exchemist
Valued Senior Member
There is a long piece in today's Financial Times about the enormous strides made by the Chinese (who else?) is the manufacture of gem quality synthetic diamonds. They are now churning these out at such a rate than the price has collapsed to the point that the gold ring of an engagement ring can cost more than the diamond it holds. De Beers and the rest of the mined diamond business are in serious trouble, apparently. The diamonds are mostly grown in a high pressure, high temperature process, although to grow larger crystals (>3 carat, approx 9mm diameter) they are starting to use a vapour deposition process.
To give you an idea, the retail price of a 3 carat flawless synthetic diamond in 2020 was ~$30k. Today it is $4k. At the end of 2024, De Beers was sitting on $2bn worth of unsold stock.
All this brings diamond jewellery within the grasp of a far larger group of people and could transform - enhance, I suppose - the jewellery trade as more people aspire to own a diamond ring or even necklace. Perhaps too it will be no bad thing to bring to an end the disfigurement of the landscape and the harsh working conditions of the diamond mines. It will give the smugglers a problem too.
Funny how we get these changes. I remember as a child when salmon and chicken were luxury foods. Now they are staples in the supermarket. (Salmon actually has gone through a full cycle, having been the food of peasants in the Middle Ages, according to my son - salmon with sorrel sauce).
Perhaps we see something similar happening in the rarified world of jewellery, amazingly. Too late for my generation, but not for whoever my son may want to buy a ring for.
To give you an idea, the retail price of a 3 carat flawless synthetic diamond in 2020 was ~$30k. Today it is $4k. At the end of 2024, De Beers was sitting on $2bn worth of unsold stock.
All this brings diamond jewellery within the grasp of a far larger group of people and could transform - enhance, I suppose - the jewellery trade as more people aspire to own a diamond ring or even necklace. Perhaps too it will be no bad thing to bring to an end the disfigurement of the landscape and the harsh working conditions of the diamond mines. It will give the smugglers a problem too.
Funny how we get these changes. I remember as a child when salmon and chicken were luxury foods. Now they are staples in the supermarket. (Salmon actually has gone through a full cycle, having been the food of peasants in the Middle Ages, according to my son - salmon with sorrel sauce).
Perhaps we see something similar happening in the rarified world of jewellery, amazingly. Too late for my generation, but not for whoever my son may want to buy a ring for.
