Why do women display their bride price?

[Osborne Russel]

i.e. jewelry.

I've been to many mineralogical shows and museums, even done a bit of rockhounding,and I like a cool rock as much as anyone. Obviously we're not talking about rocks.

We're talking about bride price. How much was paid for me, is the message. How much I'm worth.

Most jewelry is aesthethically atrocious, which could be easily demonstrated by recreating any expensive piece with cheap materials, and submitting them to different juries of females for evaluation. Start by revealing the price, then ask for the artistic merits, and see which one wins. As a control, use two identical genuine pieces, but give the two juries widely different values.


Square cut or pear shaped,
these rocks never lose their shape
diamonds are a girl's best friend. Costume jewelry, etc. is only a bit of letting off steam, a way of having fun without challenge to the underlying principles. Across class and culture, age, education, what have you the cooing and sighing in the presence of expensive minerals indicate that a satisfaction comes from jewelry unlike anything else.

[George Roberts]

My wife displays a modest ring. She also displays me. (Tossup as to which is worth more.)

[Figment]

A good friend of mine went into the district with the specs for the ring that the girlfriend had written out for him, and walked out (I'm guessing) fifteen thousand bucks lighter. 3karats as I recall.

She wore the ring on special occasions only. It was too big and cumbersome and clunky for daily wear. Particularly because she's a nurse and her hands are in and out of gloves all day long.

She hasn't worn it at all since the wedding. it doesn't go with the wedding band.
"It's an engagement ring, and I'm not "engaged" anymore... I'm married now!"

The ring is sitting in a lockbox, just waiting to get cashed in the day they get divorced.

[Katherine]

I love jewelry as much as the next female, but I'd rather spend the money on something more practical. Besides, I don't wear it to work, scratches the hell out of the cars.

[paladin]

di it scratch likem the conchos on my chaps ansilver toes and heels with spurs on me boots?

[Katherine]

Originally posted by paladin:
di it scratch likem the conchos on my chaps ansilver toes and heels with spurs on me boots?:D
Probably not, but most jewelry is strictly forbidden in the factory and some items are not safe to wear when working on the cars.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

I refuse to buy diamonds. There's too much blood on them.

[Katherine]

Does everything have to be political to you? :rolleyes:

[johnw]

I refuse to buy diamonds. They're too bloody expesive.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Does everything have to be political to you? Nope, but African diamonds in particular are harvested from the earth with a human cost that I can't rationalize. Cote D'Ivoire, and it's diamond mines, .... what a human nightmare... and then we advertise "A diamond is forever" ... :rolleyes:

[Katherine]

Then I guess it's a good thing I don't collect them.

[Jagermeister]

What brought up this topic?

Could it be this on the news?

Hillary's bling shows couple is rock-solid (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/389236p-330189c.html)
Sources say the former President quietly gave the iceberg-sized bling - thought to exceed 3 carats - to his wife months ago, in advance of their 30th wedding anniversary on Oct. 11 last year.- Kevin

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Cote D'Ivoire has a huuuuugggge diamond mine, one of the biggest in Africa. The village nearby, that houses many of the workers, has no hospital or clinic, no sanitary sewer system, no stable potable water supply. Workers have numerous respiratory problems from working underground without proper equipment, and most of the population doesn't have basic immunization against common diseases.

Deboers and the rest of them are mining butchers. :mad:

[doorstop]

Ok, fair enough..... that should make diamonds cheaper then!

[Dolly Varden]

[ 02-08-2006, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: Dolly Varden ]

[Dolly Varden]

Originally posted by Dolly Varden:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Peter Malcolm Jardine:
Cote D'Ivoire has a huuuuugggge diamond mine, one of the biggest in Africa. The village nearby, that houses many of the workers, has no hospital or clinic, no sanitary sewer system, no stable potable water supply. Workers have numerous respiratory problems from working underground without proper equipment, and most of the population doesn't have basic immunization against common diseases.

Deboers and the rest of them are mining butchers. :mad: </font>[/QUOTE]have you ever read about working conditions in the hereshoff factory?

Dutch

[Wild Dingo]

Of course you could just boycot De Beers and buy from Argyle or Kimberley Diamonds eh Peter? Good Aussie Diamonds to go with Gold from the Kalgoorlie goldfields... no blood no slavery onsite medical etc etc all good stuff

My problem is that the bloody things are so flamin dear!! :rolleyes:

Ive always loved minerals and have a particular penchant for Opals and Amythist... I find diamonds rather bland for my tastes I like color (pretty cool for a totally color blind yobbo eh! :D )

Lucky for me possumpoop is a practial wee lass and when we went after her engagement and wedding rings she went for rings with just 2 diamonds to synigfy her and moi... not large or unwearable but rather just like her own self small neat and petite! :cool: smile.gif

[Another One]

Dingo, you are a true romantic!! :D

[mmd]

Of course, Peter could invest in his own back yard and purchase diamonds from the Ekati and Diavik mines in Canada's far north. Purportedly the richest diamond producing geological structures in the world at 3.75 carats per ton.

[Osborne Russel]

Originally posted by Jagermeister:
Sources say the former President quietly gave the iceberg-sized bling - thought to exceed 3 carats - to his wife months ago, in advance of their 30th wedding anniversary on Oct. 11 last year. - KevinExactly. The damage to her reputation caused by the infidelity absolutely required, in deference to all that is sacred, the ceremonial presentation of a magic rock.

