Note: Situations have changed. Pearlman’s Jewelers now charges a premium for man-made diamonds due to high demand by environmentally and politically-conscious consumers. So they are still 100% diamonds, still artificial, but no longer cheaper.
Yahoo provides a glowing review of Adia Diamonds, the new, laboratory-produced diamonds.
I see several reasons for purchasing these over traditional diamonds:
- They are identical to mined diamonds
- I’m not paying the artificially high price of De Beers cartel diamonds
- I’m no supporting the South African diamond-mine slave trade
- I’m not funding any wars against African tribes
- They are cheaper
Now, if I could only find a local retailer…
For more good reasons not to accept natural diamonds, check out the top ten reasons why you should never accept a diamond ring, and more information about how the De Beers corporations manufactures scarcity in Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond?.
Or…
These are also all good reasons to buy Canadian Diamonds.
“Canadian diamonds are the ethical, environmental and socially conscious diamond alternative to conflict African diamonds. Guaranteed conflict and bloodshed free, Canadian diamonds are the only pure, clean and ethical choice. All Canadian diamonds that Canada Diamonds Inc carries are mined in strict accordance to the social, environmental, and labour practices of Canada, strictly regulated by the Government of Canada.”
— Ben
The Netherlands
Or…for the price of a regular diamond, we could pay for a trip to Europe, stop in Holland and buy a really nice diamond ring for me for 1/3rd of the American price, even watch them cut it for me! Then tour Europe while we’re there. I wonder how many sky miles that would take. Hmmm….
BTW-I wouldn’t mind either kind!
—
Christy
Why Can’t They All Be Like Christy?
Oh Christy, why can’t they all be like you? (wistful sigh)…
I don’t understand the fascination with jewelry. I really don’t. I don’t understand woman’s historical love affair with paying gobs of bucks to wear polished rocks. They are rocks! They are hardened mollusk deposits! Where is the value?
I guess the value is like any other image item. Possession and adornment signifies a certain status in the world, and humans over time have felt the need to outshine each other with symbols of wealth. But you think that getting the same item for much less cost (Adia Diamonds) would be a proper substitution, right?
Wrong. I have found out from many women that they don’t want “inferior diamonds” because it could get appraised at lesser value. This is crazy talk to me. Who cares about an appraisal? You think you would be sitting down at some local bistro with the gals and over lunch have told hold hands and with a teary confession explain that the diamond ring worn is not a true diamond harvested in dark mines of Africa at the blood expense of slaves and marked up 5,000% on its cross-Atlantic journey but instead a chemically-produced diamond that, thanks to technology, was much cheaper and safer and this truth would ultimately be uncovered if someone had called for insurance documents detailing the true worth and can you ever be forgiven and allowed to continue in their circle of friendship?
I had to buy jewelry once in my life. I swore to Wife Unit that it was the first and last time I ever bought that crap.
Now, can I please get back to watching six hours of football on Sunday?
Walmart CZ = $10.
I also spent large and copious amounts of money for the engagement/wedding bling. I think it looked nice, and I didn’t mind doing it once. However, my wife and I agree we’d rather take the money we’d spend on such things and spend a nice week in the Caribbean floating in a pool sipping from drinks with umbrellas in them.
During the various pregnancies we’ve had, invariably the official bling will get a little tight due to swelling and such, so my wife has bought wedding looking CZ jewelry from Walmart. She gets more compliments on those than she does on the real thing. Seriously. They can’t believe her when she tells them it’s the Walmart special.
Isn’t the internet great? Hopefully it’ll topple the diamond cartel due to the spread of knowledge that the price is artificially inflated.
Maybe one day I will buy my kids a “grow your own diamonds” home chemistry kit. That would be cool.
My $.02 Weed
synthetic diamonds
Last year I paid 5k for a 1 carat engagement ring, and yes it was worth it. Then I discovered synthetic diamonds. I just bought my wife a 2 ctw stud earings. Cost was $150 at Nexus vs 10k on blue nile. There are more choices than nexus on line. Last week we saw 1 ctw studs at costco for 3k, my wife said no way, should I tell her the truth? The truth is that they are diamonds.
