketing campaign EVER!

As an actual geologist and involved in a search for those miles of diamonds with two men who have found more diamonds than any other living humans, that's rubbish. The easy finds are found. And synthetic diamonds are killing the needed investment to find more.

 

[smitcompton]

Synthetic diamond had the most money spent and aggressive anti natural diamond marketing campaign EVER!

As an actual geologist and involved in a search for those miles of diamonds with two men who have found more diamonds than any other living humans, that's rubbish. The easy finds are found. And synthetic diamonds are killing the needed investment to find more.

Hi,

This is the part you have forgotten Garry. Eco 101 has another part to the equation that you have left out. Scarcity in diamonds would produce competition and would lower prices. The diamond industry has kept diamond prices artificially high. More demand = higher prices which should spur more competition and thus lower prices. Diamond dealers have protected themselves in a way that has been called unfair competition. the US kept deBeers out of the country for good reason. The industry is still working the same old way. Price fixing, I believe its called.

Most of us do have diamonds. But we really prefer colored stones over here. I personally feel for you, you are a very nice man, but you have enjoyed the fruits of price fixing for too long. Now there is a choice.

Annette

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Synthetic diamond had the most money spent and aggressive anti natural diamond marketing campaign EVER!

As an actual geologist and involved in a search for those miles of diamonds with two men who have found more diamonds than any other living humans, that's rubbish. The easy finds are found. And synthetic diamonds are killing the needed investment to find more.

Which proves my point. They are not rare and can be identically synthesized. Their popularity is not driven by scarcity, but marketing.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Hi,

This is the part you have forgotten Garry. Eco 101 has another part to the equation that you have left out. Scarcity in diamonds would produce competition and would lower prices. The diamond industry has kept diamond prices artificially high. More demand = higher prices which should spur more competition and thus lower prices. Diamond dealers have protected themselves in a way that has been called unfair competition. the US kept deBeers out of the country for good reason. The industry is still working the same old way. Price fixing, I believe its called.

Most of us do have diamonds. But we really prefer colored stones over here. I personally feel for you, you are a very nice man, but you have enjoyed the fruits of price fixing for too long. Now there is a choice.

Annette

This is the part you have forgotten Garry. Eco 101 has another part to the equation that you have left out. Scarcity in diamonds would produce competition and would lower prices. There will always be wealthy people who want the real thing SC
The diamond industry has kept diamond prices artificially high. More demand = higher prices which should spur more competition and thus lower prices. Diamond dealers have protected themselves in a way that has been called unfair competition.
In USA wholesalers supply retailers with diamonds on memo and that does raise prices in stores.
However the diamond market is real. Barriers to entry are extremely low given virtual diamonds.
The US kept deBeers out of the country for good reason. The industry is still working the same old way. Price fixing, I believe its called.
This is totally wrong. The US gov took De Beers and GE to court for price fixing INDUSTRIAL diamond. Not gem diamonds - check it out please.

Most of us do have diamonds. But we really prefer colored stones over here. I personally feel for you, you are a very nice man, but you have enjoyed the fruits of price fixing for too long. Now there is a choice. Thanks, and I know I am trying to convert religions here - but there is so much misinformation around diamonds because journalists et al hate what they stand for.

Much of the information I know about diamonds I learned while researching my book I hope to publish soon. I never knew about the reason De Beers was charged and found guilty of monopolistic behavior. And how wrong that guilty finding was!

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

I wonder about the rarity of natural colored diamonds.

Everything @T L said about lab colorless diamonds being higher quality than earth colorless diamonds, is even more true for colored diamonds. There are hundreds of natural pink diamonds for sale on James Allen; anyone who can afford a high quality 1 carat natural colorless diamond can afford a small pink diamond, find it online, pay for it on credit and get it delivered in a few days. But the quality difference between natural and lab colored diamonds is astronomical. If people already are refusing to pay a lot of money for near-colorless, slightly included natural diamonds now that DEF, VVS lab are readily and cheaply available, then the tiny, light, highly included natural colored diamonds are never going to be competitive.

There will be diamond lovers who spend zillions on the natural vivid pinks; most people who want a pink diamond will buy a lab. That’s how the colored gemstone natural-lab markets seem to have played out. Gem lovers like the people we see on PS will spend $$$ on natural sapphires; most people who want a 3-carat electric blue sapphire will buy a lab. And that is one explanation why lab colored gems have not driven down the cost of natural colored gemstones.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I completely agree that wealthy people will buy large diamonds and antique diamonds. That is what choice is about.

