Lab-Grown Diamonds Got 97% Cheaper. Why Didn't Rings?

Why are diamond prices falling so fast? In 2018, a one-carat lab-grown diamond sold to the trade for about $1,800. By mid-2026, about $80: a fall of more than 97%. So why does an engagement ring still cost thousands? We go back to 1870, De Beers and "A Diamond Is Forever", follow the lab-grown crash that is now hitting mined diamonds, De Beers and even Botswana, and end on the receipt for a $4,600 ring. pocket money: where your money actually goes. A new receipt every episode. Not financial advice. Figures are averages; your ring will differ. Chapters 0:00 Lab diamond prices crashed 97% 0:16 Your call: who kept the savings? 0:33 Why diamonds were ever expensive 0:56 How De Beers sold the engagement ring 1:33 Who wrote "A Diamond Is Forever" 2:09 How big De Beers got 2:48 Why it's so hard to resell a diamond 3:31 Lab-grown vs natural diamonds 4:13 How lab-grown diamonds are made 4:31 Why lab diamond prices collapsed 5:15 Lab vs natural diamond prices 5:33 Lab-grown engagement rings take over 5:56 Are natural diamond prices falling too? 6:42 De Beers' losses and Botswana's economy 7:41 The twist: who kept the savings 8:20 The receipt: a $4,600 ring Sources Lab-grown trade prices (one carat about $1,800 a carat in mid-2018, about $80 by mid-2026; index down 96% since July 2018, cash trades in Mumbai and Surat): Edahn Golan Diamond Research (2026) Retail price of a popular one-carat lab stone down more than 76% (early 2020 to mid-2025); lab 82% cheaper than natural at one carat, 89% at two (2025): Tenoris retail data via Edahn Golan (2026) 61% of engagement rings with a lab-grown centre stone, 40% said lab-grown mattered, average spend $4,600: The Knot Worldwide, 2026 Real Weddings Study (10,474 US couples married in 2025) Lab-grown products about 27% of merchandise sales: Signet Jewelers 10-K, fiscal 2026 Lightbox launched at $800 a carat in 2018, closing announced May 2025 after a 90% wholesale fall: De Beers Group (8 May 2025) Rough price index down 12% in 2025, underlying EBITDA loss of $511m, write-downs of $2.9bn (2024) and $2.3bn (2025), sale process: Anglo American, preliminary results for 2025 (20 Feb 2026) Retailers keeping high margins on lab-grown stones: Anglo American, De Beers market outlook (20 Feb 2026) Rough price index down 16% and average price $105 a carat (H1 2025: $155), Venetia paused for two years: De Beers Group interim results (2026) Jewellers' gross margins 60% to 65% on lab-grown, 40% to 45% on natural; more than four lab stones to match one natural: Gordon Brothers (April 2024) Same crystal structure, how lab diamonds are grown: GIA; ages and depths of natural diamonds: GIA, Gems & Gemology (Fall 2024) "Natural" removed from the definition of diamond: US Federal Trade Commission (July 2018) Lab diamonds selling for most of the price of natural in 2016: Paul Zimnisky (2023); Bain & Company, The Global Diamond Industry (2019) 1870 mines, De Beers 1888, N. W. Ayer 1938, $80 average stone, +55% by 1941, the late-1950s "necessity", Japan 1967 to 1981, sales $23m (1939) to $2.1bn (1979), "safe hands" (1953), 500 million carats, the 1982 ring receipt: Edward Jay Epstein, "Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?", The Atlantic (February 1982) "A Diamond Is Forever", Frances Gerety, 1947, slogan of the century: NPR (2013); Al Jazeera (2025) De Beers Centenary AG guilty plea on industrial diamond prices, $10m fine: US Department of Justice (2004) Botswana's economy down 3% in 2024, mining output down 24%, deficit 7.1% of GDP: IMF staff statement, 2025 Article IV mission (September 2025) Our maths: a two-carat lab stone at about $85 a carat is under $200 (less than 4% of $4,600); 60% to 65% of $4,600 is about $2,800 to $3,000; the remainder is about $1,500. #pocketmoney #diamonds #labgrowndiamonds #debeers #economics