Nexus
I will agree that the nexus earrings are beautiful, but dont tell you wife where you got them because they are actually CZ. Real lab created diamonds are going to sell for about 75-80% of what mined diamonds go for per carat. Nexus diamonds are Diamond Simulants. Synthetic diamond is not the same as Diamond-like Carbon, DLC, which is amorphous hard carbon, or diamond imitation, which can be made of other materials such as cubic zirconia or silicon carbide. Don’t mean to burst your bubble, but if you want actual lab made diamonds, you need to shop companies like Apollo and Gemesis and those diamonds are still $1000+.
My 2 cents….
Chem Engineer
Thanks Chem engineer
I’ve done a bit of research and I have found the same thing with Nexus. I wouldn’t have a problem with Nexus if they weren’t being deceptive. Everything I’ve found praising the “lab-created” Nexus stone is related to their site.
Diamond Nexus Labs
How is your wife liking the Diamonds from Nexus Labs? I would like to buy a pair of earrings…I don’t understand the hype of them being “not the real thing”, how could they be at this low price! As long as they are beautiful, sparkling, and a well built pair of earrings. I feel I would be getting my $ worth. Thanks for any comments.
If they are artificial are
If they are artificial are they still called diamonds? I don’t think so… They are anything else but diamonds, what’s the use on wearing a fake one? Cheaper? Well diamonds are special and very much appreciated, besides the fact they are very beautiful and glamorous… I am not interested in fakes althogh I can’t afford yet a real diamond but I plan to put it on my bridal jewelry list.
EDIT by matthew: Modified spammish link to be less spammy.
True..
The percieved rarity of diamonds makes them “special” (although millions and millions of people have at least one).
Still, a good point is made re: the conditions of diamond mines and humanitarian issues. Is it worth it to have something indistinguishable from an Adia just because you feel more glamorous – especially if there is no percievable difference?
How many lives is glamour worth?
Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com
Submission…
I submit Adia diamonds are diamonds. 100%, no doubt about it. What they aren’t is blood diamonds or diamonds polished by indentured children.
On the plus side, steps have been taken over the past few years to limit the sale of diamonds purchased by bloodshed, or which finance war. I think that’s a good thing, but that without the pressure of lab-grown diamonds, some of these precautions would not have been taken.
On a personal note, I feel that diamonds are very overblown commodities. Practically no resale value, extremely high markup… Ugh, useless bling. On the other hand, my wife wants a new one for our 15th wedding anniversary, coming up in a couple of years. Time to start saving and putting my money where my mouth is on a lab-grown diamond.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
But I can’t find them!
Did Adia go out of business or something? I can find a million write-ups about them but I cannot find the site. Every time I click on a link it brings me to a page that says the website does not exist! Help me!!! Patty
Rebranded
Adia was spawned originally as a joint venture between Advanced Optical Technologices Corporation and Pearlman’s Jewelers. For reasons unknown to me, they dropped the Adia brand name and now market online through the name D.NEA. If you buy from D.NEA, however, I believe you are actually shipped the jewelery through Pearlman’s Jewelers.
Too bad they didn’t stick with their brand; they got a lot of positive press, and their three-year-old startup artificial diamond company is already very profitable…
—
Matthew P. Barnson
D.NEA / Adia
I am the CEO of D.NEA and we are the retail front-end for AOTC. We originally sold our diamonds as “Adia Diamonds”, but came across some legal issues with that name. In early 2008, we re-branded as D.NEA, with a stronger emphasis on jewelry. At one point in the past we were affiliated with Pearlman’s Jewelers, but are not any more.
To address a couple questions above, our customers have no problem insuring lab-created diamonds. They hold their value and we offer lifetime trade-up and buy-back policies to assure you they will.
The technology to grow diamonds has been around for over 50 years, but it has taken that long to reach the quality and sizes we are at today. It is a very capital intensive process and will take a long time until capacity even comes close to the mined industry. It is a great fit for high-tech, eco-friendly, conflict-free, anti-mined diamond people or people that want affordable colored diamonds. Lab-diamonds won’t “topple” the mined industry, but rather should co-exist peacefully.