Fancy Yellow Diamond? What is value?

[ajsun71]

In trying to find the perfect engagement ring, my fiance came across a ring with a fancy yellow diamond,radiant cut, flawless, 4.01 carats, the ring has trapazoid side stones totalling .75 carats. I don't know anything about yellow diamonds or trapazoids. What is a fair price for this ring?

 

[oldminer]

The description "fancy yellow" incorporates many possible values even with the clarity being rated flawless. You will need to do quite a bit of comparison shpping before you know if this is "the one". It is not all dollars and cents. The diamond must speak out well for itself or you will grow disenchanted after the purchase.

 

[ajsun71]

The ring is $40,000. I would prefer a colorless diamond, but I am also a slave to the size. There is no question that the ring is beautiful, but if yellow is supposed to be more rare, then why can't I find a colorless diamond for the same price?

 

[oldminer]

I searched Pricescope witht eh following parameters:

Emerald cut, 4-4.5 cts, F-I color, VS2-SI1 clarity, 57-74% depth, 56-79% table,

The result with several duplicates was: 134 stones.

You are being a slave to "flawless" which is hardly necessary. Wear a big diamond for a couple years and it will no longer be flawless anyway.

The yellow that is being told to you as "Fancy" may well not be really "FANCY" by gemological definition.

You can find many diamonds of that size that will be great looking and resaonably colorless if you abandon "flawless".

 

[Blue]

I am amazed that you found a flawless 4 carat fancy yellow diamond ring for $40,000. Are you sure?
The most rare diamonds are coloured eg: pink or blue. Yellow is not as rare, but still pretty costly. The last 4 carat fancy yellow diamond I saw was $100,000. Where did you see this diamond?

 

[sans]

Dave,

Now I'm scared! To paraphrase, badlhy, here: Wear a big diamond for a couple of years and it will no longer be flawless anyway --

Could you explain a bit? Surely given a reasonable clarity, vs and up, and no disastrous accidents, a diamond will remain as it was when purchased?

Just learning,
sans

 

[oldminer]

Two responses here.

I cast doubt on how good the fancy yellow is, as the price seems wrong for a great color. I think the post above indicates 100K for a flawless 4ct stone of undoubtedly great color. This one may be more parakeet than canary in color.

Flawless is something certain cultures value in diamonds more than others. Most Americans could care less about a diamond being flawless. VS will do fine. Maybe even SI.
Other cultures demand purity in the stone and these folks go for flawless and VVS stones. That's fine with me, but if these stones are worn for a period of time in daily use, they will get abrasions on or into theur surface from being worn and knocked about. They will not be flawless after that happens. You can buy insurance against "damage", but you must face the reality that the most flawless of diamonds is subject to chipping, abrasion and cleavage when they are worn.

Flawless stones in earrings or in a necklace make a lot more sense than using one in a daily wear ring. Earrings and necklace stones are much less subject to being hit or banged. You must protect diamonds from rubbing one another such as wqhen a pair of diamond earrings is taken off at night. They should never be allowed to touch eachother as one diamond will scratch another stone quite easily.

 

[mike04456]

To follow up a tad on what Dave said, "Flawless" according to GIA means, "no inclusions or blemishes of any kind when examined under 10x magnification." Surface damage like chips, nicks, and scratches, such as you get from normal wear and tear with a ring-set stone, are blemishes. So they will drop the grade down to Internally Flawless (IF). You could have such a stone repolished to clean up the damage, but that would reduce the weight, and you'd just have to do it again in a few years.

"Flawless" is really a state of mind, as in "you can brag to your girlfriends that you have a perfect diamond." No non-gemologist can tell the difference between FL and IF with the naked eye.

On the yellow stone issue, I happened to see a 5 ct Fancy Yellow radiant stone in a store window last weekend for $50k. The color was gorgeous but the clarity was (I think) VS1 or 2. For what that's worth...

 

[ajsun71]

the ring that I was looking at was found for me by a friend that works for a wholesaler in Houston, TX. The ring was internally flawless but the yellow color was natural fancy yellow. Intense yellow and vivid yellow are the big bucks. In colored stones, the richer the color, the higher the value.