2.5 carat natural fancy intense purple-pink

[Phoenix]

So I went to a jewellery show in Singapore today and saw this beautiful 2.5-ish carat cushion cut natural fancy intense purple-pink GIA cert diamond. So tempted to buy it. The clarity is lower at SI2 but because the colour is so intense, you can't see the imperfections with your eyes (seems eye-clean to me).

The asking price is USD20k. Am thinking it's on the lower side, or is it? I can't imagine a diamond dealer wouldn't know how to price his stones.

Should I get it? If I buy this, for sure I won't be able to upgrade my current 3.02 F VS2 diamond (and no, I haven't returned it yet, was abt to do so but my mum passed away and didn't make that flight to Hong Kong).

What would you do if you were me? Just purely from an economic point of view (ie. reselling - if God forbid should I ever need to), would it be worth it to get a larger diamond for USD80k or should I take the plunge and buy this beautiful pink diamond and keep my existing 3 carater?

ETA: Oh I think, from memory, the cert says the colour is actually natural fancy intense brownish purple-pink. But I can't see any brown at all.

 

[Nicrez]

Lien....that price does not make any sense. Ask to see if the stone was treated in any way including fracture filled. Is the GIA cert for color, cut and clarity or just color? How old is the cert? Even a 2.5ct J- color stone would be far more money! Much less a 2.5ct INTENSE PINK (even with Purplish tones) Maybe it is priced per carat?

Please tell me how it goes!!!

 

[Phoenix]

Date: 8/23/2007 11:04:01 AM
Author: Nicrez
Lien....that price does not make any sense. Ask to see if the stone was treated in any way including fracture filled. Is the GIA cert for color, cut and clarity or just color? How old is the cert? Even a 2.5ct J- color stone would be far more money! Much less a 2.5ct INTENSE PINK (even with Purplish tones) Maybe it is priced per carat?! Even then I would buy it!

Please tell me how it goes!!!

Thanks for replying so promptly, Nicrez. I think, again from memory, the GIA cert is like any other cert for fancy coloured stones, but I can't remember if it's been treated in any way. Is it possible at all for a stone to have been treated but the GIA cert does not disclose it?

Also, I can't remember either what the date was. I guess if the date is older, maybe that will account somewhat for apparent discrepancy in price? I will definitely check it out again tomorrow and get more details.

So that's definitely a YES vote then if the stone is not treated in any way? Even if it means that I'd never be able to upgrade my current 3 carater?

(PS. Btw, bought 8 stones of 1.45 carat weight total of fancy yellow diamonds today. Will make earrings out of them. YAY!).

 

[Nicrez]

Well the BROWNISH purple pink will drop the price most certainly... So $20K is about fair, although always try to bargain it down, anyway...

Is the cut nice? Personally it sounds lovely, and upgrading diamond for a larger size is your call. Maybe after some savings the upgrade could occur later? How would you set this stone? Is it better having another piece of jewlery or just one big one? Your call.

To me, a woman should always have MORE diamonds to choose from than just a big one with no choice... But I am a variety person...

 

[Phoenix]

Date: 8/23/2007 11:15:57 AM
Author: Nicrez
Well the BROWNISH purple pink will drop the price most certainly... So $20K is about fair, although always try to bargain it down, anyway...

Is the cut nice? Personally it sounds lovely, and upgrading diamond for a larger size is your call. Maybe after some savings the upgrade could occur later? How would you set this stone? Is it better having another piece of jewlery or just one big one? Your call.

To me, a woman should always have MORE diamonds to choose from than just a big one with no choice... But I am a variety person...

That's what I was thinking too!

but really I just cannot see any brown at all.

Re the upgrade, it's just that if I give it back to the original vendor, I'd get back 95% of what I originally paid (even though diamond prices have gone up since last yr, esp. for GIA triple Ex diamonds, I was told today), much less so if I try and sell it to anyone else.

So I would only buy the purple pink stone if that price is priced somewhat below a fair market price (which I somehow doubt, since diamond dealers wouldn't do that).

I don't know, I am going back tomorrow to get a better feel. Will keep you updated.

Thanks again.

 

[Phoenix]

Anyone else would like to comment? All would be appreciated.

 

[elmo]

I can't help with the price, I've never shopped for pinks. Some general thoughts:

Is the size reasonable for a 2.5 carat stone? Is it a nice cushion outline? Good life? You've looked at several things so you probably have a pretty decent eye for this now. I'd still want this to look like a nice diamond even with the nice color.

Look hard at the clarity, also in different lighting and under the microscope so you understand the SI2 grade on this. Note that it's quite common to see SI and I clarity pink stones because it's a characteristic of the Argyle mine (Australian mine where these originate). See if a second or third look shows that it is obviously included or with significant transparency issues.

