These are not fake or copy-cat stones. They are real diamonds, having been designated that way. They are exactly like the stones dug out of mines. I have a pair and they are truly lovely and boy do they sparkle!

can't afford or go into debt to buy jewelry or cars to impress other people. As for me, If I like someone, I don't want or need to impress them. It was only people that I, deep down didn't like, that I felt I needed to impress.

After I figured that out, I stopped buying expensive cars, clothing or whatever. My car is a utilitarian Hyundai Elantra and it gets me from point A to point B just as good as any Beemer or Ferrari on the road.

purchase it because they like it?

and even today in some cultures, it's literally used as currency for financial transactions.

Hell, the "sell your gold (including jewelry) for cash" is a "thing", with roving "road shows".

Necklaces - cover my bare chest
Dangling earring look cool and match my outfits

I buy cheap stuff

look, look! at what I have!'.

This materialistic society needs to disappear and realize what's really important in the 'real world'.

It's too bad that material objects are obsessing so many people.

in this "real world". And who defines that reality? Based on what criteria? When I was in high school, I heard reality defined as "an agreed-upon fiction". So what should those who do not agree to the fiction do?

I only have some with semi-precious stones or water pearls. Others are only metal, or with glass, wood, ceramics etc

Even on some rare occasion to impress people; basically it's because I enjoy the way they look.

And I make my own jewelry, too.

and other artists. I loved every minute of it.

I'm a long time artist, and craftswoman and always interested in others' creative pursuits.

I have a whole stash of beads, crystals, chains, wiring, findings. A friend has suggested that we have a crafting party. .a group of us, our stashes, and our bubbly!

I used to do photography and sewing. Had a lot of fun doing period costumes. Fortunately, I was not part of the SCA!

The same reason many people buy, or create, other kinds of art, music, etc. What an iincredibly negative view of human endeavors your posts seem to indicate. How very, very sad.

You may be quite practical - but even a jewelry wearer can be practical.

There is an episode from the original Mission: Impossible TV series where the team created a fake operation that supposedly held the key to manufacturing diamonds. I did not see that episode until about 5 years ago, when manufactured diamonds were commonplace, and about 1/3 the cost (and better quality) of mined stones.

There was a Twilight Zone episode where a gang of crooks stole a huge number of gold bars, and put themselves into suspended animation inside a cave for 100 years, thinking they would awake long after everybody had forgotten about the gold theft, and they would be filthy rich. The plot twist was that, in the meantime, a process had been invented to make unlimited supplies of gold cheap.

F Elon Musk, DeBeers, and all those Apartheid bastards. Let them go out of business.

I think older stones at an antique store are alright, as they've already been mined and sold before. But don't buy from any new diamonds from jewelry stores or other new diamond retailers. They're called blood diamonds for a reason--the horrific conditions for the miners and their families.

I like jewelry. I also like diamonds. They are pretty. I inherited mine, they were my grandmother’s.

My engagement ring is a sapphire. Like Diana’s. Only smaller.

My husband just bid on a pair of tiny diamond studs at a silent auction for an organization that he sits on the board. They are smaller than my other studs, so good for every day, and I can sleep in them. His winning bid was half the retail price.

DeBeers has been controlling that market for decades.

an expensive luxury item, desired by women around the world. Marketing genius.

There are many gemstones that are actually rare and they command extraordinary prices.

wedding rings, because the stones were so abundant that prices kept falling. Smuggling of diamonds in pockets, mouths, and body cavities brought the prices even lower, since the smugglers were often poor laborers desperate for a quick sale. Rhodes and his allies, incorporated as DeBeers, bought every mining concession they could (each being only a few feet wide) until they controlled the majority of the market, then began to squeeze everyone else out, so that profit margins were pushed higher and higher.

Early stage of mining in Kimberly. Each claimant measured out a square or rectangular plot and began digging straight down, from one edge to the opposite. Faster diggers quickly made deeper holes -- and anything that tumbled down into them from one of the slower diggers became their property.


A later stage of mining in "The Big Hole". Each rope corresponds to a claim -- buckets were hauled up the ropes from the ever-lower dig sites to screening stations above ground.


Today, "The Big Hole" is abandoned and partially filled with water. It is believed to be the deepest hole ever dug by hand.

Described in considerable detail in Rhodes' bio: https://archive.org/details/foundercecilrhod0000rotb_p0z9/mode/2up

It’s a scam to make men feel guilty and girls to expect too much based an exploitative and corrupt industry. Water should be valued over diamonds and yet, we have a
Warped view of value. Besides, wearing a ring is a pain, gross on you hands, etc..

A ring means nothing but marketing. Had one for my first marriage and it lasted less than two year. The “no ring” relationship has been going strong for decades.

Manufactured is the way to go if you must have one
And the technology has improved greatly since the days of cubic zirconium.

My then-fiance and I did like the idea of a lost-wax ring, and that's what we got for me. It was made by a local artisan who was probably a student at the local college.

See?



I'm still wearing it and we've been married for 61 years.

I hope it's comfortable to wear, it looks like it would be.....

I appreciate your kindness. And it is very comfortable to wear.

My mom while in Denver at a hospital to receive newer asthma treatments
she wasn't "sick" pe se, as in acute crisis, but her doctor heard about the opportunity to go there.
Anyway, at one point she did a lost-wax ring in sterling silver, somewhat like yours more curves in the interior openings. I loved it! Unfortunately, later after she came back we think a caregiver stole it because one day it was gone. And we're not people who were/are the suspicious thinking types in general.