HELP! Pricing CE Diamonds

[ppc17c]

Given that the established labs don''t certify CE diamonds -- is there any basic guideline with respect to pricing vs. a discount for a natural untreated stone. Looking at CE earrings -- 6 ct TW ... H or I with good cut & brilliance, but probably I1 or I2 before CE treatment. If natural -- I''d expect the stones to range at least $2800 per ct per the Rap Report. If so, what is the haircut for the CE treatment -- 20%, 30%, 50%?

 

[belle]

i know this is not the answer you want to hear but since i don''t know what the price difference is for CE diamonds, i will tell you how i feel about it.....

get the best cut you can and there won''t be a need for CE treatment.

seriously. if you get a top cut diamond, the *SPARKLE* will hide the inclusions.

 

[Lorelei]

Your best bet would be to check out the prices of diamonds offered by companies who actually do the enhancement, make sure you compare apples to apples of enhancement i.e. fracture filling etc, bear in mind differing grading reports can make a huge difference too in price. As Belle says, get a great cut is what matters most.

 

[denverappraiser]

Sellers of CE diamonds have a pretty big range of prices that they charge. Since there’s no agreed upon scale for grading them it’s often made up by the individual sellers or their minions. Lots of stones seem to be called SI1 or SI2 but this can mean wildly different things to different graders. One graders idea of a G/SI-1/CE can be what another grader will call J/I-1/CE.

Trying to translate and compare this to a price list for natural untreated diamonds is a terribly problematic process that is almost guaranteed to lead to trouble. If you want to buy a CE diamond, compare it to other offers for CE diamonds for the same reasons that if you want to buy a Hundai you should be comparing to Hundai’s and other similar products. Observing that it’s less expensive than a Porsche is correct, of course, but this observation doesn’t really give you any useful information and a translation table from the Porsche price list would be totally meaningless.

When you buy CE diamonds, even more so than with untreated natural stones, you are placing 100% of your confidence in the grader and the seller. Choose your dealer accordingly.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver