My name is B&Mphobia and I have a problem ...

[B&Mphobia]

I don''t wear any jewellery, but I have come to love diamonds. I notice them everywhere. Who knew this plain jane was a rockette at heart?

But, I digress ...

While BF will be picking out the actual stone, I will be certainly be guiding the parameters for the search. We have both agreed on approximately 1 caret for the stone. I am just curious at which size the premium for 1 caret kicks in. .99? .95? .9? .85? .8?

Will I be able to get a smaller stone that will look like 1 caret for a lower price (keeping in mind that I love fire which I believe will mean my stone will have a smaller table)?

Thanks all.

Very curly haired girl who has still not set foot in an actual B&M store but has taken the first step and lingered over the 8 rings at Costco until an employee came by and she scurried away and pretended to look at big screen tvs at which point BF got very excited that he might be getting a big screen TV for his bday. Sorry BF.

 

[Ninama]

B&MP...

I''m so not an expert... just a gal with sudden-onset diamondism, like you. From my experience over the last few months just cruising dimaonds online, I don''t recall any magic carat weight where the price of a diamond jumps suddenly into a "premium" range. It''s very incremental. Full carat increases in weight makes a big difference in the price- it becomes almost exponential - but point by point, not so much (for diamonds of equal quality).

I''m sure you''ll get great advice in other responses... welcome to the sparkly side.

 

[Rhino]

Greetings,

Yes in fact there are slight price increases once you hit certain magic #''s in the weight.

Diamonds that weigh from .90-.99ct have their own price bracket and once you hit the magic # of 1.00ct there is a premium that is charged across the board. Reason: The heavier a diamond is the more rare it is. However that doesn''t always equate to a more beautiful diamond. Also, there is even a slight premium in many instances for diamonds that weigh from .95-.99 because these "lite carats" fall just shy of the magic number and are very high in demand.

Same goes with the 1.50ct mark putting diamonds from the 1.30''s to 1.40''s in high demand with a premium charged more than that of straight 1 - 1.19ct sizes.

Regards,

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I should probably know this--but is the premium % greater in the "magical" weights for stones of higher color and clarity? (e.g. J colored stone of VS quality increase say 15% at the ! ctw mark, while D VS stones increase say 35%...of course these % are arbitrary....)

cheers--Sharon

 

[vintagelover229]

I''m not sure where the premium kicks in but I have a .85 cushette cut diamond and it measures 5.23x6.64x3.72
Is''s a eye clean SI1 and it''s I in color and it looks HUGE! I mean it''s way bigger than I expected. But you need to consider the carat weight can mean nothing sometimes and to look at the measurments. I''ve seen a .9 w/smaller measurements and a greater depth to it (my depth is the 3.72) So that means the carat weight is more in the depth of the ring vs the large is actually looks. I think you could get a .9 or .85 for cheaper than you can get a 1 carat for sure. Check out the price search on here and it should help you to get a good idea of what your looking for. There are lots of factor that goes into sparkle. You should consider a smaller (.8-.85) hearts and arrows round diamond depending on your price range. It looks like for around a carat you should consider spenind 4500-5 grand on it. If you lower your color though (I color is perfect and white to my eyes!) There is this
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1139176.asp?b=16&a=12&c=77&cid=131
pricescope price is 3830.00. You''d need to make sure it''s eye clean though, just look around.

 

[Ninama]

Date: 2/25/2008 10:31:10 AM
Author: Rhino
Greetings,


Yes in fact there are slight price increases once you hit certain magic #''s in the weight.


Diamonds that weigh from .90-.99ct have their own price bracket and once you hit the magic # of 1.00ct there is a premium that is charged across the board. Reason: The heavier a diamond is the more rare it is. However that doesn''t always equate to a more beautiful diamond. Also, there is even a slight premium in many instances for diamonds that weigh from .95-.99 because these ''lite carats'' fall just shy of the magic number and are very high in demand.


Same goes with the 1.50ct mark putting diamonds from the 1.30''s to 1.40''s in high demand with a premium charged more than that of straight 1 - 1.19ct sizes.

Regards,

I guess I need to pay more attention to those numbers! They tend to get sorta burry since I''m most often cruising well outside of my economic stratum.

I''m sure it will all come into painfully sharp focus when I actually start shopping...

 

[lisa1.01fvs1]

When we were looking last year the prices were steeeep once you passed .97 or thereabouts.

BUT - once you hit 1 ct. I think we saw a several thousand dollar jump.

Rhino had some very intersting things to say about the subtleties of ct. wt.

So an upgrade to 1.49 would cost as much as 1.45 or lower? What''s the price jump into 1.5 ct.?

Are 1/2 ct. increments considered similarly as 1 ct. increments?

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 2/25/2008 10:49:15 AM
Author: Ninama

Date: 2/25/2008 10:31:10 AM
Author: Rhino
Greetings,


Yes in fact there are slight price increases once you hit certain magic #''s in the weight.


Diamonds that weigh from .90-.99ct have their own price bracket and once you hit the magic # of 1.00ct there is a premium that is charged across the board. Reason: The heavier a diamond is the more rare it is. However that doesn''t always equate to a more beautiful diamond. Also, there is even a slight premium in many instances for diamonds that weigh from .95-.99 because these ''lite carats'' fall just shy of the magic number and are very high in demand.


Same goes with the 1.50ct mark putting diamonds from the 1.30''s to 1.40''s in high demand with a premium charged more than that of straight 1 - 1.19ct sizes.

Regards,

I guess I need to pay more attention to those numbers! They tend to get sorta burry since I''m most often cruising well outside of my economic stratum.

I''m sure it will all come into painfully sharp focus when I actually start shopping...

So true.

I think the best way to handle the price jump is to be aware of it, and shop for diamonds in a range slightly above and below your target weight. When you zero in on particular stones, you will see the price differences.

I purchased 0.42/0.43 ct stones last year for earrings because that was as close as I could get to 1/2 ct from below due to availability. I decided that the higher prices of 0.50 ct stones and slightly larger were not worth it to me.

Blue Nile has a terrific search engine with thousands of stones that makes it easy to filter for a particular color, size range and cut grade. Spend some time playing around with various searches, and you will begin to appreciate the price jump at various weights. I remember finding a stone that was priced way less than others of similar make. When I looked into it further, it turned out to have yellow fluor! It takes time, but if you dig into the numbers, you will see it. (Caveat - I happen to be a "numbers" type of person to begin with. But when it''s your $$$, my guess is that most people become numbers people!)