A woman on the Lab forum said she wanted a 5 ctw diamond, but decided that she didn't want to walk around with $100,000 on her finger. She created a 5 ctw antique lab diamond that was so beautiful, I just stared at it. She paid $5,000.00 and was thrilled. She could afford either.

The hard thing for me to accept is in the one ctw range. No-one should be culturally persuaded to buy a diamond when life is getting harder and more expensive to manage. You need a place to live before you need a diamond that is priced like a downpayment on a home. Poor choice in my opinion. No real value. Your guy still loves you. Its like a car, It depreciates 50% when you leave the shop.

Americans were taken in by the ad campaign. The fault does lie with the consumer. This is a nice substitute-a lab diamond.

I did not know DeBeers was held monopolistic due to the industrial diamonds. I will read up on it. But, diamond dealers use debeers to help manipulate the market and keep prices high. What say you to Rappaport also helping high diamonds prices. You have too much protection on prices IMO.

I do like colored diamonds. Those were low for many years until they were "discovered". I believe they are rare, but not 1 ctw white ones.

Annette

 

[T L]

A woman on the Lab forum said she wanted a 5 ctw diamond, but decided that she didn't want to walk around with $100,000 on her finger. She created a 5 ctw antique lab diamond that was so beautiful, I just stared at it. She paid $5,000.00 and was thrilled. She could afford either.

Link? I would love to see that ring. Thank you.

Isn’t it nice that people can now wear something that would ordinarily stay in a safety deposit box?

Sorry, slightly off topic.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

TL, please go to the forum on lab diamonds. I am computer illeterate. Can't do links or much of anything. The ring was stunning. You can find it. Ask on that forum. Sorry.

Annette

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I did not know DeBeers was held monopolistic due to the industrial diamonds. I will read up on it. But, diamond dealers use debeers to help manipulate the market and keep prices high. What say you to Rappaport also helping high diamonds prices. You have too much protection on prices IMO.

Thanks Annette - here is an excerpt from my very slowly progressing book:
De Beers and industrial diamonds
Let’s clear up the second monopoly story: the industrial diamond myth. De
Beers was charged in 1994 by the USA with colluding with General Electric
(GE) to fix the price of industrial diamonds (GE was acquitted). Note that
we are not talking about gem-quality diamonds, but industrial diamonds!
This meant that any De Beers executives who set foot in the USA faced
being put on trial.
De Beers had difficult problems with the USA and British governments
during the Second World War. The two countries were stockpiling industrial
diamonds against prior agreements with De Beers. Meanwhile, other businesses
in the USA were secretly buying up industrial diamonds and smuggling
them at a profit to Germany as it prepared for war.
De Beers was helping the US and UK war efforts, but did not want any
nation to end up with excess stockpiles of industrial diamonds after the war.
De Beers paid a $10 million fine in 2004 to clear its name. Interestingly, GE
has paid more than $2 billion in fines for 145 infringements by governments
in the USA over the past two decades. That rarely makes headlines or results
in criminal proceedings, whereas De Beers seem to be the perfect whipping
boy.
Stockpiling diamonds
De Beers’ legendary stockpiling of diamonds has been misunderstood and
misrepresented by various media. Stockpiling was carried out ever since
Rhodes partnered with the London Syndicate more than a century ago.
What anti-monopolists may not have understood was the protection this
provided to the rest of the diamond pipeline, and even consumer jewelry
owners. That’s because De Beers’ stockpiling during economic crashes actually
served to maintain the value of diamonds.
De Beers’ policy for its own mines, and those of the miners the CSO represented,
was to reduce or stop mining, or mine less lucrative parts of ore bodies,
until demand and prices improved. Diamonds were left in the ground,
not in vaults!

 

[PrecisionGem]

Someweher there was a US gov estimate from about the year 2,000 with the number of ton of sapphire mined and estimate of resources

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Ruby-and-Sapphire-Production-and-Distribution.pdf

https://www.gia.edu/doc/sapphires-from-australia.pdf

Yogo sapphire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sapphire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This information is useless unless you have similar for diamonds.

My observation is that if I gathered all the diamonds from all the stores in my town, and then gathered all the sapphires, the total weight of the diamonds would be much much much greater. And if I did this all over the country the same would be true.

