diamonds are so pointless

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why are they valued so highly? Because they look nice? Other things look nice without the price tag, and without the massive industrial scale mining, and human cost of lives spent in mines.

Do you wear them? Why? Do you think this is a sexist issue? men mostly mine them and women mostly wear them. Why do so many millions of man hours go into something to adorn women?

I don’t think most folks buy it as an investment, more a heirloom or engagement ring, my engagement ring for insurance purposes has increased in value, for replacement, but it’s always been the case second hand for some stones is reduced, it depends on the quality.

value isn’t decreasing due to costume jewellery, it never will or has.

They're valuable thanks to advertising- "a diamond is forever"

I remember as a child the first time I saw a diamond, being crushingly disappointed - I had thought they would be glorious, instead of just white and boring!

I know this thread has been going a while bug what is the thinking on coloured stones? My engagement ring is a sapphire.

@MitskiMoo
It's all personal choice. People cans and should have whatever they want. It's always worth doing some research before you buy anything expensive.
I love sapphires but prefer not heat treated or chemically treated ones.

To be fair, they are actually quite pointy 😉

As jewellery I agree. Same could be said for expensive watches.

I've been married for 20 years and my diamond engagement ring was a 1930s antique. What should I do, throw it in the bin to be ethical? Pfft.

Agree, the replacement the price will be high but that's because they're assuming you will buy new. It's the equivalent of buying a sports car, once a diamond ring is "off the forecourt" it loses a lot of value. I think many people don't realise this.

And it is true that the market value of diamonds is reducing each year due to lab grown diamonds:
https://fortune.com/2023/09/03/diamond-demand-falling-lab-grown-stones-de-beers-cutting-cutting-prices/

Jewellery valuers are advising people to get a new valuation at least every couple of years to avoid the risk of being overinsured.

Jewellers cannot tell them apart with the naked eye, no. But they can with specialised equipment which detects the presence of nitrogen (mined diamonds contain traces of nitrogen, lab created ones don’t) and can detect minute differences in the way mined and lab diamonds reflect the spectrum. And I agree that the ethics don’t favour diamond mining, but that’s said from a first world point of view. Not so easy to brush it off when your livelihood depends on it.

Thank you. I'm older and it's not some huge rock. It was around a thousand pounds 30 years ago so hopefully it's real.

diamonds aren’t even rare. They are plentiful. If it wasn’t for de beers buying all the mines and controlling the supply they would be like topaz and be cheap. It’s such a scam. Plus they are a terrible investment. They lose value.

my engagement ring is a sapphire. I didn’t care if was natural or lab grown but dh wanted a real one 🙄. I’m a scientist on an atomic level they are identical to me. So I don’t see the point in natural. But anyway, it does have 2 small diamonds in it because it’s hard to find sapphires without the diamonds.