Purchase-Power and Ostentation-Value

According to Veblen's concept of Conspicuous Consumption, the Value of a commodity can derive from the social status conferred upon the use of it, based on how expensive it is.  Thus, underlying Conspicuous Consumption is Conspicuous Expenditure.  But, such status also depends on the distinctiveness of the affordability of the expense, i. e. that not everybody can afford it.  Thus, conversely, there is neither Conspicuous Expenditure nor Conspicuous Consumption in the case of something that everyone can afford.  In other words, the Ostentation-Value of Purchase-Power is a function of its scarcity.  So, for example, no one would buy diamonds if everybody could afford the Price determined by their Labor-Value, i. e. they would have no Ostentation-Value, and, hence, no Utility, regardless of the difficult involved in supplying them.