Buying a diamond that's exactly 1 carat

[princesultan]

Someone told me that a diamond that's exactly 1 carat is generally more expensive than one that's not exactly 1 carat... true?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

One that is exactly 1.0 is going to cost more than a .98 because there is a price jump at 1.0. Likewise, there is a big jump at 1.5, 2.0, etc. And there are smaller jumps at levels in between. For example, as I was looking for diamond stud earrings, there was a big jump at .70 as opposed to .65. But a lot of people like to have a carat and feel better having a true carat as opposed to a .90. But if budget makes the .90 more doable, then that is fine.

 

[OcnGypZ]

That's true. Pick one that's a couple of points under a carat and you'll save. Don't shave off too many points or you'll lose finger coverage. 96 points is nice. You want to be just shy of a full 100 points.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Someone told me that a diamond that's exactly 1 carat is generally more expensive than one that's not exactly 1 carat... true?

That is true...and keep in mind, if you're buying a preset diamond from the mall, they can technically sell it as a 1 ct when the stone is actually a bit less than that. Usually if you read the fine print, they state a 1 ct can range from to a few points under 1 ct to a few points over, so it's important that you buy a loose diamond if you're wanting to pay the premium for the diamond to be actually 1 ct.

 

[Amys Bling]

.

 

[kenny]

Because it determines light performance, cut is more important to the beauty of a diamond than color or clarity.
So, besides being aware of the price per carat jumps at milestones like 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5 ct, also be aware that the cut quality (light performance) often takes an additional hit so achieve those milestones.

If the best light performance from a given rough diamond resulted in a, say, 0.81 ct well-cut stone the cutters know they can cut it poorly and leave extra weight on it to achieve a 1.00 ct stone.

I'm not saying every stone that just makes a milestone is poorly cut, but it's just another factor to be on the lookout for.
Few buyers understand good cut but everyone understand carat weight.

 

[princesultan]

Thanks for the replies. But basically I was trying to say that would you pay a premium for a 1 carat diamond versus one that is 1.01 or 1.02 for example. Someone said that when it's EXACTLY on the carat, you pay a premium.

 

[slg47]

no, 1.00 should not be more than 1.01 or 1.02. kenny is correct though in that sometimes cut can suffer to get to the 'magic weight'

 

[princesultan]

yes, i think that's the answer i was looking for. thanks!

 

[yssie]

no, 1.00 should not be more than 1.01 or 1.02. kenny is correct though in that sometimes cut can suffer to get to the 'magic weight'

Pretty sure the 0.98s and 0.99s are getting lumped in w/ the 1ct jump too, at least that's what I remember being surprised to see a couple of weeks ago

 

[kenny]

I'll bet many of the 99 and 98 pointers are failed attempts at the 1 ct milestone so they also may suffer from the steep deep problem.

For rounds just use the HCA and the Idealscope pics to weed out the bad performers.
I'm virtually certain that every 1.0 ct or 0.50 ct ACA, Cut by Infinity, GOG superior, Eightstar or Hearts on Fire. does not have this obesity problem.

 

[yssie]

Good point. I was talking about those sorts of designer 0.98s and 0.99s being priced as 1cts, but for non-designer non-branded non-precision-cut stones...

Quick search on BN - I'm seeing ~0.95-1.05 F VVS2 in basically the same 11k-ish bracket, huge jump from 0.9 (~8k)-0.95+ though.

1-1.04 1 SI1s ~5.5-6k, 0.9-0.95 ~4.5k

Armchair statistics anyone?