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A mortuary is an unlikely place to buy diamonds. But they're certified diamonds made from the ashes of dead loved ones. A Moanalua funeral home has become the first in Hawaii to offer this very personal jewelry.
Barbara White doesn't have to pick out a diamond from the jewelry case. There's only one -- blue, in a round brilliant cut, less than half a carat.
"I wouldn't care if it was the size of a pinhead," she said. "It's beautiful and it's my honey."
Her honey of 24 years died and was cremated through Moanalua Mortuary. That's where she found out that carbon can be extracted from the ashes and subjected to heat and pressure to create a diamond looking like a natural diamond.
They come in yellow, too, iin sizes ranging from a quarter-carat to almost one carat. Prices range from $2,300 to $5,000.
"People want to do something different with the cremated remains -- scatter them in the ocean, so on and so forth," said Claus Hansen of Affordable Casket & Moanalua Mortuary. "This is the newest and most innovative thing that people do."
Think it's a little creepy? The Illinois-based manufacturer LifeGem tries to get you to see it another way. Natural diamonds come from an arbitrary carbon source -- foreign, unknown to you. Instead you can know your diamond is your beloved Tutu.
LifeGem says 50 one-carat diamonds can be created from one individual.
"Sorry it has to be the way it was, but I have him with me all the time now," White said. "I can't tell you how much peace it gives me."
These diamonds are a tougher sell in some mainland communities where the tradition is a coffin burial.
In Hawaii, because of our ethnic religious mix and the high cost of land, cremation is the preferred way to go.
Barbara White doesn't have to pick out a diamond from the jewelry case. There's only one -- blue, in a round brilliant cut, less than half a carat.
"I wouldn't care if it was the size of a pinhead," she said. "It's beautiful and it's my honey."
Her honey of 24 years died and was cremated through Moanalua Mortuary. That's where she found out that carbon can be extracted from the ashes and subjected to heat and pressure to create a diamond looking like a natural diamond.
They come in yellow, too, iin sizes ranging from a quarter-carat to almost one carat. Prices range from $2,300 to $5,000.
"People want to do something different with the cremated remains -- scatter them in the ocean, so on and so forth," said Claus Hansen of Affordable Casket & Moanalua Mortuary. "This is the newest and most innovative thing that people do."
Think it's a little creepy? The Illinois-based manufacturer LifeGem tries to get you to see it another way. Natural diamonds come from an arbitrary carbon source -- foreign, unknown to you. Instead you can know your diamond is your beloved Tutu.
LifeGem says 50 one-carat diamonds can be created from one individual.
"Sorry it has to be the way it was, but I have him with me all the time now," White said. "I can't tell you how much peace it gives me."
These diamonds are a tougher sell in some mainland communities where the tradition is a coffin burial.
In Hawaii, because of our ethnic religious mix and the high cost of land, cremation is the preferred way to go.
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