This is a perfect story for me. It has jewels and technology. Plus a little reminiscing. (Hey, that guy's name looks familiar--oh yeah, he was an engineering prof at school! Cool.) It's all good. The only downside is the comment that already there is not full disclosure about the source of the gems all the way down the line. It only takes one untruthful agent to have a bunch of misidentified stones being sold to trusting consumers. (Along these lines is the disclosure about cherry quartz.)
So would you buy a synthetic diamond? The word synthetic has bad connotations:
4 a (1) : of, relating to, or produced by chemical or biochemical synthesis; especially : produced artificially
but it doesn't necessarily mean fake. In the case of these diamonds, they really are diamonds, molecularly speaking. They are not a diamond substitute, like cz. For myself, they'd have to be a heckuva lot less expensive than mined diamonds, but the synthetic nature doesn't offend me a bit. I just think you need to know whether it was mined or created in a lab. You don't have to tell anyone else (unless you're selling it, of course) if its origin devalues it in your eyes.
Kinda related to this is an article in todays WSJ about De Beers' new(ish) "right hand" campaign. You don't have to like them, but you do have to admit they are marketing geniuses. If people actually fall for this baloney and start buying diamond rings for all their fingers, it will be a testament to the herdability of the average consumer. I mean, I don't have anything against diamonds, but there are so many other gorgeous stones out there!! Come on, people, buy tourmalines, zircons, sapphires, peridots, amethysts.... They're all beautiful.
And this reminds me that I finally got my little pile of gemstones sorted out into a box where I can see them and hopefully use them. (No diamonds, so goblins can just stay away from my house.) I know there is more stuff up in the attic, wating for that "now I have a studio with a torch in it!" day, but it was sufficient to organize the goodies that I could easily get my hands on.
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