Obsession with gold, silver, precious gemstones

Diamonds never go out of style.

Haven't De Beers' sales been on a decline for awhile now?

I'm with you OP. I can understand the appeal a few centuries ago, but nowadays, it would seem that so many other things would hold more value (real estate, access to healthcare, weapons, access to freedom). Seems like a leftover from the past.

[quote] … we assign such significance and prestige…

Foolish people pay millions for rubbish by Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg.

Painite is apparently the most rare of the precious stones.

Square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don't lose their shape!

Synthetic diamonds are now a market.

Visually a CZ and a diamond are optically identical to the human eye.

Why bother.

People and their bling. It’s like watching monkeys get excited over shiny rocks. We’re not as evolved as we think.

Rarity makes a commodity. If we lived in a world where seashells were rare, those would be considered precious. This hasn't changed since modern humans evolved.

It's all about pussy = wealth.

I collect semi-precious gemstones, since I can't afford truly precious gemstones of any great quality. I find certain stones to be artistically inspiring: nature produces color combinations and patterns that we can only aspire to match. I've never bought any stones for investment or resale value.

R11 that sounds pretty cool.

Diamonds are beautiful but are very common and the de beers cartel keeps the price artificially inflated. Synthetic Diamonds, rubies, emeralds can be made in the lab virtually identical.

Gold and stones are portable and have value beyond currency which is essentially ones and zeros backed by the full faith and credit of the USA or whatever country so essentially worthless if someone like trump bleeds the country dry. If shit gets real you can break off part of a gold bracelet and trade it for food or weapons and live another day. My mom worked with refugees and they told her they buy/wear gold jewelry as a resource in case of emergency

In the developed world, precious metals and precious jewels do not retain their value after you purchase them unless they are historically famous pieces (such as named diamonds, or jewels owned by royal figures from the past).

Diamonds are not "very common" by any means--the real things are still very rare, and there still is high demand for them.

Silver and gold mean so much more when I see silver and gold decorations on every Xmas tree.

Diamonds are forever.

It's all about aquamarine.

Blood Diamonds turned me off of diamonds forever.

R18. How can you tell a so-called 'blood diamond' from a 'non-blood diamond'?

R7 Not just visually but like Diamonds, I never get old, physically

Well, yes, what we know most about ancient people often centers in their luxury items,luxury metals and stones among them.

Before we trusted our wealth to strings of numbers we trusted it to tangible things, to strings of gold or pearls or jewels. And people still fo., as part of dowries, as guard against emergencies, as a tradition of luxury gifts and entanglements.

I assume that people buying 6- and 7-figure gems and jewelry already have a few of life's basic needs under their (gold) belts. There's not much point in the ungodly expensive emerald necklace if you don't have a nice place to life and some other luxuries.

They're beautiful things, or can be, and the subject of legends and history and while some people like them and some don't, all recognize what they are and what they mean to others.

Even the archaic aspect that you point out is part of the appeal to some, an old-fashioned jesture.

The hold their value if they are large enough. They don't crash like real estate or the stock market. A 1 carat diamond is very common, so that 5,000 stone will only fetch you about $800 if you try to sell it back to a jeweler. But if you have a 7 carat diamond which is VERY rare you could be looking at $1,000,000 purchase price that will fetch the same if not more a decade later.

That's why rich people buy jewelry and mega mansions. It's a place to park their money outside of a standard bank which will only insure it's money to maxim 100,000 dollars regardless of how many million may be in your account.

If you think about it, a lot easier to transport a hand full of million dollar stones than sell some mega mansion.

R11 have you heard of Benitoite? It's very rare, only found in the San Benito hills of California. More rare than diamonds. It can be cut into gems and looks like a blue sapphire. Glows under a black light. Been wanting to get my hands on some for a rock collection but it's so damn expensive I don't know if I will ever get one.

But OP gay men like shiny thing. FACT.

"We" didn't assign value to shit. Wealthy people did. Everything in this world is linked to monetary value. It's all money and sex - the evidence of which surrounds us perpetually. Diamonds, fine art, antiques? A rich man's game to park their currency with expected increased valuation over time - those items are banks.

Ahhhh, the TIARA thread.

r24, thank you.

Once upon a time spices were worth more than gold. Nowadays, we give even more value to printed paper and coins (aka cash money).

A few people decide what's worth what and the rest goes along with it to make their lives a bit easier (even when it means they can't afford what they want). Because, at our core, we need a sense of order where everything has its label, is properly categorized, and a value is attached to it.

Whoever obsessed with gemstones just need a better hobby. I heard painting is good.

I love them, though you are probably right, op. They are just pretty rocks when all is said and done.

My mom used to be obsessed with jewelry--tons of gold and jewels. When she died, we just put her stuff into safety deposit boxes. None of us really wanted it and have any idea what to do with it.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend,

r31 you could sell it

R33, Yes we could sell it (not really sure how that's done), but much of the stuff is ancestral (from her grandma and mom)--so we shouldn't just get rid of those.

Instead, generation after generation will pay for safety deposit boxes.

My sister brought some of her jewelry over for safe keeping while she was in the process of moving.

It's so weird how having valuable things in the house suddenly made me so paranoid about their safety. I was so happy when she took them back about a month later.

The provenance is just as valuable as the item.

Are pearls gemstones?

R7, sorry, that's not true..the differences between .CZ and Diamond are very easily distinguished by the human eye.

“Oooh, a sparkly!”

[quote] "We" didn't assign value to shit.

Don't place value on it, R26. Place it in the toilet!

^^^ Hey everyone! It's the guy with the pet peeve "people who use the word shit while referring to stuff."

-R26

[quote] safety deposit boxes

Oh, dear.

R23, I've read about Benitoite, but never seen an example in person. I assume it's outside my price range, so I'm lucky I'm not a completist. I do have tiny examples of some of the traditional precious stones (diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds), but I get more enjoyment from some of the larger examples that I own, especially topazes and amethysts.

R37, Yes, pearls are gemstones. There are a lot of different types of pearls with various origins.

[quote]That's why rich people buy jewelry and mega mansions. It's a place to park their money outside of a standard bank which will only insure it's money to maxim 100,000 dollars regardless of how many million may be in your account.

R22 - FYI the FDIC insurance limit increased from $100K to $250K in 2008. It was originally intended to be a temporary increase until end of 2010 during the financial crisis, but was extended and then made permanent when Dodd Frank passed.

The state of Massachusetts has many banks which will ensure your loot no matter how much you have. Goes well beyond FDIC. Only state in the union which does this.

Hearts not diamonds!

***insure Depositors Insurance Fund

Not many, but a select minimum

She's got diamonds on the soles of her shoes!

I grew up wearing jewelry because that's the kind of parents I had.

If you were dressing up for any occasion, I would break out a ring (signet, onyx or star sapphire), the gold watch, (which I hated because why would a little kid need to know the time?), and a heavy 24k gold ID bracelet with my name spelled out in raised gold Chinese menu letters. (See below). No idea why my parents picked that font.

Also, a heavy duty gold religious medallion and chain around my neck if it was a church event.

The weirder part was my mother, who had a series of diamond, pearl, and other gemstone earrings. Whether they were pierced or clip on earrings--they caused her to have a migraine. So she took migraine medication before putting the earrings on.

Think Carribean rapper/mafia.

Were you raised by Madonnas R49?

Here are a few stones in my collection (jade, opal and lapis). I have some rings and pendants made with semi-precious stones, but my fashion sense has gotten more conservative with age, so they're stored with the watches and neckties that are no longer worn.