[dylan604]

Anytime something takes a long time to create, there's an expected add to the price. Look at your 18 year old (and older) Scotch/Whiskey prices. Even lab grown gems takes months to "grow". Yes, there is a cartel influence on an artificial scarcity, but even still, it's something that isn't just common everyday discoveries for the vast majority of people. Even without the cartel influence, there would still be value in them vs much more common things like quartz/granite/etc.