Considering a ring for your spouse? How about a synthetic diamond? Opinions?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Colored stones are prettier.

Diamonds from South Africa are controlled by the DeBeers cartel. They have been brainwashing people for decades to believe that diamonds are rare and valuable. They have restricted the supply to keep the price up.
I like nice diamonds but only next to a colored stone.

The advertising for diamond jewelry and the markup are ridiculous.

The stuff they sell at the mall -- it says SI1 or SI2, which mean slightly imperfect. Sounds good, right?

Those are low-grade diamonds with lots of flaws. They often have feathers (places where the crystal grid was moved, and it's a visible flaw) or black spots of carbon in them. They are really not worth buying. All the mall stores are a ripoff. The merchandise has been marked up 3 times from wholesale.

I took GIA classes in diamond grading and colored stone grading. We called the junk sold at the mall "fish gravel". It really should be in an aquarium or die and go to heaven and come back as a grinding wheel.

This guy has the most beautiful jewelry I've ever seen, set in platinum:
http://berjkouyoumjianjewelry.com/

I don't have a problem with cubic zirconia. No one is gonna walk around with a jeweler's loupe and examinize your jewelry for flaws.