[glimshe]

The diamond tradition became a ridiculous cultural trait, buy lab-grown diamonds can help greatly mitigate the wastefulness of regular natural diamonds. I don't think Moissanite is the right replacement - they have too much of the so-called "fire", almost too sparkly as the article shows. I think Moissanites are inferior to diamonds in appearance in my personal, subjective opinion.

Lab-grown diamonds, however, can be had for as low as 20% of the price of natural diamonds (for large sizes), often less than Moissanite, and absolutely look the part. You simply can't tell the difference between a lab-grown diamond and a natural diamond without highly specialized equipment because they are, well, the same thing and differ only in minute growth "marks" in their fine structure. If I'm not mistaken, there is regulation preventing companies from calling competitors' lab-grown diamonds "fake diamonds", and retailers can call them "real diamonds" (but NOT "natural diamonds").

I got my wife of 15 years a large lab-grown diamond ring from Ritani for ~2K and she loves it. She won't take it out. Everybody is blown away by it because an equivalent natural diamond ring would go for ~10-15K.

[refurb]

I always wondered what lab grown diamonds for jewelry would cost, so I googled "Ritani".

Wow, you can get a 3 carat, VVS1/VVS2, ideal cut, colorless for $3,000. That's a huge stone and very high quality.

That would be a $15,000+ diamond if natural.

[A_D_E_P_T]

This is really quite new. China and India, just over the past few years, have turned synthetic diamond production into a serious industry, and the fact that there are so many small producers is leading to a "race to the bottom" on pricing. A race we're now right in the middle of. Within just a few years, synthetic diamond might be nearly as cheap as synthetic ruby. (The raw materials are equally cheap, but making diamond is a more laborious and energy-intensive process, so it'll always be somewhat more expensive.)

[causi]

What's the profit margin on a 0.6 gram chunk of fancy carbon being sold for three grand?

[kuschku]

Not much, production cost is closer to that of RAM or a CPU than to a graphite pencil, as it's usually produced in the same way as semiconductors are.

[wtfmcgrill]

The margin is in cutting and faceting. The Swiss make a CNC diamond cutting machine that can cut and facet a diamond in about an hour vs days for manual cutting.

[npteljes]

Very large, judging from the second hand market values.

[A_D_E_P_T]

> I don't think Moissanite is the right replacement - they have too much of the so-called "fire", almost too sparkly as the article shows. I think Moissanites are inferior to diamonds in appearance in my personal, subjective opinion.

I feel the same way. Moissanites are basically TOO good. They reflect light in so many carnival colors, and they shine so brightly, that they frequently look like fake carnival jewelry.

[ckolkey]

What? I can't understand this at all. We like gems _because_ they are shiny, not in spite of that.

But alright, subjective opinion. I'm just enjoy my affordable shiny rocks over here.

[npteljes]

I find people usually like a specific amount, and that often there is such a thing as excess, even with desirable things, traits. This also changes over time, and from culture to culture. Another example is the coloring of clothes. In ye olde times, a vibrantly bright colored article is a rarity, because dying it, and then keeping it clean are not trivial tasks. Nowadays, bright basic colors such as royal blue can easily seem cheap, like something from a bazaar. And many subtle tones, such as colors resembling what you'd find in nature, are popular.

[A_D_E_P_T]

Right. There's also the fact that cubic zirconia has, like moissanite, a refractive index higher than diamond's. So a lot of poverty-tier CZ costume jewelry is, like moissanite, extremely shiny. That moissanite is basically indistinguishable from CZ -- but highly distinguishable from diamond -- is not a point in its favor.

> In ye olde times, a vibrantly bright colored article is a rarity

I had heard that medieval nobility was very fond of brightly-colored clothes. Blues, reds, yellows, etc. It stands to reason that this was to exhibit their wealth in an immediate and obvious way.

[pavlov]

Shininess is one property people appreciate in gems, but not the only one. Many so-called fine things are loved exactly because their quality can’t be pinned down on a simple scale, but rather is a blend of subjective evaluations whose weightings are constantly evolving as tastes change.

Is the best wine the one with the highest alcohol content? The best chocolate the one with the most cocoa or the most sugar? The best painting the one with the most contrast? Etc.

[gwbas1c]

When moissanite sparkles, it sparkles with rainbows. Diamonds sparkle with just white light.

They are very similar, and you need to look very closely to observe the difference.

One of the nice things about moissanite is it allows creating jewelry that otherwise is economically unaffordable with diamonds.

[iSnow]

>I think Moissanites are inferior to diamonds in appearance in my personal, subjective opinion.

Yeah, same. They have too much bling and look exactly like something the nouveau riche would parade around. To make things worse, moissanite jewellery usually has too many gems, something you couldn't afford with diamond.

[Semaphor]

> To make things worse, moissanite jewellery usually has too many gems, something you couldn't afford with diamond.

That is a bit hilarious. The fact that you couldn’t afford it with diamonds makes it worse? Am I misreading you there?

[iSnow]

Yes, you are misreading. Diamond jewellery has one or very few stones which makes for a clean look. Moissanites are cheap so pieces featuring them usually look like pimped out rides.

Me, personally, I would give my GF the amount in stocks but I wouldn't buy either pearls or diamonds. Both are a total rip-off.

[globular-toast]

> She won't take it out.

What's the point then?

[glimshe]

Take it out of her finger

[globular-toast]

Oh... you mean "take it off". I thought you meant it was locked in a safe or something.