Magorn: or a Bic lighter, they are pure carbon after all.

At atmospheric pressure it has no melting point as its triple point is at 10.8 ± 0.2 MPa and 4,600 ± 300 K (~4,330 °C or 7,820 °F), so it sublimates at about 3,900 K

Thats one hell of a Bic you have.

The Homer Tax: BiffDangler: I am about to get engaged again. It's a big farking scam of course, but you ladies demand them. I am fortunate however that I have a 3 carat VVS1 that I inherited, so I don't have to lay out any cash for this.

3 carats?

Cut it in half and save the other half for your next engagement... :)

Yes, but I view the diamonds as worthless in essence so I don't really give a crap. I mean, I could sell it for 15-20 K, but I figure that is what I would just pay for one so I am giving it to her.

protectyourlimbs: dryknife: If it's not a blood diamond I don't want it.

Exactly, why would rich people overpay for items unless they can show off suffering it caused. That is why all my mink coats are made by female Chinese babies

I like the cut of your jib.

CujoQuarrel: A college friend of mine ended up running a Jewelry store for a while. His standard mark up was 7x. So half off sales were still 3.5x of what they paid. Of course they sold very few if any each day.

Yep, contrary to popular belief, running a jewelry store isn't the fast track to easy riches. The #1 cost of a jewelry store is actually the labor cost of the sales staff. This isn't the sort of business where you can just pick product off a shelf and crazy women do NOT like to be kept waiting, so despite limited sales every store tends to be well-staffed. They also make the vast majority of their sales during holiday season; for just about 11 months a year they operate at steep losses.

Slackers...

My future wife better be ok without getting diamonds, because I refuse to buy one.

machoprogrammer: My future wife better be ok without getting diamonds, because I refuse to buy one.

If you really don't want to blow your money, don't get married.

Obligatory 1982 article from The Atlantic (new window).

My wife has a 1 carat VVS1. On Bluenile.com, the same diamond is selling for 40% more than what I paid for hers.

That diamond is doing better than my 401k over the same time period. I'm cool with that.

mainstreet62: That diamond is doing better than my 401k over the same time period. I'm cool with that.

If it's for your wife, why the fark do you care what it's worth at this point?

Grandma's diamond ring? Pfff... I'd rather have grandma made into a diamond ring. (new window)

/Death diamonds to show you care.

I just fine it amusing that we have the ability to make them 1000% more pure, but somehow it isn't a "real diamond" unless a less pure product, found from some peasant that got paid 18 cents for digging it out of a long extinct volcano, is what you get.

fark that and fark women that need that.

If you're going to be fickle, at least want something unique and really rare. An emerald set in a platinum band is much more rare, and infinitely cooler with the knowledge of whats behind it.

Emeralds are more rare than diamonds, specifically because of their chemical makeup. If you took all the mined platinum alloys in the world and purified them; the pure platinum would only fill the volume of a one story, two car garage.


Diamond really are Econ 101 proof that econ 101 is full of shiat. Manufactured demand, and monopolistic control of supply are very, very lucrative business. It's zombie capitalism at it's finest.

MugzyBrown: /waits for someone to come defend the diamond industry

Well there's really no such thing as artificially inflated prices, even if it's a monopoly involved. Nobody is forced to buy a diamond, so if people are willing to part with $x for a diamond, then they value the diamond more than $x.

LOLOL that's the best part of the scam, they have established the social convention that if you want to marry just about any woman who isn't homeless you have to buy her one.

BiffDangler: machoprogrammer: My future wife better be ok without getting diamonds, because I refuse to buy one.

If you really don't want to blow your money, don't get married.

Also, if you still want to get blown, don't get married.

dragonchild: mainstreet62: That diamond is doing better than my 401k over the same time period. I'm cool with that.

If it's for your wife, why the fark do you care what it's worth at this point?

I don't.

Diamonds are the biggest scam ever created. DeBeers cornered the market and created a myth that they were rare, and, you as a groom, was a complete jerk if you didn't spend four months salary on your brides ring.
Think about it, if 80% of the brides since 1920 got a diamond ring, how rare can they be? That doesn't include necklaces, earrings, and bracelets either.

MugzyBrown: If I start an ad campaign that you need to buy a Mugzyburger, the most delicious burger in the world, on 4th of July to be a true American and almost everybody comes in and buys a burger due to my ad campaign.. it's a scam?

Legally, no. Ethically, yes.

We all know ethics don't matter so your business is legit. But we'd also be correct in calling you a slimy asshole.