As I said almost every woman I know has at least one diamond, I don't know any who have a sapphire. So who has all these sapphires you claim are so much more plentiful than diamonds?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

This information is useless unless you have similar for diamonds.

My observation is that if I gathered all the diamonds from all the stores in my town, and then gathered all the sapphires, the total weight of the diamonds would be much much much greater. And if I did this all over the country the same would be true.

As I said almost every woman I know has at least one diamond, I don't know any who have a sapphire. So who has all these sapphires you claim are so much more plentiful than diamonds?

If sapphires cost as much as diamonds there would be 100 times more sapphire mines.

 

[Avondale]

If sapphires cost as much as diamonds there would be 100 times more sapphire mines.

Um... this might just be one of the strongest arguments for diamonds being overpriced I've read in this thread so far.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Um... this might just be one of the strongest arguments for diamonds being overpriced I've read in this thread so far.

Every product or commodity is priced based on supply and demand.
The idea that collusion and monopolistic behaviour can cause market variations.
This was the issue with De Beers Industrial diamonds.

De Beers have been monopolists for their first hundred years, but that finished (and finished off the company as we all knew it) about 24 years ago.

Gem diamonds are priced based on supply and demand. If sapphires were as in demand there would be more supply.

Really can not believe that this is not obvious?

Who is fixing the price of diamonds?

Rapaport was accused by Smitcompton - yet all the dealers in the industry hate him for making the market transparent and more competitive. He gets loads of death threats!

 

[Avondale]

Every product or commodity is priced based on supply and demand.

And with greater supply the price goes down. I’m not an economist, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of the basic principles.

I believe no one has yet disputed that diamonds are in greater supply. Practically, objectively, there’s a greater supply of diamonds. The theoretical quantities of sapphires still in the earth yet to be mined are, for the time being, irrelevant.

Surely, you must see the immediate logical consequences that should follow the scenario “if sapphires cost as much as diamonds”. Yes, if they cost more, there would be more suppliers. With more suppliers there would be more competition. More competition and more supply would drive the prices down.

Yet, this has not happened with diamonds. And to further drive the point, you just said that if sapphires were equally overpriced, there would be a greater supply of them, too. As the saying goes, no sh*t, Sherlock!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

As the saying goes, no sh*t, Sherlock!

Hahaha. love it.
Trouble is no way on this planet are people going to love sapphires as much as they love diamonds!
Except the people maybe on this board.
BTW I love sapphires (more than rubies or emeralds) and my car is officially SAPPHIRE blue

 

[strawrose]

I have a really lovely Chatham sapphire, but it is not as special to me as my natural ones. If I lose it, I can just replace it almost exactly.

I do love labs for specific cuts, like surrounding an art deco target ring.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Let me clarify what I meant about Mr. Rappaport. This was brought up by a diamond dealer on the diamond forum. Mr Rappaport refused to list the lowered diamond prices on the Rap report because dealers told him they would cancel their subscription to the Rap Report. I guess Mr. Rappaport thought this was the kiss of death because his report did not show lowered diamond prices as it should have if you want to think its accurate. Nor does PS graphs reflect lower prices. Check the diamond forum.

In another discussion Diamond dealers expressed their desire for DeBeers to do something- withhold diamonds from the market so prices hold--(I think a guy named Garry was in on that discussion. Lets manipulate the market.

I know this sounds silly but some years chickens are in over supply and the price falls. Beef the same. Sometimes these companies try to manipulate the market and they are fined and sanctioned. This principle of business holds true for most. Just not diamonds.

I too will back away. I like diamonds but Lab diamonds may be a better value. Your diamond consumer is the older generation, IMO. As one of my Drs told me. A college Ed costs as much as a house. This morning figures were given for Duke, Brown, One in Penn at a cost of 90.000.00 per year. The cost of an Education in the USA is probably much worse than diamond prices. Save, Save Save.

Annette

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

I have a really lovely Chatham sapphire, but it is not as special to me as my natural ones. If I lose it, I can just replace it almost exactly.

I do love labs for specific cuts, like surrounding an art deco target ring.

OMG agree on the custom cuts. Also for diamonds. In both cases I see zero reason to spend $$$ for earth grown. I just got a ring with custom cut onyx and diamonds and it was pricey enough with lab; maybe someday I will ask the vendor how much $$$ the difference would be. BTW in the future I will be making a piece that will require custom cut colored gemstones so am open to designer suggestions.