No, see my comment above. It's a reference to a Paul Simon song, "Diamonds on the soles of her shoes". While they might make the shoe soles last longer, they would be abrasive to flooring materials, and so not really practical at any price.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ah thanks for the clarification. What was the point (ha!) of the shoes in the song? Surely it wasn't just scratching floors?

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The song is a rich girl/ poor boy love song with some significant political commentary, made more palatable by the catchy tune. The rich girl is so wealthy she could afford to have diamonds on her shoe soles. This was released on Graceland in 1986. Diamonds were/are mined in South Africa - dug from the ground by poor South Africans. The whole story about DeBoers controlling the supply and price of diamonds may not have broken at that point. And even to this day we can't synthesize large 'jewelry' grade diamonds.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

And even to this day we can’t synthesize large ‘jewelry’ grade diamonds.

Wikipedia says otherwise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_diamond#Gemstones

Synthetic diamonds for use as gemstones are grown by HPHT or CVD methods, with the market share of synthetic jewelry-quality diamonds growing as advances in technology allow for larger higher-quality synthetic production on a more economical scale.

In April 2022, CNN Business reported that a synthetic one-carat round diamond commonly used in engagement rings was up to 73% cheaper than a natural diamond with the same features, and that the number of engagement rings featuring a synthetic or a lab grown diamond had increased 63% compared to the previous year, while the those sold with a natural diamond declined 25% in the same period.