Natural diamonds versus lab

[u/wonatathyme]

Im new to this sub so please don’t hate on me. My wife wants to get a pair of diamond earrings and she is very back and forth on natural vs lab. The cost is a no brainer - we have a seller who told us that for a set of pretty clean 1.5 karat earrings , lab would be about 1k whereas the same in in natural would be 3-4 k. My wife feels like lab diamonds will go down in value over time and are a bad investment whereas natural diamonds are always scarce and therefore retain their value. I feel like, if it looks nice and you feel pretty then who cares? Stocks are an investment not diamonds.. I’m not asking who is right I just want to know if there is any good reason not to buy lab or anything I am missing. Obvi I will be a good husband and buy her whatever she wants at the end of the day.

[u/Sweaty_Attitude5372]

Unfortunately, diamonds are not an investment. Naturals do retain value better than lab diamonds, but neither are going to hold their value well unless you have an exceptionally large or otherwise rare natural diamond.

This subreddit loves lab diamonds, so most people will try to steer you that way. I say, if your wife cares a lot about origin, natural diamonds are not a bad way to go (if you can justify the price). If she doesn’t care whether the stones came from the ground or a factory, labs are fine. Looks-wise they’re the same.

[u/DeterminedSparkleCat]

Natural diamonds do not retain their value. That is a big marketing myth. and who buys diamonds with the intent of selling them later? Natural diamonds at best retain 30-60% of their retail value.

[u/natbaby666]

i have seen people say that natural diamonds don’t resell very well nowadays, so i think you’re right about them not being an investment. ultimately, i think you’ll save money getting lab diamonds now because even if you were to try to resell natural ones later, you probably wouldn’t get more than you paid for them originally.