Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
Personally, my wife and I decided to buy a synthetic diamond for her engagement ring. She didn't want me to spend alot of money on it (knowing that whatever I spend is really "our" money once we are married anyways and thought it silly to tie up so much money in something you'd never actually sell). She didn't even want a diamond since they were so expensive in general. In the end we found a company that made synthetics that we liked and were able to get a nice sized stone for very little money. It gets the requisite social oohs and aahs and we don't have to explain why we think spending money on a diamond ring is silly.
I mean, mine would scream bloody murder if I gave her a $2000 diamond next week. Hardly worth it, huh?
For our wedding, we went with a nice ring that has two modestly-sized Tanzanite hearts in a silver ring. It costs a mere fraction of what a diamond would have cost, has better symbolism than a single diamond, and, oh, it also looks nice. Frankly I think fully transparent gems lack personality. Only downside I was worried about is that Tanzanite is quite a ways down the Moh scale, but it has not proved a problem; if your gemstone is getting scratched your finger is probably getting torn off. This does not happen often.
A big splurge on a ring means that you are serious, and will go through with the ceremony. Breaking off the engagement will leave you out of pocket.
But most people aren't in that position any more. Girls don't "wait-for-marriage" to maintain their market value any more.
Depending on the state, if an engagement is broken off for any reason, the ring should return to you. In others -- only if it's broken off by your betrothed.
From http://www.slate.com/id/100411/ :
If you're in New York, you have to return the ring. Recently, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania stuck steadfastly to the no-fault reasoning and decreed that the donor should always get the ring back if the engagement is broken off, regardless of who broke it off or why (Lindh v. Surman, 1999 WL 1073639). Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Wisconsin have the same rule (Heiman v. Parrish, 942 P.2d 631, 636 [Kan. 1997]). The alternative rule, and still the majority approach, is that a donor who breaks off the engagement for a reason that has nothing to do with the donee's behavior cannot recover the ring. This is the fault-based rule
(Or are these just general property laws applied to rings rather than laws specifically for rings?)
Victor Mine is located in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario, approximately 90km west of the coastal community of Attawapiskat First Nation. Victor Mine is an open pit mine and Ontario’s first diamond mine.
Even if DeBeers wasn't involved though you're still supporting and industry and an ideal that make DeBeers viable. So saying "I don't support conflict diamonds because I only buy Canadian" is wrong because its the demand you've created that make those conflict diamonds valuable.
What are the prices compared to natural diamonds?
"Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."
Said that, I agree that gold has value, it has it's uses. But when it's get used as a 'safe' currency it's all artificial.
Real-estate on the Moon is also divisible and un-manufacturable, but no-one seems to be arguing that we should base a monetary system on _that_.
From the perspective of a fiat currency serving as a store of value, Moon real estate is a great idea. The exact amount and location of it is available to anyone in the world; it's tamper-proof; and unlike regular paper money, it's difficult for it to be inflated.
And inflation imposes costs of its own just from adjustment and uneven inflation discourages investment on its own (holding debt comes to mind).
How about I counter with Bernard Baruch:
"Gold has worked down from Alexander's time ... When something holds good for two thousand years I do not believe it can be so because of prejudice or mistaken theory."
Astrology is older than 2000+ years and it is used by multiple cultures and races. Only recently that scientific advances have convinced a substantial percentage of population to think otherwise.
Example: I time travel back to 500AD, do some kind of service, get paid in gold and bury it in a specific place so I can retrieve it. Then in 2010 I get the gold - it has retained its value over that broad span of time.
Astrology - I use it in early September 2001 to predict a massive upheaval in US economy - I buy a bunch of short positions on September 9th, 2001 and make a boatload of money.
Gold doesn't buy derivatives it doesn't understand. Gold doesn't depend upon AAA ratings from government-sponsored cartels; gold can't be destroyed by gamblers or liars or cheats. 2000 years from now, it is highly unlikely that Buffet's empire will still exist in any form. Gold, however, will exist 2 billion years from now, just as it is today.
I have no positions one way or the other. Mainly because I don't plan on living 2 billion years. If I did though...
