You Will NEVER believe this one!!!

[DancinGirl]

Ok for all those who thought they had seen it ALL?? Guess again!

Here I am watching the news tonight and I see something about diamonds flash up on the screen. So - of course I am all excited and interested. But then I realize what they are saying.

I don''t know if any of you have heard of this and I am just BEHIND in the times... but there is a company out there who actually takes (if you so choose and for a steep price) your deceased LOVED ONES REMAINS and extracts the high amount of carbon from the body/ashes and creates an actual (lab created) diamond!

Ok so I figure this MUST be some kind of weird joke - but it''s not. There is actually a company out there who does this. I saw it on the Boston news station because someone local who lost their wife of cancer recently has paid this company to make a diamond out of her remains and he will wear it in a ring and will make a few smaller ones for pendants for their children!!

HOLY CRAPOLA, what will they come up with next?

They actually have it "graded" (although they use the term certified, which isn''t really correct) - by GIA Labs! Of course it isn''t something that are natually made from mines, but they say they are close enough to the real thing. They make them in rare colors right now - like bright blue for example - and soon will be doing even colorless.

HOLD ONTO YOUR DIAMONDS GUYS, cause next thing you know you''ll be buying someone''s Grandma to put on your finger! YIKES?!!

If you don''t believe me - check out their site!
www.lifegem.com

What is next in this world I ask?
~Dancin Girl

 

[Richard Sherwood]

It's for real...

Here's their pricing:

Option.....Carat Size.....Price.....Qty 2 or more
Option I......20-.29 ct.....$2,299.....$1,849/ea
Option II......30-.39 ct.....$3,699.....$3,149/ea
Option III......40-.49 ct.....$5,199.....$4,449/ea
Option IV......50-.59 ct.....$6,699.....$5,849/ea
Option V......60-.69 ct.....$8,299.....$7,299/ea
Option VI......70-.79 ct.....$9,999.....$9,099/ea

It's interesting that they claim the California GIA Gem Trade Laboratory to be certifying their stones. The last I knew GIA was refusing to issue reports on synthetic diamonds. Has anybody heard any different?

 

[niceice]

Whew! I'm glad to see that their prices are that high! When I saw the Life Gem story on CNN last week I started getting worried that Robin might think I'd be worth more dead than alive but with prices like that I'm probably safe for awhile longer

 

[DancinGirl]

HAHAHA - I am laughing my butt off over here, Todd, thanks for the laugh!

( PS ~ I needed that, since I got one year older at midnight about 1.5 hours ago!)

Beware the Ides of March is RIGHT! Oye.

 

[niceice]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DancinGirl

Yea, I was watching Robin's face while CNN was running that bit on Life Gem and I'd swear she was calculating a ratio of my body weight less 98% water to the estimated finished weight of the diamond... She frowned for a minute, got up and brought me back half of a chocolate cake and then went back to her calculations with what seemed to be a renewed sense of spirit

Being that she tossed a running blow dryer at me a few years ago while I was sitting in a bathtub full of water, should I be worried? She called that one "behavior modification"... This one might be called "an inventory update"... Of course, I have it better than her ex, she superglued his tallywacker to the side of his leg one night in his sleep (because he had been cheating on her) and when that didn't work, she dropped a few drops of fresh jalepeno juice "down the chute" while he was asleep

All I'd done was say something derogetory and refuse to rephrase it

 

[noles9498]

I'm willing to bet there's never dull moment at Robin and Todd's place!

We're cracking up first thing this morning!

 

[Giangi]

Todd... That is too funny!

BTW, I think these diamonds are something really horrible and trashy!!!! How can someone wear them? Yikes! This is really freaking!

 

[Mara]

Todd...and you actually ATE the cake?!?!?!!

 

[DancinGirl]

Thanks Todd!!

I have to admit - you are hilarious... I almost choked on my birthday pancakes my guy made for me while laughing so hard. Robin - just think, like regular diamonds - those prices may go up over time - KEEP CALCULATING!

Hehehe....

 

[niceice]

----------------
On 3/15/2003 10

9:25 AM Mara wrote:

Todd...and you actually ATE the cake?!?!?!!

