News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Has Technology Killed the Jewelry Industry?. Parent comment

Re:Has Technology Killed the Jewelry Industry? by zaroth on Monday January 26, 2015 @02:01AM (#8945866)
How can a diamond be "used" anyway? The way I think of it, you have wholesale and retail markets, which I completely understand (profit through information asymmetry) but is there really something stopping the same diamond from being sold wholesale and retail dozens of times as long as it's not damaged?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Has Technology Killed the Jewelry Industry? by TeMPOraL on Monday January 26, 2015 @02:33AM (#8945910)
> is there really something stopping the same diamond from being sold wholesale and retail dozens of times as long as it's not damaged?

Yes. Tradition. You just don't sell diamonds, period. It's completely arbitrary - that's why it took DeBeers decades to firmly establish it within society in the past century. See the 1982 article every other poster links to.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Has Technology Killed the Jewelry Industry? by zaroth on Monday January 26, 2015 @03:47AM (#8946066)
If buyers had a choice of the same stone at a much lower price, they would take it. It sounds like a massive arbitrage opportunity.
[ Parent | on HN ]