Appraisal value of lab grown diamonds

[Identity-Diamonds]

Hi,
I was wondering what experience could be expected with appraising lab grown diamonds for insurance purposes? We know they are all about 10-30% less in price (bigger stones being more discounted, usually), but how does appraising work? Are they appraised as mined diamonds, and then the appraiser takes 30% off the appraised value?
I'd like to hear what's been the experience so far.
Thanks!

 

[denverappraiser]

It’s going to depend on your appraiser. How it normally works is that an insurance replacement appraisal is an estimate of what it would cost to replace the item with another of like kind and quality, at retail, new, locally, in the case of a loss. That’s the value definition because that’s what the insurance company is agreeing to do (They don’t necessarily DO that, but that’s another question). It has nothing to do with what mined stones cost.

 

[Identity-Diamonds]

It’s going to depend on your appraiser. How it normally works is that an insurance replacement appraisal is an estimate of what it would cost to replace the item with another of like kind and quality, at retail, new, locally, in the case of a loss. That’s the value definition because that’s what the insurance company is agreeing to do (They don’t necessarily DO that, but that’s another question). It has nothing to do with what mined stones cost.

Thank you for the reply. I'm wondering what kind of guidelines are available for appraisers in that case? Those lab grown stones are so new, I'm wondering how their value is determined altogether by appraisers. If I brought you a lab grown diamond to appraise, how would you determine its value, especially since not going by what comparable mined diamonds would appraise at?
My appraiser told me that he would appraise a lab grown 30% less than a comparable mined diamond, but this doesn't seem quite right to me. While it's true that larger lab grown stones could sell for 30% less than mined diamonds, most lab grown under 1.50ct do not sell for 30% less than their mined counterparts.

 

[denverappraiser]

I shop for comps. One of the benefits of lab stones is that a lot of the big volume vendors actually list their prices online. Comps are easy peasy for this. Your appraiser apparently does it differently.