<story><title>Diamonds Keep Getting Cheaper</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-13/the-problem-with-diamonds-is-they-keep-getting-cheaper</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rossdavidh</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s not the marketing.  It&amp;#x27;s the fact that it&amp;#x27;s what biologists call expensive signaling.  You are spending money, not on a trip that you both enjoy, but on a ring that really only she enjoys.  This is an expensive (therefore hard to fake) signal that you care about how she feels.&lt;p&gt;Now, imagine that the diamond is cheaper.  It is no longer an expensive signal.  Therefore, although the diamond is the same, it no longer serves the same purpose.  So, the cheaper diamonds get, the less demand there is from prospective brides, even if only marginally.  This fuels further declines, although that is probably already happening due to better industrial diamonds.&lt;p&gt;This takes time, of course.  But that also means it has a lot of momentum.  As the price decline continues, and the word of that spreads, it will accelerate.</text></item><item><author>puranjay</author><text>My wife is a very pragmatic, smart and pragmatic person. But even then she couldn&amp;#x27;t be convinced not to get a diamond. She was happy skipping the honeymoon and reducing wedding expenses, but the diamond was a no go.&lt;p&gt;The marketing is too strong.</text></item><item><author>chadmeister</author><text>I bought a good quality moissanite stone for an engagement ring for 2% of the price of an equivalent diamond and not a single person who has seen it has ever thought it was anything but a diamond. My wife gets compliments on it all the time. &amp;quot;What a beautiful diamond!&amp;quot; Every jeweler who has cleaned it has thought it was a diamond. The only one who could distinguish it had to use a thermal conductivity gun to do so. Buying diamonds for jewelry is honestly really dumb at this point. I effectively saved $20,000 USD going this route and no one is the wiser, execpt my wife of course :)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>im3w1l</author><text>I think explaining it as &lt;i&gt;just&lt;/i&gt; signalling is taking a too narrow view of it.&lt;p&gt;Having a diamond wedding ring is like having a turkey for thanksgiving. That&amp;#x27;s just the way it&amp;#x27;s done. It&amp;#x27;s a part of the culture, maybe you could even say there are religious elements to it.&lt;p&gt;And that was achieved through marketing.</text></comment>
<story><title>Diamonds Keep Getting Cheaper</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-13/the-problem-with-diamonds-is-they-keep-getting-cheaper</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rossdavidh</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s not the marketing.  It&amp;#x27;s the fact that it&amp;#x27;s what biologists call expensive signaling.  You are spending money, not on a trip that you both enjoy, but on a ring that really only she enjoys.  This is an expensive (therefore hard to fake) signal that you care about how she feels.&lt;p&gt;Now, imagine that the diamond is cheaper.  It is no longer an expensive signal.  Therefore, although the diamond is the same, it no longer serves the same purpose.  So, the cheaper diamonds get, the less demand there is from prospective brides, even if only marginally.  This fuels further declines, although that is probably already happening due to better industrial diamonds.&lt;p&gt;This takes time, of course.  But that also means it has a lot of momentum.  As the price decline continues, and the word of that spreads, it will accelerate.</text></item><item><author>puranjay</author><text>My wife is a very pragmatic, smart and pragmatic person. But even then she couldn&amp;#x27;t be convinced not to get a diamond. She was happy skipping the honeymoon and reducing wedding expenses, but the diamond was a no go.&lt;p&gt;The marketing is too strong.</text></item><item><author>chadmeister</author><text>I bought a good quality moissanite stone for an engagement ring for 2% of the price of an equivalent diamond and not a single person who has seen it has ever thought it was anything but a diamond. My wife gets compliments on it all the time. &amp;quot;What a beautiful diamond!&amp;quot; Every jeweler who has cleaned it has thought it was a diamond. The only one who could distinguish it had to use a thermal conductivity gun to do so. Buying diamonds for jewelry is honestly really dumb at this point. I effectively saved $20,000 USD going this route and no one is the wiser, execpt my wife of course :)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>standardUser</author><text>This reminds me of the popular idea of &amp;quot;love languages&amp;quot;. I was always baffled by the idea that some people considered &amp;quot;gifts&amp;quot; to be the most important way to express love. But diamond rings seem to fit this paradigm perfectly.</text></comment>