"De Beers is hoping to create big price gap with its new product, which will sell under the name Lightbox in the U.S. A 1-carat man-made diamond sells for about $4,000 and a similar natural diamond fetches roughly $8,000. The lab diamonds from De Beers will sell for about $800 a carat." "Still, De Beers says that its move isn’t to disrupt existing lab-diamond producers, but create a small, profitable business in its own right." Sure........ not that there is an obligation for De Beers to keep other labs in business but I'd be nervous if I ran one. On a personal level I'd find it exciting to have cheaper material available if it was from a company I wouldn't feel gross to give my money to, with such a big price difference it'll be interesting to see how other companies adapt or set themselves apart to justify a higher cost if they can't come close to De Beers prices.
Dude. Rio Grande has craptons of diamonds from all over the place. Have done for 30 years. The difference between "what people pay" and "what jewelers pay" can be 95%. Went to a rock'n'mineral show over the weekend. Every single person there had opals (of questionable quality, as per always) for the low-low-never-seen-before price of $20/ct. However, there was only one crew clever enough to put the damn things in glass display cases. Everyone else was selling 1" pyrite crystals for $40. Put it in glass? $200. Capitalism.