It’s like saying people will stop buying branded clothes because unbranded clothes have the same or even a higher quality for a fraction of the price.

People buy inferior, counterfeit merchandise all the time because they can't tell the difference.

But there is nothing inferior or counterfeit about a manmade diamond. It is *exactly* the same material as a natural one.

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cantor_S_drug 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Also, people who pay extra for the same quality just for status signalling should be called fools. This is exactly what Chinese tiktokers did when the trade war started.

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shvdle 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You miss the point. The only reason to buy a diamond is that it is expensive. It doesn’t matter if you could buy the same thing cheaper. It doesn’t matter that there are better gems that are cheaper. You buy the diamond to show that you can afford it. You buy someone a diamond to prove how much they are worth to you.

Yes, you can buy a man-made diamond the same you can buy counterfeit branded clothes. That only shows that you’re tasteless and that you can’t afford the real thing.

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xhkkffbf 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

If you like, I will sell you a personally autographed photo of me. All for $1m cash. That's much more expensive than a diamond. Anyone who buys this for their new wife will prove that he REALLY loves her. $1m>>$35000.

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jqpabc123 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You miss the point.

If it is strictly about the money, a larger man made diamond can easily cost just as much as a smaller natural one --- while instantly conveying to the untrained eye the appearance of being more expensive.

	▲	michaelt 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		I suspect there is pressure in the opposite direction these days. If you see someone wearing a 6-carat diamond, you know it's either a $100,000 natural diamond, or a $4,000 lab-grown diamond. And you'll assume it's the latter, as far more people can afford the latter. On the other hand, a 1-carat diamond would be more like $2000 natural, $300 lab-grown, making it far more believable that it was natural.