As a woman, before I got married, I also hoped to receive a diamond ring with oversized carats like the heroine in the TV series, but when it came time to choose jewelry for marriage, I chose traditional "hardware" and ordinary pairing rings.
My love for diamonds has declined dramatically, and there are not a few people like me who have changed their hearts. In recent years, most women's crazy love of jewelry has shifted from diamonds to gold.
Diamonds, once regarded as "wedding essentials" because of their scarcity, purity and eternity, now with the popularity of man-made diamonds, people can achieve "carat freedom" at a lower price.
In this process, Zhecheng, the county seat of Henan, China, can be said to have made an indispensable contribution!
Zhecheng is known as the diamond capital of China, and according to the survey, the global lab-grown diamond in 2021 was 9 million carats, and Zhecheng produced about 44.4%, and its price was 1/3 of natural diamonds. Compared with natural diamond rings on the market, the price of 30 cents is generally between 6,000 and 20,000, while 1 carat is generally between 50,000 and 200,000. This is still a relatively civilian diamond ring, if it is a collection-level natural diamond ring, the price may be hundreds of millions of levels.
The first machines for synthesizing man-made diamonds
The same diamond, why is the price so different?
In terms of quality, the two are completely identical in terms of chemistry, physics and structure, internationally recognized that lab-grown diamonds are also a kind of diamond, they are only formed in different ways, in general, it is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, only through special instruments, some will indicate on the identification report whether it is synthetic.
Natural diamonds are mined from ore, and carbon is formed into a single carbon crystal after long-term high temperature and high pressure in the earth's interior. There are more than three dozen proven diamond mining countries in the world, with the largest reserves being Australia, but the most famous being South Africa. China's reserves rank tenth, mainly distributed in Liaoning, Shandong and Hunan, the best quality is Liaoning, and the larger one is Shandong.
Artificial diamonds, also known as lab-grown diamonds and grown diamonds. Gu Mingsi was grown or planted in the laboratory.
Diamonds produced in Henan use a six-sided top press, about one or two million units, which place graphite powder and other raw materials, and convert graphite powder into diamonds under high temperature and pressure, which is also called high temperature and high pressure method (HTHP method).
Another common method is chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which is generally used to make square diamonds.
In general, for the public, lab-grown diamonds are more accessible because they are of similar quality to natural diamonds, but they are cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and most importantly, they are not subject to moral pressure like natural diamonds.
But if it is a collection, natural diamonds are collectible because large, good-quality natural diamonds are scarce and unique.
Why are natural diamonds so expensive?
There is a big misconception about diamonds, thinking that diamonds are rare, but in fact, diamond reserves are staggering.
The world's proven diamond reserves are 2.5 billion carats, and annual production can reach 100 million carats. And studies have shown that there are more diamonds in the earth's interior, totaling up to 1,000 trillion tons, which is not scarce.
It is worth mentioning that diamonds are not indestructible either, it cannot represent eternity.
Diamond is currently the hardest natural substance in the world, but it is not very tough, it is very brittle, and it can be broken with a hammer.
Hard and tough are two concepts, simply put: a diamond is hard and will scratch an iron hammer, but it can also be smashed by an iron hammer.
Neither rare nor eternal, so why are diamonds so expensive? If you have briefly analyzed the history of diamonds, there is only one reason - marketing.
1. Scarcity starting price
In the beginning, it was indeed because diamonds were relatively scarce and sought after by the royal family, so they were expensive.
However, by 1870, when a very large diamond mine was discovered in South Africa, diamonds ceased to be rare and their prices naturally declined. But in order to protect their own interests, the merchants of the time established the De Beers Company and began to control the mining and sale of diamonds. In this way, the illusion of diamond scarcity is artificially created to ensure that the diamond does not drop in price.
To this day, many people around the world still believe that diamonds are a scarce resource.
2. Represents eternal love propaganda
To ensure that diamonds would continue to sell, De Beers began adding cultural value to diamonds.
At the beginning, the idea was that diamonds are a gift of love, and if you love her, you have to give her a diamond, and the bigger the diamond, the more love.
Through such advertising, diamonds are associated with romantic love, and sales have soared, increasing by 55%.
When diamond sales went up, businessmen worried that someone would buy and sell diamonds second-hand and cause prices to drop, so they came up with a very classic and famous propaganda slogan: A Diamond Is Forever.
Slowly, diamonds became a necessary item for engagement or marriage, and many people were willing to pay three months' salary to buy diamond rings because it was a testimony to their love.
To this day, even though we know that diamonds can be man-made and that diamonds are overpackaged, she is very happy and surprised when a girl receives a diamond ring. This proves once again that the marketing of diamonds is very successful.
New marketing: columbarium diamonds
The emergence of lab-grown diamonds has made everyone see the essence of diamonds, and they thought that carat freedom could be achieved, but in reality another kind of marketing is popular.
I have popularized the ashes before the cremation of the remains, and the ashes after the cremation of the body are a mixture from a scientific point of view, the main component is calcium phosphate, mixed with a small amount of other minerals.
Ashes diamonds are the collection of carbon in ashes to make diamonds, using HTHP technology, its development history, in fact, is the history of the development of lab-grown diamonds.
Ashes diamonds are more troublesome than lab-grown diamonds, more steps to collect carbon and purify carbon, with the development of science and technology, after 3 technological reforms, after 2009, it has been technically possible to make diamonds for pet ashes, as long as 100-150g of ashes are provided, diamonds can be synthesized, and the color of diamonds can be selected.
Price for reference
Ashes diamonds held signs with the slogan "Let the Lost Life Stay with Us Forever" and quickly became popular in the pet world.
However, this kind of diamond, which is more technical and has a high sentimental value, is very expensive, not only more expensive than ordinary lab-grown diamonds, but even more expensive than natural diamonds, and the price of 1 carat is about 160,000.
Even so, many people will still make diamonds for their pets, and if the pet is still alive, they will make DNA diamonds from the hair of their pets.
However, some people expressed incomprehension, believing that ashes diamonds were a gimmick to raise the price of lab-grown diamonds.
Only 10% of the carbon in the ashes diamond is extracted from the ashes, the rest is additional, not very "pure", and the price is much higher than ordinary lab-grown diamonds, and most importantly, buyers cannot guarantee that the diamond they get is extracted from the ashes of their favorite pets.
At last
I think diamonds are a commodity, and if they are commodities, they will be packaged. Diamonds are successful because merchants tell a very romantic love story.
You can look at diamonds very rationally, as for whether to buy or not, it depends on the economic situation and the attitude of the other half.