----------------

Of course I ate the cake! "Death by Chocolate" is the name of the cake as made by the bakery across the street from our store... It's like seven layers of decadent chocolate stacked on top of one another - total euphoria! What we were thinking opening up a jewelry store across from a bakery, we'll never know! Every day Glen walks over with a new creation or a plate full of fresh eclairs that he just finished... We've decided that we're going to have to move a treadmill from the house down to the store!

You have NO IDEA what Robin is capable of, but Rhino's met her, he knows... Every morning she asks me how I'm feeling because she wants to push me down the stairs

but I'm safe as long as I can find a body part that hurts... You see she wants me "to feel it" when she does it, so I have to be completely pain free before she'll do it... Given my mountain bikiing and wakeboarding obsession, it's not likely to happen.

 

[andrea]

TOOOO funny

 

[mike04456]

----------------
I'd swear she was calculating a ratio of my body weight less 98% water to the estimated finished weight of the diamond.
----------------

From what I have heard, they are currently limited to about 1 ct polished weight, but supposedly they can recover enough carbon from the average human body to produce about ten 1 ct stones. You have to be cremated by a funeral home that has their carbon recovery process in place, though.

Rich, as I understand it, GTL does not issue *Diamond Grading Reports* for synthetic diamonds. What they will do is issue a gemstone identification report for anything you care to send them. There's a cute bit in the current issue of Gems & Gemology on something the lab was called up to identify that proved to be a broken chunk of bathroom porcelain. (The owner--none too bright, it would seem--thought it was some kind of pearl.

) So I would imagine that all you get with your Lifegem is a report from GTL saying "this is a synthetic diamond."

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
Rich, as I understand it, GTL does not issue *Diamond Grading Reports*
for synthetic diamonds. What they will do is issue a gemstone
identification report for anything you care to send them. So I would
imagine that all you get with your Lifegem is a report from GTL
saying "this is a synthetic diamond."
-----------

Thanks LawGem.

I know that EGL is doing diamond grading reports on synthetics. Are there any other labs that you're aware of? Not necessarily major major like GIA or AGS, but labs like PGS, IGI, HRD, AGA, etc. Is GIA and AGS the only labs with the policy of not issuing reports on synthetic diamonds?

What do you think about that policy, anyway? Does it strike you as having a touch of snobbery, or does it make sense to you?

 

[mike04456]

I'm not up on the full "alphabet soup" of minor labs, but EGL is only one I've heard of that's doing full grading reports for synthetic diamonds. But I'm sure that as more come on the market in the next few years, others will follow suit.

I certainly understand GTL's and AGS's policy on this. Most of the public equates synthetic with "fake," and their grading reports are so well-regarded and such a standard in the industry that they don't want to risk any "taint" on their reputation. Personally, I can't imagine GTL ever doing it. People put so much stock in a GIA cert that if the general public started to realize that it no longer meant the diamond was "real," their status would take a big hit.

Synthetic diamonds are never going to be anything but a niche market, so there's really no good business reason for AGS or GIA to change their policy.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
I certainly understand GTL's and AGS's policy on
this. Most of the public equates synthetic
with "fake," and their grading reports are so well-
regarded and such a standard in the industry that
they don't want to risk any "taint" on their
reputation. Personally, I can't imagine GTL ever
doing it. People put so much stock in a GIA cert
that if the general public started to realize that
it no longer meant the diamond was "real," their
status would take a big hit.
-----------

Well said, and I agree. The GIA and AGS are as much in the credibility business as the grading business. They have established a persona that transcends their capabilities. They probably have a staff of market analysts that regularly advises them on how to maintain that ivory tower position.

 

[babblingal]

I would worry about leaving my "mom" on the sink of a public restroom, dropping my "dad" down the drain at a hotel, or what about if my weight fluctuated and my "brother" fell off of my hand and was lost during my vacation in Branson?

 

[Mara]

Babs..I agree! Damn..there goes dad down the drain AGAIN! Time for the snake!

 

[Skyblue]

I saw a segment on this also. I was especially creeped out when the dad was talking about the diamond from his daughter's ashes. "The stone is so sparkly and full of life just like her.... " YUCK!

 

[Heyjud]

I think we've seen this here before
and it sound so weird to me
Though I love to look at diamonds
It's NOT WHAT I WANT TO BE !!! ] ]