Quote Originally Posted by Barbara View Post
As times passed the wedding bands became more eleborate. And within the last ten years the US fashion has taken over, fuelled by TV shows I suppose. Now women - especially of the more wealthy classes- get that 3-salaries-diamond for engagement and wear it with the wedding band later.
Here they have very strong marketing campaigns that is led by Zales, Kaye and another diamond company-

One commercial is about women who get a text message from another woman-The woman texts the message that the man took her to a very classy restaurant-the next text says something about the jewelry store he went to-apparently to purchase the engagement ring.

Now they have rings that are graded by color-some rings are laser engraved with their 'purity' and grade. There is also supposed to be certificates stating that the diamonds did not originate in countries known for their black market mining operations.

One story that really made me wonder about the worth of a diamond was from a talk show host that made a statement about the price and availability of diamonds across the world.

He made he assertion that the diamond cartels own warehouses of diamonds and if all the stones were put into circulation the net worth would plunge dramatically.

I can see where the purity and color of stones can affect the price but aren't they all just old carbon?