OT: Diamond Settlement

Yeah, good luck with that. Going after De Beers seems like asking to be assassinated Princess Diana style. Or like chopping down a mighty oak with a Swiss Army knife.

Well there already has been a settlement agreed upon. Now on April 14th. the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair and adequate. The Settlement Agreement provides that $22.5 Million be distributed to the Direct Purchaser Class, and that $272.5 Million will be distributed to the Indirect Purchaser Class. Hey its worth a shot right? There’s no harm in trying. I’m getting a good chunk of change from the Smokeless Tobacco Settlement.

You don’t have to go to court at all. Just fill out the application & see if you qualify. If everything goes right & if you qualify, the money will be sent to you.

smokeless tobacco settlement?

It was a settlement UST is paying for monopolizing the market & increasing the price.

i s there an application for the smokeless tobacco settlement somewhere?

I believe the deadline passed for applicants, not positive. You can do a google search for Smokeless Tobacco Settlement. If you were a member of any of the smokeless tobacco company websites, it would have been sent to you by mail. Diamonds are valuable because De Beers set the price. Back in the day, there were other companies undercutting De Beers price so eventually they bought out these companies so they could own the market. They are not rare and by all means should not be that valuable. There is plenty of supply to meet the demands. Also there are a lot of stones that are more valuable than diamonds which a lot of people don’t realize.

Another thing about diamonds being romantic is total crapola. The fact is the origin of buying a diamond as a engagment gift dates back to the american colonies when a woman needed a man to take care of her and only virgins where marriable. So basicly if you wanted to have sex with your fiance before marriage you’d better have a nest egg for her before you could ruin her for marrying anyone else. Not really too romantic is that. Also the conditions in Diamond mines is terrible which again think what you want about that certainly not romantic. Plus diamonds support more wars then drugs do so again not very romantic. I personaly would never buy a diamond for an engagment gift or to be romantic, then again I say go pick some flowers that fit her taste and that is romantic.

I do have 4 diamonds but the only reason I have them is for my gemstone collection. I buy them when I have the chance to get previously owned ones cheap, I would never buy a new to market diamond. I would either add it to my gemstone collection or resell it if I got it cheap enough. However I would love to go to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas & dig my own. That would be fun in my opinion. Of course I already have a nice collection of various gemstones to choose from & do on occasion give stones from my collection out as gifts. If you have to buy them a stone, there are plenty of alternatives that have just as much shine, flash & fire. The only difference is the price & the stones hardness.

If she requires a diamond and nothing else, then its time to move on!! LOL Those demands are just the beginning of a downward spiral. And the whole thing that the diamond you buy should equal at least 3 months of your salary!! Come on.

I agree with trout. I have to say although I have been considered a very romantic chap I never will let my self get roped into following some cliche like diamonds or red roses because shes been trained to respond to them without thinking about it. Plus if she can’t love you without some stupid token showing your willingness to spend insane amounts of money just to make her feel appreciated then she is not worth it at all.

Don’t even get me started on Valentines Day and the whole sham that it is!!! Someone needs to put the kibosh on that nonsense!

I have in my personal life. I call valentines day hallmark day

If she’s happy with that, then she’s a keeper!!! ;~) Take her out gold panning and let her find her own jewelry. That would be a memory that would last forever.

See doing something that is actualy personal instead of prescribed is far more romantic and valuable in my opinion. I’am glad there are more ladies that admit to loving the Xbox these days.

Definately on both accounts. My girlfriend can’t beat me at most games but definately gives me a good run for the money so to speak.

@ausmike, I have made some jewelry with my finds. Soldering pendent slides onto nuggets etc. I also buy pendant casting to use with the gemstones I have & just set the stones myself. Also the pendant vials I put flake in and sell. I do sell nuggets to the jeweler on occasion. Now the pics are of the very first & only ring I have made. I know it looks a little crude but it was my first. All the gold in the ring is stuff that I have found myself. The center quartz has gold all through it, you can kind of see in pic. I found the quart with a metal detector. Now the ring has taken a beating over the years. Some of the onyx has chipped. It is a ring I wear all the time. I think it brings me luck when I go panning as I have never come home skunked. I’ve got a nose for gold & find it every time I go out. I normally wouldn’t wear jewelry but there is a little pride about wearing something you made yourself with gold that you found. I know its not the fanciest ring, but I’m proud of it anyway and don’t care. Looking down on it and remembering all the fun prospecting trips that were involved. It also comes in handy for fine tuning my metal detector. I lay it on the ground & run the detector over it a few times and get it all calibrated.

Well, at the risk of being flamed… I bought my wife a diamond engagement ring and wedding band… My father is a jeweler, I purchased everything at wholesale and he hand built the ring. My wife’s birthstone is the diamond. I agree that the markup on ALL jewelry / precious and semi-precious stones is rediculous… It’s got to be somewhere around 100 - 150% just over wholesale, there’s no telling what the markup over cost is to the wholesaler. But hay, if you afford jewelry and that’s what you want to spend your money on, then more power to you. Since then the only jewelry I’ve bought her is a tahitian pearl ring, diamond ear studs (again, both my father built) and ruby ear studs (birthday gift from zales)…

Yeah I agree Mo, learning a trade in school should be a lot more important than it currently is. I took 4 years welding, 4 years auto, I didn’t take wood shop because I already had those basics down from my stepfathers shop. Before graduating each student has to take a creative arts class. Well on my junior year there was nothing I wanted to take so I got together with the welding teacher & we created “Creative Metal” where you could make anything creative out of metal. So my Senior year we started it. This class was a big hit and is still going on. I made things like horseshoe napkin holders, old west style dinner bells & a lot of other cool things. A lot of these things I was able to sell in a local outdoor market.

No worries merdock. I might flame you if you said you worked high up in De-beers. I’am not going to fault you for buying diamonds, I just think it’s good to at least realize that it’s a sham industry (in my opinion). Though I must admit I do love rubies. Though I like jade.