Diamonds and Diamond Jewelry Up Again! (Diamond Pricing).

Last week in the worldwide diamond market, we saw prices continue to climb.  For 1 carat stones, the price increased anywhere from 1.9% to 10% depending on the grade (with the majority of goods going up about 4%).  Lets do a small test and see how things carry out over the summer.

I took a look at one of the largest online diamond websites (Blue Nile) and did a search for  some typical 1 carat stones ranging in diamond weight of 1.00 carats to 1.05 carats and will share their pricing as of todays date (May 17, 2011).  Please remember that the below prices do not include taxes, shipping, insurance, clearing charges, etc…  (and for those of you who do not know, finished jewelry can sometimes be taxed as much as 12%).

1.  D Color, VS-1 Clarity, Excellent Cut to Excellent Hearts and Arrows.  Prices is:  JPY 1,007,000 ~ 1,365,100.

2. E Color, VS-2 Clarity, Excellent Cut to Excellent Hearts and Arrows.  Price is: JPY 808,400 ~ 1,016,200.

3. F Color, VS-1 Clarity, Excellent Cut to Excellent Hearts and Arrows.  Price is:  JPY 830,400 ~ 1,082,900.

Some of you may be interested as to why there is such a huge range in pricing for the exact same grade.  Well there is no magic, you pay for what you get.  Lower priced stones are typically lower quality and have various problems such as strong and oily fluorescence, graining, bad inclusions, etc…  I will be addressing all of these issues in a later post as well as a price check, so stay tuned.

By Mark Hiroshi Willis

Diamonds.co.jp