MugzyBrown: /waits for someone to come defend the diamond industry

Well there's really no such thing as artificially inflated prices, even if it's a monopoly involved. Nobody is forced to buy a diamond, so if people are willing to part with $x for a diamond, then they value the diamond more than $x.

Bullshiat statement.

Every man who wants to profess his undying love to a traditionally-minded, respectable young lady must pay her a dowry of a minimum of 2 months of his projected peak professional salary. No respectable young lady would accept this fee in cash, for that would make her a harlot; instead it must be presented in the form of a diamond wrapped in a gold band, suitable for daily display on her finger. By putting two months' salary into a difficult-to-convert asset, he is demonstrating to his beloved that he is of sufficient socioeconomic status to forego two months of his salary and still maintain his living environment, thereby demonstrating he is capable of supporting her for the rest of her days. The question is not whether they value the diamond more than $x, it's whether they value the woman's favor more than $x.

The man must present the bride-prize to his beloved on one knee, allowing her to examine the package which lies before her, in hopes that the combined value of his reputation, goodwill, station in life, physical attributes, and especially the quality of his ring is enough to win her pure, unsullied heart, body and reputation. The gold and diamond will be worn by the bride-to-be for the duration of the engagement and throughout the marriage, as a reminder to both of the man's sworn duty to protect and provide for all of her needs and most of her desires.

This is incontrovertible fact as presented by the World Diamond Council, who would have absolutely no reason to weigh in on the sanctity of traditional marriage. Nay, their representatives serve as mere arbiters, providing the world at large with the only true way to express romantic love, at as cheap a cost as possible. That's why they provide children in horrible conditions with a hand up; by working for the Arbiters of True Love, these children are provided with conditions much better than they could sustain on their own. Who would want to deny a meal and a cot to a poor innocent child in Zimbabwe? Certainly not respectable, traditionally-minded folk.

no anti-Jew comments yet?

mainstreet62: My wife has a 1 carat VVS1. On Bluenile.com, the same diamond is selling for 40% more than what I paid for hers.

That diamond is doing better than my 401k over the same time period. I'm cool with that.

but you'll never be able to sell it for that. Think about 1/3 retail/appraisal is what you'll be able to get for it.

Before you buy/sell, check out the prices at Bluenile.com or similar. I find it hilarious that suckers are trying to sell their J/K-colour, I2/I3 diamonds on Craigslist for 3x what the same I-colour, SI1 costs on bluenile.

If you pay more than 25% of the "retail" or "appraised" cost for second-hand jewelry, you're paying too much.

Also:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sajObN6AVtU

clovis69: Magorn: or a Bic lighter, they are pure carbon after all.

At atmospheric pressure it has no melting point as its triple point is at 10.8 ± 0.2 MPa and 4,600 ± 300 K (~4,330 °C or 7,820 °F), so it sublimates at about 3,900 K

Thats one hell of a Bic you have.

Sublimation and combustion are different things. The combustion temperature is significantly lower.

algrant33: The question is not whether they value the diamond more than $x, it's whether they value the woman's favor more than $x.

This sums it up. Over decades they have hammered this concept into our culture. It's right there in every ad they run.

rf134a: If you pay more than 25% of the "retail" or "appraised" cost for second-hand jewelry, you're paying too much.

How much of the cost of your diamond is embodied in the value and material quality (the one thing you actually care about)? And how much of the cost is overhead--and then how much is left over for profit?

Just go to any mall. That's where the jewelers all are. The diamond merchants are always located on the high-traffic corners of the mall, right off the main entrance or the Cafe Court. Lots of square footage, suit-and-tie salesmen waiting on you left and right. Now think: how much of your ring is paying for Jared's desirable location?

Yeah, turns out the jewelry itself is only "worth" 20-30% of what you paid for it. How many ounces grams of gold are in your gold band? You know the spot price of gold on the market. You can figure out exactly how badly you got taken.

MugzyBrown: /waits for someone to come defend the diamond industry

Well there's really no such thing as artificially inflated prices, even if it's a monopoly involved. Nobody is forced to buy a diamond, so if people are willing to part with $x for a diamond, then they value the diamond more than $x.

No, nobody is forced, but society is going to look down on you if you show up to your wedding with a loop of copper wire.

/peer pressure is a biatch

Carth: mainstreet62: My wife has a 1 carat VVS1. On Bluenile.com, the same diamond is selling for 40% more than what I paid for hers.

That diamond is doing better than my 401k over the same time period. I'm cool with that.

but you'll never be able to sell it for that. Think about 1/3 retail/appraisal is what you'll be able to get for it.