It might be true that they're doomed as long term investments, but if you buy a diamond for a fair price (e.g. at Blue Nile), I'd expect you to be able to turn around and sell it for >75% of what you paid.
One thing I like about wars is that they help thin out the human race. Hopefully one day, we will completely kill ourselves off; then I can finally be happy knowing that everyone alive will be thinking for themselves.
if you find a partner who doesn't want a diamond, then you are completely justified in not getting her one (just because she says she doesn't want one, doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't, though).
otherwise, the real value isn't in its intrinsic value, but in the various byproducts -- the signal it sends, how she's able to show it off to her friends (and will be expected to), the fact that she's likely been dreaming about it since childhood, etc.
just like any social norm, it doesn't always make sense. but by refusing to do something because you think it doesn't make sense, the real thing you're saying is that it's about your needs, not the other person's.
Really? Why, because you say so? Firstly, no girl "needs" a diamond. Secondly, doing things that don't make sense in order to please others has already been a cause of too much suffering in history already. Lastly, by insisting on having your partner spend a significant amount of money to buy you something that has no real value just so you can show off, the real thing you're saying is that it's about your needs, not the other person's.
It sounds quaint and old-fashioned, but a man should give everything to a woman he hopes to marry, and demand nothing in return, without worrying about whether or not it's sensible. It doesn't make sense until you realize that she only wants to do the same for you. She will commit to unconditional satisfaction of your wants, but you have to commit to hers as well, and saying "I would never buy you a diamond" sets up some major conditions.
It's not about the diamond. You can debate the diamond specifically (and btw, the showing-it-off part is where most of the worth lies) and you might win. It's about the debate, about having to discuss her wants in order to decide if they make sense. That is unromance.
It sounds quaint and old-fashioned, but a man should give everything to a woman he hopes to marry, and demand nothing in return, without worrying about whether or not it's sensible. It doesn't make sense until you realize that she only wants to do the same for you. She will commit to unconditional satisfaction of your wants.
This makes life seem even more meaningless than I usually think it is. One person does whatever he thinks the other person wants, in exchange for that in return. A silent existence devoid of interaction, sacrificing your happiness so that the other person is happy to sacrifice their happiness.
All that's left after this is reproduction. Is that all human relationships are about?
It is interesting how you do remember the what but not the how. They are going to wonder why do you say that, if that is an excuse for not doing something...
I have seen real master in action, that no matter what they say to girls is going to work. The secret? The how.
It reminds me of failed business venture by Kary Mullis the guy who got the nobel prize for PCR. He was going to create a business that would embed the cloned DNA of a celebrity or deceased ancestor into a piece of jewelry for a fee. While this business was unsuccessful I think that if people keep experimenting with this kind of thing someone will win big.
I'll readily admit to not knowing one bit of information about the wholesale or investment diamond markets, but given the picture painted, De Beers must have something really special going on.
"...in July 2000, when the famously secretive South African company announced it would stop its efforts to control the world’s diamond supply. In a glorious understatement, chairman Nicky Oppenheimer later explained the decision: 'As new sources of supply opened up—particularly in Canada—it became evident that that role could not be sustained.'"
The BHP Billiton group and Rio Tinto were big players in the Australian discovery mentioned near the end of the Atlantic article.
As I've heard it, when synthetic diamonds arrived on the market, it turned out that they had fewer impurities than natural diamonds. The cartel's advertising changed to emphasize the uniqueness of natural, "genuine" diamonds (which presumably have just the right number of flaws).
A 2003 Wired article on synthetic diamonds:
Personally, I got suckered into buying an engagement ring one time, but the engagement didn't take. After lots of searching, I was eventually able to sell the ring for half what I paid for it.
I used the money for gas and moved to California :)
The wheel of time turns, ages come and go.
While she likes diamonds, they are not her favorite gem stone. She ended up buying a very nice emerald ring with much smaller diamonds channel set on either side.
So when an anniversary approached, and I want to give her a bracelet, earrings, or some such item, diamonds don't even come into consideration.
While I don't preach my view to others, I have been asked a few times about gift ideas by other guys. I try to steer them away from diamonds, endeavoring to explain the scam for what it is.