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Sunday, February 15. 2015

How an Ad Campaign Invented the Diamond Engagement Ring


If there were a free market in diamonds, they would not cost very much. They are plentiful, but supply is carefully restricted to maintain pricing and the illusion of value: In the 1930s, few Americans proposed with the precious stone. Then everything changed.


If you need a rock for vanity purposes, try Zirconia. Love is real, the rock is illusion, whether diamond or otherwise.

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 06:53 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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I am agreed on nearly all counts, except that I think Moissanite is much better at the sparkle and durability than Cubic Zirconia.

In an age before electricity, a stone that would seem to gather all the light in the room and then reflect it back with flashes and sparkle was really a thing to behold, I would imagine.

I'm sure I've pointed out here before that the diamond ring on my wife's hand is the very ring and diamond that my grandfather used to propose to my grandmother in the early 1920's. It's even stated in the article that the use of diamonds in engagement rings had been ebbing and flowing for years before the cartel decided to start that campaign.
#1 Douglas2 on 2015-02-15 09:43 (Reply)
My mother had a blue zircon, flanked by two baby diamonds, as her engagement ring. Eldest granddaughter now wears it. My engagement ring was a white sapphire flanked by two baby diamonds (actually a birthstone ring as I had the misfortune to be born in April), which I love. Have a daughter who's prospective fiance, faced with financial realities and a woman who was seriously realistic about same, produced a lovely blue sapphire. It's not always about diamonds. Do remember, back in the day, that pointed out I wanted a ROCK, not a few small diamonds smothered in white gold. I got my rock, and my man.
#2 Frances on 2015-02-15 21:07 (Reply)

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