Don't plan on selling it. I only used it to gripe about my 401k.

Snow Monkey: /Looking for a nice ring or two for the GF, but NOT an engagement ring

Dude, do NOT get your GF a diamond ring that is not an engagement ring.

relaxitsjustme: You give a diamond engagement ring to the women you love and one of them's going to want to know why you bought two diamonds and she only has one.

Much harder to explain away than flowers.

Snow Monkey: And how do you get estate diamonds?

/Looking for a nice ring or two for the GF, but NOT an engagement ring

At estate sales. a.k.a. auctions where they sell the dead person's house and everything in it.

DO NOT give your GIRLFRIEND a diamond ring that is not an engagement ring. Number 1, it will confuse the fark out of her. Number 2, you're setting the bar WAAAY too high WAAAY too early on. Number 3, and most importantly, it will confuse the everloving fark out of her and she WILL spend WEEKS agonizing over what this means, with her friends, with her mom, with every female she trusts. She will likely interpret what you mean to be a nice gesture as expectation of something more, and then she will agonize over what "something more" means to you. This invariably leads to a) relationship escalation in desparation to keep you, or b) her dumping you because she's not ready to commit.

You CANNOT explain to her "no, I really just wanted to give you something nice". Give her a sapphire. Sapphires are in style. Do NOT give her a diamond until you wanna seal it up.

Treygreen13: relaxitsjustme: She didn't know about it or ask for it. I gave it to her as a symbol of my love and commitment to her.

Why is a rock a symbol of your love and commitment?

Could it be because diamonds mean forever?

relaxitsjustme: algrant33: relaxitsjustme: You give a diamond engagement ring to the women you love and one of them's going to want to know why you bought two diamonds and she only has one.

Much harder to explain away than flowers.

What do you think, I'm made of bricks?

Or you're loose with your singulars and plurals, and who knows what else.
Or you enjoy the allure and challenge of being married to two women without either knowing of the other.

//no, those both stem from the first one. so, yes.

relaxitsjustme: Calling it a rock devalues it's meaning

A meaning bestowed upon an otherwise semi-worthless rock by society at large, guided by the invisible-yet-heavy hand of DeBeers, beginning about 90 years ago?

Because there's no intrinsic meaning, or the Crusades would have been fought over diamonds.

...and if you don't remember, this is the position you were defending:

relaxitsjustme: You give a diamond engagement ring to the women you love because you want to give her one.

...and the challenge to that position, which you were answering:

Treygreen13: But why do you want to give her one? If it's because she wants one, why does she want it?

/"advertising doesn't work on me" he said as he bought Tide detergent

relaxitsjustme: TyrantII: I just fine it amusing that we have the ability to make them 1000% more pure, but somehow it isn't a "real diamond" unless a less pure product, found from some peasant that got paid 18 cents for digging it out of a long extinct volcano, is what you get.

fark that and fark women that need that.

If you're going to be fickle, at least want something unique and really rare. An emerald set in a platinum band is much more rare, and infinitely cooler with the knowledge of whats behind it.

Emeralds are more rare than diamonds, specifically because of their chemical makeup. If you took all the mined platinum alloys in the world and purified them; the pure platinum would only fill the volume of a one story, two car garage.


Diamond really are Econ 101 proof that econ 101 is full of shiat. Manufactured demand, and monopolistic control of supply are very, very lucrative business. It's zombie capitalism at it's finest.

So diamonds suck but emeralds are cool? They're both gemstones, yet for some reason you value emeralds more than diamonds. Doesn't make the people who prefer a diamond over an emerald any better or worse than you except in your eyes

No, the argument is if you're going to spends an ungodly amount of money on a tiny trinket, make sure the trinket is rare, valuable, and priced via a reasonable market. Case in point i always laugh at women who want a "unique" diamond ring. Sure, you band might not be factory stamped, but the rock is.

Diamonds are only priced to what deBeers says they should be and aren't very rare at all. Not in the scales that most people are operating in, anyways.

There's something absurd if you're paying $5000 for the same crap they crush up and throw on $5 saw blades. At least other gem stones are rare because of their composition and how they form. Diamonds? Not so much.

If you;re spending that money in the first place, why not do something a little more original with it?

Kyoki: chopit:

I got my mom's engagement ring appraised for her and put it on eBay, where it went pretty quickly (good pictures and a scan of the appraisal didn't hurt).

I've got one from MY ex that I'll probably be doing the same thing with.

Nice of you to keep it.