My husband worked for quite a few years in the fine jewelry business before getting involved in the field of vision care. He has recently had some concern over the state of the diamond industry. He suggested I write a post about it. I suggested he write something and he did. This is that.

No one is all that excited about man-made rubies, sapphires or emeralds even though they are the same composition as the real thing. So what is it about manufactured diamonds that has everyone so excited?

Is it because diamonds are a status symbol?  And if you can get a manufactured diamond that is four or five times the size of the genuine, dug out of the ground, one that you can actually afford, that would be a strong motivation. And a big selling point.  All you have to do to make money is buy the machine to make diamonds and right now you can make a lot of money.  It is like a legal ticket to print money … until the inflation happens.

What happens in the future when so many companies manufacture diamonds that the price goes down and down? So you paid $5000 for your man-made diamond that at some point in the future will only cost $500. Most people would expect a diamond to go up in value. But that is not likely to be the case with man-made diamonds. And what is that likely to do to the value of genuine diamonds? Since people seem so hot to buy man-made diamonds right now the price of genuine diamonds has gone down. When demand is low and supply remains the same, prices pretty much have to drop.

Maybe in the future you will be able to pick up a used diamond making machine for cheap once the excitement has worn off.  Then the man-made diamonds will get even cheaper. And consider that in the future large genuine diamonds will be suspect when people look at them because they figure they are manufactured.

Will small real diamonds become the rage? I don’t know but we do all know how inflation works, and supply and demand. To me, it just does not make sense. Why not just get a large diamond substitute like a cubic zirconia or a moissanite?  Especially since the moissanite looks like a diamond in large sizes. I’m not promoting moissanites in particular, but (case in point) they used to be very expensive when they first came out and now they are quite the bargain because of supply. The same thing will inevitably happen with manufactured diamonds.

“A life lived well is like a diamond. It starts our rough and dirty and unrefined. With some diligence and work and time, it can become a shining gem.”

Courtesy of lapidarygirl