What's the magic, is my question.

You couldn't just give her the money and have her buy her own. You have to buy it, and give it to her. I don't get it.

[ 02-08-2006, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: Osborne Russel ]

[Osborne Russel]

Originally posted by Katherine:
Does everything have to be political to you? :rolleyes: In the diamond pits, let them eat cake. At the other end, it puts a gleam in the eye like nothing else.

[Thad Van Gilder]

"have you ever read about working conditions in the hereshoff factory?

Dutch "

Yes I have, And the wages were fair for the time period, and it seems as though the only workers hurting themselves were not paying attention...

That is not the case in the diamond mines

-Thad

[martin schulz]

Hmm - How about making yourself a diamond?


Forget a Coffin -- Wear Grandma on Your Finger

An enterprising young Berlin funeral home operator has come up with an odd and somewhat ghoulish offering for his clients: memorial jewels pressed from the ashes of their dead loved ones. web page (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,359567,00.html)

[Clan Gordon]

A lot of diamonds from southern Africa are obtained from the sea (or more precisely the seabed) using ships like this......

http://www.ata.uk.com/naval%20architects%20ship%20design/3_projects_marine.jpg

This is far from the only ship in the business.

They have a big, powerful remotely operated cutting device deployed to the seabed which then sends the spoil up to the ship for processing.

I have a feeling these diamonds may be for industrial rather than cosmetic use.

[Meerkat]

Most diamonds are industrial quality. That's where the bulk of the money is.

[Phillip Allen]

Adornments are (to me) an indication of vanity (includes most vanity plates BTW). I can't get away from all of it...I comb my hair/have it cut occasionally. But the stuff I see folks do in order to be admired by strangers is astounding! There may be vanity in all of us but I don’t feed mine very much. It has, I think, to do with personal identity or the perception of it. I work to keep my identity centered within…

[Meerkat]

It's the old reproduction dance. ;)

[Phillip Allen]

I've never liked it...from the time I aware of it as a teenager

[ 02-08-2006, 06:50 PM: Message edited by: Phillip Allen ]

[ssor]

cubic zirconia has just as much sparkle and the only time a woman would find out the truth would be when she tried to sell it.

[Phillip Allen]

It occures to me to re-tell a story I may have told here before.

I was fourteen and my next older sister was seventeen: I walked in on a conversation in the hall one afternoon as Mother was admonishing Connie to be careful who she chose to date seriously. “Will he be able to make you a good living?” Mother was saying. I suppose Connie had gone out with someone Mother didn’t approve of…dunno. As I walked into this and heard what Mother was saying I had a knee-jerk reaction and said, “So let me understand this…you are telling my sister to withhold her carnal favors for the highest bidder…right?”

Needles to say, I got a lesson of my own…still, I smile at the basic truth of it.

It was part of the problem of having a bunch of fairly literate kids…poor Mom.

[Osborne Russel]

Holding out for the highest bidder might be more acceptable if it were honest. But if it were honest it wouldn't be . . .

[Phillip Allen]

Catch 22...the average age of the poor dope who out bids his buddies

[Meerkat]

Landing the best provider is what constitutes success in the reproduction game. Security, love and caring may go further than dollars. ;)

[Phillip Allen]

egalitarian (sp)

[Katherine]

Didn't know I was for sale.

[jack grebe]

I was for sale REALLY :rolleyes: HOW MUCH :D

[Katherine]

$5 more then you have. ;)

[ 02-08-2006, 08:16 PM: Message edited by: Katherine ]

[jack grebe]

CAN ANYBODY LOAN ME 5 BUCKS :confused:

[ssor]

Originally posted by Katherine:
Didn't know I was for sale.Only if you place yourself into the market. Otherwise you find a partner.

[Meerkat]

If/when you want children, you're in the market.

[bagpiper]

Watch the children carefully, though...

My darling 2-year old daughter threw my wife's engagement ring into the trash about five months ago during her "trashcan discovery" phase. We didn't realize it was gone until after the trash had already been put out by the curb and picked up...

[PeterSibley]

Emerald or cornflower blue saphire,no opals, they're made of tears :( Dad was an opal miner.Me...I mined saphires smile.gif and a little bit of gold.

[Osborne Russel]

Originally posted by PeterSibley:
Emerald or cornflower blue saphire,no opals, they're made of tears :( Dad was an opal miner.Me...I mined saphires smile.gif and a little bit of gold.If you didn't have to suffer and die to get them they wouldn't be rare. If they weren't rare they wouldn't be expensive. If they weren't expensive they wouldn't be jewelry. If there were no jewelry, how would women display their bride price?

[rbgarr]

My wife-to-be and I had her engagement ring made a few weeks before she graduated college. My grandmother had left me (in her will) some loose gems that were quite valuable for just that purpose. I was pleased at how tickled she was with the whole process and result but somewhat bemused about the whole jewelry thing.

When I saw how her college dorm mates reacted to the fact that she had that ring I was pretty stunned. Some barely concealed anger and envy there, boy. They didn't know we had decided to marry, much less that she had a ring, and the girls who already had them were some upset that the 'pecking order' had been altered.

I think jewelry displays by women are often for other women rather than for men. Same with clothes and makeup for the most part.