Timeline for Is it true that the price of diamonds is based on a monopoly?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
27 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2017 at 10:15 | comment | added | pjc50 | Probably also worth mentioning Moissanite here; to the lay person visually indistinguishable from diamond, although there are little electric testers that jewellers and pawnbrokers use to verify diamonds vs moissanite. Excellent option if you just want a shiny thing, rather than a wearable Veblen good. | |
| May 21, 2017 at 6:24 | comment | added | user1995 | its amazing how the DeBeers page on the 'A Diamond is Forever' campaign shows it as an acheivement, when it is a carefully orchestrated brainwashing! | |
| May 19, 2017 at 23:56 | comment | added | Mindwin Remember Monica | @stannius from the other answers, anything at all. Hooray for stagnation | |
| May 19, 2017 at 16:28 | comment | added | Spehro 'speff' Pefhany | You might want to mention the very successful De Beers advertising campaign that established the "proper" price of an engagement ring at x months salary. Three is what I recall for X. That did not per se establish a price for given diamonds but it created a market of young men willing to go into debt to purchase very expensive rings in order to propagate their DNA. | |
| May 19, 2017 at 16:20 | comment | added | stannius | @Mindwin that article is 35 years old! While it's definitely an interesting read, I am not sure it tells us that much about the current state of the diamond business. | |
| May 18, 2017 at 20:03 | comment | added | Rozwel | @xiaomy Even 15-20 years ago, synthetic gems were of quality that experienced jewelers could not tell them apart reliably. One story I came across while researching the topic was a journalist presenting synthetic stones to a dealer, and asking him if he could tell that they were synthetic. The only thing the dealer could come up with was that they were "too perfect". The situation was bad enough that DeBeers spent a significant amount of money developing machines that could detect the trace residues from the synthesizing process, and gave them to jewelers for free. | |
| May 18, 2017 at 17:18 | history | edited | NL - SE listen to your users | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 454 characters in body
|
| May 18, 2017 at 15:05 | comment | added | SnakeDoc | You should mention the big "Diamonds are Forever" marketing campaigns De Beers ran, which resulted in people's desire for diamonds on wedding rings, etc. Prior to that, it wasn't uncommon to have other precious gemstones in place of diamonds. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 21:35 | history | edited | NL - SE listen to your users | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 132 characters in body
|
| May 17, 2017 at 21:15 | comment | added | NL - SE listen to your users | Let us continue this discussion in chat. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 21:11 | comment | added | Hart CO | I'd disagree there, what happens when OPEC cuts production? Other producers ramp up production. Prices come back down, and OPEC has even less short-term influence than it had previously. When talking about controlling a market and inflating prices, short-term is almost meaningless. DeBeers had great control of prices when they controlled 90% of the market, but currently the market is mostly controlling prices. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 21:02 | comment | added | NL - SE listen to your users | I don't disagree about long-term influence, but short-term influence is the whole point. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 21:00 | comment | added | Hart CO | @NathanL I'm definitely saying that, we've seen great examples of this in the oil and gas industry over the last decade+, they have a decent amount of very short-term influence, quite limited long-term influence. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 20:51 | comment | added | NL - SE listen to your users | @HartCO OPEC is responsible for 40% of oil production, are you suggesting 40% isn't enough market share to influence prices significantly? | |
| May 17, 2017 at 20:46 | comment | added | Hart CO | There's very little barrier to entry for purchasing diamonds and while there is for production, production is declining greatly, either way, big difference over the last 20 years, they're not really a cartel anymore, and they can't influence prices very much. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 20:37 | comment | added | NL - SE listen to your users | @HartCO the decision of Australia certainly reduced their influence, but given the regulations in place from the UN, there are still barriers to entry for new players, and De Beers is still the largest player with outsize influence despite the loss of outright control. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 20:28 | comment | added | Hart CO | DeBeers has about 30-40% of the production/purchasing market. Their influence has greatly diminished over the last 20+ years. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 18:46 | comment | added | Christopher King | @xiaomy most people buy diamonds for sentimental reasons. Whether or not natural diamonds better fulfill those reasons is up for debate. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 18:32 | vote | accept | Weckar E. | ||
| May 17, 2017 at 17:15 | comment | added | Mindwin Remember Monica | @xiaomy Have you ever tried to sell a diamond? - The Atlantic 1982 | |
| May 17, 2017 at 17:10 | comment | added | xiaomy | @Mindwin That makes a lot of sense. I suppose for an informed and rational buyer, it would then be a rather easy choice between natural and synthetic diamonds. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 16:25 | comment | added | Mindwin Remember Monica | @xiaomy the real answer is marketing. A synthetic diamond is chemically equal to a natural diamond, has less flaws, but is not a natural diamond, therefore the very monopoly that inflates the value of their stones push down the price of the synthetic ones. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 14:44 | history | edited | NL - SE listen to your users | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 416 characters in body
|
| May 17, 2017 at 14:39 | comment | added | NL - SE listen to your users | @xiaomy I think it's safe to say the average person cannot tell the difference with the naked eye if there is no reference to compare, but when you look at a 3 carat synthetic diamond next to a 3 carat natural diamond side by side, you might be able to spot the synthetic one with the naked eye. | |
| May 17, 2017 at 14:27 | comment | added | xiaomy | Interesting fact about man-made diamonds. So they are cheaper and better than natural ones? What prevents their price from rising? You can't tell them apart with the naked eye, can you? | |
| May 17, 2017 at 14:18 | history | edited | NL - SE listen to your users | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 63 characters in body
|
| May 17, 2017 at 14:02 | history | answered | NL - SE listen to your users | CC BY-SA 3.0 |