Why are diamonds worth so much money???

Question

...tom science

Answer 1

rare

Answer 2

All of you who think that it's because "Debeers owns the market" are partially right. He doesn't just own the market, he rules it. My dad's uncle is in the diamond buisiness in Australia and brought my dad a bag of diamonds to prove a point. He spread them over the table and said "If Debeers lost control over the market, all of these would be worth the food on the table." (And no my dad didn't get any diamonds). Not only does Debeers control the market, he kills anyone who gets in his way, and brutally controls his employees. Diamond theft is big, so these mines are heavily guarded. Diamonds are in theory worthless...but because Debeers uses soooooooo much money controlling the market and creating the illusion that diamonds are in fact rare, he is able to garner profits beyond what the average person can even fathom.

Answer 3

Because they are rare, especially large, qood quality diamonds and somebody decided they were beautiful. Due to the rarity, the law of supply and demand starts to work and you see the high prices.

If everyone got together and agreed that the mystique that surronds diamonds was unfounded, the cost of diamonds would plummet. Their only remaining value would be due to their use in industry - for example diamond drill bits.

A question that goes along with yours is why is gold worth so much money? Why is or was gold used as a basis for currency? I mean as far as a metal goes it's not a very good one in regards to uses outside of jewelry.

Why is a ten dollar bill worth ten dollars? Because someone assigned a value to it and backed that value up with some means of collateral.

In the final analysis, it comes down to one person assigning a value to an object and another person or persons agreeing to that value.

strictly my opinion

Answer 4

The rarity and cut of the diamond as well as size determine its value. If a diamond is cut wrong its practically worthless. Since the demand for diamonds (engagement/wedding rings or presents like necklaces) is consistent, and the supply is becoming less they have a high price. However they also mark the diamonds up to cover store costs.

To make a diamond you have to have a piece of coal in the earth that has been compressed for millions of years. Since diamonds aren't renewable this is why as they are harvested, the supply is going down.

Answer 5

Perception. DeBeers have locked up the market and they can control the amount and type and quality sold. The rest is done with advertising. We can now make perfect diamonds so it not an issue of being rare. As long a ladies consider themselves more worth as something if they are given a diamond then men will keep buying them.

Answer 6

Because man has put a worth on them!
Diamonds R mined in dangerous situations.
Still I can't wait 4 the day when the Rich find out U can't eat, drink & breathe, them!
Diamonds R not this girls best friends, they're nothing but a useless lump of Carbon!

Answer 7

my personal take is that the rarity is a definite factor, but also the usage for it. Diamond can cut a lot of things other materials cannot. As this is the case, it can be used for many applications - mostly military. This coupled with the fact that you need to dig through several tons to get a few ounces of diamond. Plus the equipment used for diamond mining is not cheap.

Answer 8

DeBeers controls the market. Diamonds are mostly mined in South Africa and DeBeers controls most of the diamond mines there. They are able to allow only a few in to the market at a time. Supply and demand rules apply here. If they are a scarce commodity the price is inflated. By DeBeers only allowing a few into the market at a time it keeps the price of diamonds higher.

Answer 9

Because humans like pretty, shiny things; i.e. most of us are superficial morons.

Also, the corporations that sell diamonds have been so clever to make it a tradition in our culture to give diamonds for several occasions, notably marriage (diamond rings). We are SUPPOSED to buy diamonds if we want to get married and females eat this BS up. Since we have to do it and females are shallow enough to keep this pointless ritual going demand for diamonds is high and like people have said they are fairly rare and hard to come by so of course, high prices. Not to mention monopolies drive up the price as well as other people have said also.

It's all extremely pathetic.

Answer 10

1. In the context of jewelry, they're considered valuable because the greedy diamond barons of South Africa have convinced wealthy fools that the finished stones are worth a lot of money.

2. In the context of industry, they have great practical value because of their unique properties as crystals. Because they're one of the hardest crystals known, they're used in grinding/polishing/cutting compounds, stonecutting saws, etc. Some of the finishing compounds and tools are used to create the aforementioned worthless baubles, but not all. The crystals are also used in various optical technologies, including lasers and other high-energy optical table setups where precise refraction and focusing with minimal heat loss is required.

So, in a nutshell, diamonds are: worthless as jewelry, valuable as industrial crystals.

Answer 11

Diamonds are the hardest material, if you want to cut a diamond you need another diamond, as ppl say they are rare, thats not completely true, i stay in a diamond mining country and you an get them pretty easily.... I believe its because they are the hardest material available.