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Clarity Enhanced Diamond Advice

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Cbh02b

Rough_Rock
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
2
Hello!

I have had my ering for 6 years now and my husband proposed with a beautiful ring. It has a 1.06 RB center stone that is G SI1. It is a clarity enhanced stone. When the stone was sold to my husband it was presented as a " getting more for his money" type gimmick. Fortunately the stone is really sparkly and beautiful but now 6 years later I am ready to change and upgrade my ring. I have talked to different jewelers one who sold us the ring and another independent jeweler. Both quoted my diamond only being worth 2,500 at the most. This came as a bit if shock to my husband and I. Since we loved the clarity enhanced stone we have, when it was time to look at upgrading we decided to look at clarity enhanced stones again. Both jewelers quoted a price of around 8,000 for a H VS2 1.50 cushion clarity enhanced stone. So here is my question how can my diamond only be worth 2,500 and the other stone be 8,000?? I know the size of the stone matters but seriously over 5,000 difference? Can someone explain a bit more? Also when searching UNenhanced stones I notice that they are in the same price range as the clarity enhanced stones... Can anyone explain ?
 
It means that clarity enhanced stones are worth very little in actuality, and the retail mark-up is incredible.

Many of us made mistakes on our first diamonds, but it is good to learn from the mistakes and not do it a second time. Keep your first stone and make a pendant or right hand ring with colored side stones. Then get a GIA graded (Excellent cut) diamond for your upgrade that is not clarity enhanced. There are diamond vendors who will allow you full value towards an upgrade later such as Good Old Gold and WhiteFlash. You are overspending for what you get with clarity-enhanced stones and they just don't hold their value as well as a well cut diamond sold second hand. We often see well cut diamonds sold second hand here for around 20-30% off retail.
 
Thank you for your response! I think you are definitely right about not getting another clarity enhanced stone! I will be researching to look for a new stone and I will check out the sellers you mentioned.
 
I agree with DS, you will get very little for the stone you already have, keep it and make a pendant or an RHR. Then start fresh for a new ER with a vendor who has an upgrade policy. If you are looking for a cushion I would def say Good Old Gold since they have so many different types of cushions and can educate you about the different types with videos and tutorials. It makes buying online much more comfortable.
 
Selling diamonds is not the same as buying diamonds and it’s correct that one of the problems with CE stones is that they’re difficult to sell. Selling diamonds is surprisingly difficult anyway, and CE makes it worse. In part this is because they do have a better markup than properly graded untreated natural stones in the first place and in part it’s because they move slower for the jewelers and they need a better markup in order for them to agree to take them into inventory. Overall, I agree with the advice above. If you love it and you’re not really hurting for the money, keep it and make something else. FWIW, in pure dollar sense, sometimes, CE CAN save money. A $2000 CE stone that brings zero in resale is less of a loss than a $5000 stone that you sell for $2500.
 
I also agree with all above. You will be hard pressed to sell a CE stone and since you love it keep it. As diamondseeker suggests get a GIA ccertified stone with a ideal cut specifications. This forum will happily help you find a great diamond. Just let us know the shape and budget and we will get busy.
 
Your first problem is to make sure you are comparing apples to apples.

Many labs do not grade CE stones. The ideal would be to have a stone that was graded by GIA before it was enhanced. If the grades you cite came from an off lab, you really can't make any comparisons. Likewise if the other stone you are looking at was graded by an off lab you're pretty much lost.

The clarity grade you use should be the grade of the unenhanced stone. The CE does not increase the value of the underlying stone. It is unlikely that your stone is a "real" SI1 or that the other stone you looked at is a "real" VS2.

Once you have that straightened you have to take into account you cannot sell a diamond for anywhere near what you paid for it. There are a lot of variables to consider but the range will be around 10% - 70% of retail value. Note that this does not take into account that many stones are sold at more than their fair retail value for one reason or another. The low end would be at a pawn shop or a WE BUY GOLD place for a less desirable stone.

Assuming you did not overpay, you might get offered 30%-40% of the stone's value by a dealer.

To summarize, the only way to assess what is going on would be to get a reliable grading report of both stones, compare their prices to other similar stones (enhanced or not--the unenhanced clarity is what matters), and to except that you will be offered around 40% of the value of your current diamond.

My sense in all this is that you did get offered what passes for fair value in diamond buying and that the other CE stone is overpriced.
 
Good luck and please let us know if we can be of further help! Most of us originally came here just like you did prior to buying a new diamond, and I surely am glad I did!
 
Please don't buy another clarity enhanced diamond. $8000 is a decent budget, this time around go down in colour and clarity if you have to in order to purchase a non enhanced larger diamond.
 
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