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Cultural influence on diamond quality?

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niceice

Brilliant_Rock
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Jan 29, 2003
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I''ve been in the diamond business since 1985 and most of us who have been in the business for any length of time will likely note that Asian buyers often seem to insist upon a combination of clarity and color which is on the high side of the scale, such as D/E color and VVS, Internally Flawless, or Flawless clarity. I always assumed it was a matter of precision, but during the course of a discussion with a colleague of mine who caters specifically to the Asian market I was told that the reason is actually because the quality of the diamond presented by a suitor will be considered by her family to be representative of his perception of the purity of the bride?!?!

So I''m wondering, really wondering, does anybody know if there is any validity in this statement?

Naturally my fiance Valerie''s first response to "I heard the most interesting thing today" [followed by concept] was "so you think I''m only a VS-2?!?!" and I was quick to counter with "E color honey, it''s an E color and your earrings are D/E color!" (SI-1 clarity grade omitted on the earrings) which was only replied to by one of those stares, a very, very long stare... Actually it was more like a piercing glare. Pointing out to Valerie that she is of Dutch persuasion and not Asian, really didn''t seem to help. Nope, not one bit
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Naturally over the weekend this concept resulted in quite an entertaining conversation with some of my friends (both in and out of the trade) regarding what this belief (?) tells our Asian friends about what we must think about the women in our culture - oh boy, what a head spinner.

Note that in Korean culture, diamonds that exhibited fluorescence were once considered to be haunted. And diamonds with the number "4" are seldom sold in the Japanese market because "4" is symbolic of death. And most of our Asian and Indian buyers prefer a white or gold jewelry box because black is symbolic of death. So the Quality = Purity concept seems plausible. Thoughts?
 
Yes Todd, in many Asian countries clarity is called Purity. And black inclusions are taboo.
But low color and high clarity are typiclly called "asian goods" too.

Vietnamese will not touch an open culet diamond as the evil spirits can get in.

Indians take a piece home and wear it for a few days to see if they have good luck, and if not they will return it.

There should be a book in it?
 
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