Ashes to ashes, dust to diamonds?
I’m back on the subject of BLING following on my previous post: "Knuckle buster"
My neighbour Faye guffawed at the BLING in that post. As we chatted, she brought up this site.
For only $3,000 to $20,000 this company claims it can produce The LifeGem® Created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life, The LifeGem® is a certified, high-quality diamond.
We continued devouring the website and found this stirring testimonial:
I had earrings made out of two of the princess cut diamonds and have been offered money for them…my come back is you can’t afford them..they are worth more then you could ever pay me.
All I can say is putting my husband’s death into something with so much LIFE was the best move I could have ever made……All my love to you and anyone who had a hand in my husbands…Death and rebirth…… Elizabeth Hile Needham (Wife )
Faye and I were happy to know we could save 20% by pre-planning our LifeGem® now. Apparently, if carats don’t matter, there are discounts for ordering two or more diamonds from the same carbon remains.
We both immediately wondered about the “quality” of our LifeGem diamonds.
Bingo, we found this explanation on the site:
As many families have said,
“They were perfect while here, yet certainly not flawless. I wouldn’t expect their LifeGem® to be without flaws either.” At The LifeGem® state of the art diamond facility, we pride ourselves on creating the highest quality diamonds possible, but please understand that this is a scientific process that produces a unique diamond every time. Your LifeGem® diamond will have flaws similar to a natural diamond. The LifeGem® diamond ratings can range from VVS to I.”
But there was more to this diamond in the rough site. A link on the top right hand side of the page led us here: Why choose a Precious Pet LifeGem diamond?
I know I spoiled my little mutt Zach. I admit I had him “individually” cremated rather than having him tossed into the doggie cremation pile. But wearing him as a diamond nose stud? HMmmmm, don’t think so.
Is it possible to take carbon from cremated remains and turn it into a diamond?
According to a four-year old article on Snopes.com, the definitive source for urban legends, a chemistry professor agreed that it was possible to make such a diamond. However, a synthetic gem is a synthetic gem and indistinguishable from one another. The Snopes article cautions buyers to beware.