Market price and diamond cut quality

[Dilbert]

At the risk of sounding dumb, why does the price of diamonds not depend on the quality of the cut or the visual beauty of the stone? An E VVS1 that is poorly cut and lifeless looking sells for more than a gorgeous H&A H VS1 of the same weight. Do people actually want to buy the uglier stones at a given price? Or is it that only a very few people can appreciate the visual difference between poor and excellent cuts?

 

[strmrdr]

tradition mostly.

 

[diagem]

Date: 4/14/2006 6:37:14 AM
Author:Dilbert
At the risk of sounding dumb, why does the price of diamonds not depend on the quality of the cut or the visual beauty of the stone? An E VVS1 that is poorly cut and lifeless looking sells for more than a gorgeous H&A H VS1 of the same weight. Do people actually want to buy the uglier stones at a given price? Or is it that only a very few people can appreciate the visual difference between poor and excellent cuts?

Hello Dilbert,

Beauty is in the eye...., What may be beautyfull to you might not be to others....

An "E" colour vs. and "H", mmm. let me think..., maybe much more rarer...,

VVS1 also more rarer than VS1.

Look at the bright side..., you can get a much more better looking stone (in your opinion) for much less if you comprimise colour...

 

[pricescope]

Diamonds with AGS Ideal papers used to cost more than GIA Ex/Ex but it was rather small market. Most diamond dealers are not concerned about cut. However, now it can start changing with the introduction of the cut grades in the new GIA reports.

 

[diagem]

Date: 4/14/2006 7:09:56 AM
Author: Pricescope
Diamonds with AGS Ideal papers used to cost more than GIA Ex/Ex but it was rather small market. Most diamond dealers are not concerned about cut. However, now it can start changing with the introduction of the cut grades in the new GIA reports.

Leonid, still, an E-VVS1 diamond will cost much more than a H-VS1 diamond of same size, do you agree?

 

[oldminer]

A good friend of mine, Joe Tenhagen, from Florida published a large diamond price guide for a few years that used AGA cut class quality criteria along with color, cut, shape and weight to show how cut had an effect on value. The results were at first surprising. What he actually was published were asking prices, not transaction prices where value resides. Dealers seemed inclined to ask the highest price for the worst cut diamonds, but of course, they would allow more haggling over those asking prices than for well cut stones. In the end, the publication was ended. It was a huge effort and never really took off, but the asking prices for poorly cut diamonds were so stangely high and the prices for well cut diamonds were so tight and proper, that it did not make sense to break down the asking prices by cut. Had we had a source for actual sales prices, we might have seen a relation to value. Such was not the case.

It does make sense to look at real asking prices, such as those found on the Pricescope search, because they are not subject to much haggling. However, there are very few poorly cut diamonds sold on the Internet by legitimate vendors. Ebay is more the home of poorly made and misrepresented diamonds.

Just be aware that diamond dealers don''t necessarily set lower prices on poorer cut diamonds. They expect the buyer to offer less. It is not an America style of doing business, but that is how the rest of the world operates. If you want a fair value, you must educate and protect yourself.

 

[kenny]

Customer ignorance.


Pricescope is helping to change that.

 

[denverappraiser]

I don’t agree with your premise. Cut quality and visual beauty do affect the prices of stones. Do a quick search for a particular set of specs at the top of the page and you’ll find hundreds of offers for superficially similar stones that vary in price by as much as 50%, even when offered by the same dealer. The most expensive will be for stones where the dealers are presenting that their stone is better cut and more beautiful than the others while the cheapest will be presented without mentioning these topics. Both color and clarity also have an affect on the prices and you are observing that you value cut quality more than you value the color difference from E-H or the clarity difference from VVS1-VS1. Many people would agree with you but many would not. That’s one of the beauties of the world, we don’t all value the same things. Compare stones where the weight/clarity/color/lab/dealer are the same and you can get a feel for how much of a premium is associated with the h&a pattern and other similar attributes that don’t appear on the ‘certificate’.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[valeria101]

I doubt that most folk would pay anything for a worse choice, once they decided that 'better' is available to them as well. Brilliance is quite 'intuitive' - at least considering choice of the the same shape. IMO, counter intuitive choices may be common because not many go around choosing diamonds by their own taste - even under give budget constraints: the choice is limited and allot of folks keep telling you what to like and what is desirable. Works great!

How many would need to see what 'good cut' means to change price trends? How many do...




Besides, even if most round brilliant diamonds are not AGS0 H&A whatever, it doesn't mean that they look like road kill. I wonder how many times someone actually has the choice between an obviously ugly E/VS and obviously beautiful H/SI

Even online, the usual scenario is between a branded H&A cut with a folio of charts and diagrams in toe, and something a couple of grades higher with unknown looks.


Rare... well, dunno. I hope that also means good looking - since diamond grades are not formed by tradition (= cumulative popular vote, IMO), I'm not so inclined to equate rarity, beauty and desirability.

My 2c

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Cut is man''s work, colour and clarity are nature''s work.

A parcel of rough diamonds, which will yield average F-colour and VS1-clarity will be more expensive than one with average J-colour and SI1-clarity. The difference is actually huge.

On the other hand, I would love it if a well-cut H-VS1 would sell for more than an ugly E-VVS1. But then, my friends of PS, you should start buying even more of them, and I mean a lot. Then, we, the great cutters, can pay more for rough, whether good or bad, and the mines will stop selling their rough to the other cutters. This process needs to start at the consumer''s end.

Could you please start it now? And please be very strict in deciding for which cut you want to pay more.

Live long,