Last night on my regular Friday Night Movie night we tripped across a movie we normally wouldn’t have watched, but ended up enjoying a great deal. The movie was Blood Diamond and it is a dramatization about a family, a huge diamond, the Diamond Cartel and the violent world that the Bling on your Ring can come from.
Diamonds have no intrinsic value, other than as an industrial abrasive and a few other industrial roles (being the hardest substance on earth), yet we are supposed to spend at least 3 months (gross) salary to buy one, to show someone we love, just how much we love them. A very interesting personal finance issue.
Anybody thinking of buying a diamond, I would suggest watching Blood Diamond (I rented it from the Ottawa Public Library) and this interesting documentary too.
I must warn you gentle reader both the Dramatization and this very graphic video does have scenes and photos that are very disturbing, and should not be viewed by younger folks.
But Diamonds are a Girl’s Best friend — i.e after the “louse” has departed you still have something of value. I once took a diamond ring to the jeweler for cleaning/fixing and they switched some of the diamonds for lower grade cuts.
Diamonds might be some girls best friends, but if you watch the videos some poor ladies may not be as fond of them.
There have been steps to remove conflict diamonds from sale and you can get certified conflict free diamonds but if you’re frugal and you want to buy a “vintage” diamond there’s no way of knowing
Evidently these measures work somewhat, but then again, stopping the flow of diamonds is what the cartel does best.
Thanks for posting this video. It’s a real eye opener. I think I’ll feel better purchasing canadian diamons enstead.
Indeed but the same cartel runs the Canadian Diamonds too (I think).