About Those Diamonds — Aug. 3, 2025
Dune Sunset, Asilomar Beach — Sept. 2024 photo
“For as long as humans have been conscious, we’ve prized something precious and rare.” – Al Cook, DeBeers chief executive
I’ve learned a lot about diamonds while writing my novel, Perfect Optics, and decided to share some tibits. So here goes.
A diamond mined from the earth currently costs about five times as much as one grown in a lab. Lab-grown diamonds, formed in days or weeks, are one hundred percent carbon, the same as diamonds formed deep within the earth’s mantle over millions of years. They have the same structure, the same durability, the same brilliance. Consumers are paying more for mined diamonds, not for the quality of the stone, but for how and where it was formed.
Advertising played an important role. From the 1947 slogan “Diamonds are Forever,” to a 2024 ad referring to mined diamonds as “Worth the Wait”, those controlling the sale of mined diamonds have positioned the stones for romantic resonance.
The takeover of some diamond mines and the trading of its stones to support civil war in the 1990s tainted that carefully nurtured image and provided an opening for the sale of the manufactured variety. In the beginning, the campaign against “blood diamonds” attracted a niche clientele, but now some three decades later, lab-grown diamonds have become mainstream as well. Last year more than half the engagement rings sold in the US had a lab-grown diamond, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. So, for those who dedicated themselves to the development of the lab-grown variety, like the protagonist of my novel, did things turn out as they hoped? Stay tuned for more . . .
The info above is from a July 15, 2025 article in the Wall Street Journal: Are Diamonds a Luxury Anymore? De Beers Reckons with Price Plunge by Jenny Strasburg and Suzanne Kapner.