Are there "benchmark" pinks e.g. in a store or museum where you live? Like nicrez says, price could be very high on some purplish pinks (great color, reasonably clean) like this, a factor of 10 wouldn't surprise me at all. But I really don't know. Looking at some great stones might help you get a feel for how nice the color really is.

Also, Garry Holloway has a nice chart on his site for grading pink and brown/pink stones (there used to be a bigger one), http://www.preciousmetals.com.au/coloured_gems.asp. If you can find a better copy of this picture it might help you understand how pinks are graded.

Edit - rereading your post just now...very, very sorry about your mom.

 

[Ninama]

I guess the difference between ''vivid'' and ''intense'' is really sginificant!

I found this on Blue Nile:

1.4-Carat Fancy Vivid Purplish Pink Radiant-Cut Diamond - Price: $385,000,



http://www.bluenile.com/fancy_color_diamonds_details.asp?pid=LD01071876&track=cat&elem=img

 

[DBM]

(removed post)

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Lien, that stone must be treated. I don''t see any way a color like that in that size would be anywhere near $20,000. The low price is a big red flag. I have seen irradiated (I think) colored diamonds before; could that be what this is?

 

[diagem]

Was it brown or pink when you looked at it?

 

[Phoenix]

Thanks for yr helpful posts, everyone.

Unfortunately when I got back to the show this morning, someone had already put a deposit on it!

Oh well, next time.

Thanks again.

 

[dkodner]

Consider yourself lucky Lien, there is NO such thing as a 2.5 ct. intense purple-pink for $20,000.00 net, or $40,000.00 for that matter. Not even if your uncle/cousin/brother/sister owns the Argyle mine....o)

 

[WorkingHardforSmallRewards]

Date: 8/23/2007 11:55:34 AM
Author: Ninama
I guess the difference between 'vivid' and 'intense' is really sginificant!


I found this on Blue Nile:


1.4-Carat Fancy Vivid Purplish Pink Radiant-Cut Diamond - Price: $385,000,




http://www.bluenile.com/fancy_color_diamonds_details.asp?pid=LD01071876&track=cat&elem=img

I imagine it is. I took a look at those blue nile stones, and check out these two

10.38ct Fancy yellow VS1 cushion for 180,000

3.5ct Fancy VIVID Yellow VS1 for 126,000

Also notice that just below it you have a fancy purplish pink diamond, .94cts oval for only 55,000 dollars

Here

True there is a good bit of size increase between the two but to go from .94cts to 1.4cts and increase from 55,000 to 380,000 is a pretty big increase for .5cts. Understandably it would be much more expensive, but still, 380 is obviously due to a significant markup caused by the vivid status. Especially when just above that one that you mentioned there is a 3.65 ct fancy purplish pink for only twice the price of the 1.54 vivid. Obviously you shoudl get more than twice the cost for over twice the ct weight, so there is a major cost reduction because it lacks the vivid title and appearance.

Throw into that the SI2 clarity and the Brown color and it would surely be significantly cheaper than many of us woudl ahve guessed...but still....somethign certianly seems circumspect about the deal mentione, I really wonder what was going on?_

 

[elmo]

Date: 8/24/2007 10:55:20 AM
Author: dkodner
Consider yourself lucky Lien, there is NO such thing as a 2.5 ct. intense purple-pink for $20,000.00 net, or $40,000.00 for that matter. Not even if your uncle/cousin/brother/sister owns the Argyle mine....o)

But the question instead was what range to expect for a fancy intense brownish purplish pink

, potentially quite included but with inclusions masked. It was a little confusing, the brownish part didn't make it into the title. Without really knowing I'd expect to see a huge range, partly depending on the attractiveness of the color, but some folks would ask a very high price regardless.

 

[simplysplendid]

Hi Lien, I agree the price is too low to be right. I recall my jeweler telling me that she sold an approx 1ct intense pink diamond for a very very good price at approx SGD250,000.

 

[Phoenix]

Thanks, everyone. It does seem indeed to o low a price for that colour. Something is definitely not quite right. Anyway, just for fun, the colour was really quite beautiful, something like this:

http://www.fancydiamonds.net/Pink_Diamonds/1394.htm

I really wish i could have found out more. The dealer wouldn''t let me have a look at it after someone had supposedly put down a deposit. I wonder if he finally figured out what it was really worth and decided not to sell it at that price after all (?).

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Brownish and purple simply do not go together.

It is like saying a ruby is greenish.

Something is very wrong here.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Brown really brings the price down on any fancy color. Just depends on what the stone looked like. Still seems pretty cheap.