You hear about countries basing their wealth and prosperity on gold and diamonds. Well, what qualities and characteristics of the two make them so valuable? Thanks.
2007-04-08 04:57:27 · 7 answers · asked by William S 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Other - Business & Finance
I believe the answer to this is simple. It's because nearly everybody wants them. This makes them valuable. As to why everyone wants them? Beauty and rarity come to mind, and maybe a little status symbolism thrown in. Gold is the only metal that is yellow in it's pure form, and it does not tarnish or rust, unlike silver, copper, lead, iron, etc. Diamonds just sparkle the eye because of the the very high refractive index of the material.
They say rats are very much like people in many ways: very intelligent, very curious, very competitive, very selfish, very quick to attack others of their own kind for purely selfish reasons, and extremely dazzled by shiny objects. Rats hoard shiny objects for who knows what purpose. Maybe because they are beautiful? Maybe humans have the same weakness.
2007-04-08 05:15:41 · answer #1 · answered by Sciencenut 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The same as any other items supply and demand. De Beers is sitting on the worlds diamond supply and regulate it keeping the supply slightly below the worlds demand.This drives the price up constantly.Gold is much the same and also in great demand in electronics industry. Gold or silver is the best electricity conductor but the scarcity force us to use copper instead (when we can get it)
2007-04-08 05:12:15 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rarity. And in the case of diamonds, monopoly.
You can now buy lab made diamonds that even jewelers cannot tell from natural at a small fraction of the price.
2007-04-08 05:05:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I always just thought it was the rariety of them, their size, and the amount of time and effort it takes to find them. Im not sure why they are actually so valuable though. Multi-million dollar diamonds seem a bit outrageous to me.
2007-04-08 05:00:44 · answer #4 · answered by adams_softy2010 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because of its scarcity
2007-04-08 05:01:55 · answer #5 · answered by kent 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are really rare..and well, not many ppl have them..and they're really pretty...
2007-04-08 05:01:34 · answer #6 · answered by twilight65 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Marketing................just plain old good marketing.
2007-04-08 05:06:50 · answer #7 · answered by John W 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