Before synthetic gemstones were trendy and they were truly worthless I bought 5 massive sapphires for like 3 dollars each.
They're on my desk, I see them every day. Every time I play with them I muse about how not so long ago people murdered each other for gems so large and so perfect. Now that anyone can have them though, they're toys.
Gems were always about status, nobody aside from nerds every wanted them because they were beautiful, or because their physical properties and fascinating. Showing how much 'better' you are than someone else was worth more than human lives.
I don't think new methods for making diamond will really help anyone, the nutters will just find new ways to flaunt their power.
If you give me your address and pay shipping. Although if you want sick gems the coolest thing you can do is buy rejected lab rough (grade inferior for lasers and shit), and then take it to your local lapidary club and facet it yourself.
I faceted this into trillion but it's too dark to have much brilliance.
I'm a freak accident, a jet plane owned by De Beers Group crashed into the lab, killing all but one member of the team responsible for this discovery. In an unrelated event, the final member, who was not in the lab when the plane crashed, accidentally stumbled on front of an oncoming subway train.
In a press release, a De Beers representative is quoted as saying, "Oopsie!"
Because certain kinds of gem quality diamonds are an even better conductor of electricity with better heat dissipation than gold and copper, and could be used for better electronics if they were large enough.