Man-made diamonds could rock gem sales

The Indianapolis Star ^ | February 8, 2004 | John Stehr

[Samwise]

Gary Thrapp has studied countless diamonds in his 30-year career, but he never has seen one like this.

"It looks flawless," says the Indianapolis jeweler.

What he has in front of his jeweler's loupe is not the product of millions of years of nature, but a couple of hours in a laboratory.

[Samwise]

I wonder what Marilyn Monroe would say.

[Frohickey]

Bryant Linares, and Apollo Diamonds better have very very good bodyguards, cuz I think DeBeers might put a hit out on him if he doesn't cease and desist.

[Publius6961]

Gemologist Mike Nealon of Master Jewelers in Castleton put it this way: "Most people, I think ladies especially, are not going to want a simulated stone. They're going to want the real thing."

Now there is a "professional" that comes off sounding like a used car salesman (with apologies to used car salesmen).
If chemically and physically (hardness, index of refraction, etc.) it is indistinguishable from a "natural" diamond then it is the "real" thing!

[Tax Government]

"Most people, I think ladies especially, are not going to want a simulated stone. They're going to want the real thing."

Joke! Joke! Affordable jewelry bump!

[Tax Government]

Now, the status thing will not be to have "a" diamond, but to have the BIGGEST, multi-dozen-carat diamond. The race is on!

[Ronin]

I am predicting a large, explosive fire in an otherwise sleepy industrial park in the near future. Followed by the unexplained disappearance for several of the areas industrial scientists.

This is DeBeers' worst nightmare come true, and they have had a long time to plan for what to do when it happens.

[dogbyte12]

about time. 100 years of Debeers monopoly is enough. I hope this guy gets undercut as well. There are rumors that I believe, that Debeers is literally sitting on millions and millions of diamonds, only carefully doling them out in order to inflate the market value.

Sorry ladies. $20,000 or $200 for an exact diamond? Hmmm... perhaps that $20,000 would be better spent on a down payment for a house.

[Odyssey-x]

Buy a platinum ring instead... Platinum went from $650 to $850 an ounce this year.

[tbird5]

They make pearls under controlled conditions. Why not diamonds.

[TommyUdo]

"Apollo plans to sell its man-made diamonds at 30 percent less than natural diamonds"

File this under "Famous Marketing Mistakes."

[BossLady]

True! And most of the rubies, sapphires and emeralds you see in the Kay Jewelers etc ads are lab grown as well when one reads the very fine print....;)

[evolved_rage]

The result is a more perfect diamond than nature can create, but jewelers say that doesn't mean they will be marketable. Indianapolis jeweler Thrapp says the value of a diamond goes far beyond its beauty.

More perfect! Excellent. A lot better than mined crap with all those imperfections or dirt embedded in them. Probably harder too.

[martin_fierro]

I wonder what Marilyn Monroe would say.

I know what Pamela Anderson would say:

"Fake diamonds? Hey, who am I to complain?"

[BiffWondercat]

I heard that they had cut a deal with the Russians after they threatened to open the vaults and flood the markets.

Still, I don't shed a tear for De Beer's!

[Othniel]

There was an article in some magazine years ago about some guy who made diamonds in his garage with a welding torch, a ceramic crucible, and leftover Chinese food. He would put the grub in the crucible, heat it up until the unwanted elements burned away and he was left with nothing but carbon, then cooked it gently until it crystallized. He ended up with good quality industrial diamonds. I would love to see the DeBeers monopoly smashed. These guys should make tons of lab diamonds, then flood the market with them, forcing the price down. They should also start making diamonds that dwarf Liz Taylor's stones, showing that natural has it's limits.

Can't wait.

[ClearCase_guy]

This will do VERY interestign things to Africa.

[dogbyte12]

I am wondering about the science applications as well. Don't they use diamonds in some laser configurations? There is research involved with diamonds I know. This should lower costs in that regards, especially since these "diamonds" are flawless.

[dpwiener]

I hope this guy gets undercut as well. There are rumors that I believe, that Debeers is literally sitting on millions and millions of diamonds, only carefully doling them out in order to inflate the market value.

Notice that this guy doesn't want to see a price crash either. He says he'll price his man-made diamonds at 30% below the current market levels. The reality is that man-made diamonds will probably cost a tiny fraction of that to manufacture. Unless this guy has a really strong patent, or better yet a trade secret that can't be reverse-engineered, he'll eventually see cheap diamonds flood the market and become a commodity item that costs little more than glass.

I'd love it if diamonds ceased to be an artificially-inflated luxury item and instead were cheap enough to exploit for industrial uses and cutting edges and surface hardeners, etc., etc.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

LOL It's about time someone breaks the De Beers stranglehold on the diamond market. They say if not for them withholding diamonds, diamonds would be cheap gemstones.