Can anyone enlighten me on the rapp sheets? The jewelers in the diamond district make a big show of pulling these things out and punching the per/ct prices in them and giving you a number. What does this number mean to me as a consumer and what does it mean to them as a seller?
Is this the maximum they will get for a stone, the minimum...or what?
TIA
For most diamonds, a retailer can sell you a diamond for somewhat less than the price on the sheet. Occasionally a diamond will be sold for the price on the sheet and sometimes quite a bit more for very special stones or in places that charge a larger mark-up than others.
The prices on Rap do not equate to your price or their cost for the diamond, but are a reference tool best understood by dealers. Shop Pricescope and see what real prices are on real diamonds, then shop anywhere you wish. You will be very well informed. If you are a good buyer, the information found here will make you a very smart shopper.
The Rap sheet doesnt tell you too much as it does not include cut quality. So depending on the stone's cut it will be offered at a discount or premium of the cost identified on the rapp sheet. That means that if they are anxious to whip out the rap and beat the price on there, the quality of cut might be lacking. It has been argued that you really need to be a trained gemologist to use the rapp as it was meant to be used. There are many threads that discuss this try searching 'rap' in this forum.
-- i see i was beat to answering
The Rap sheet does refer to cut quality in the sort of very loose way traditional dealers would love to leave it. There is Spec A, Spec B and Spec C. Spec A includes all ideal cuts and nearly all other nice looking diamonds. Spec B includes some decent looking diamonds and some rather poor examples, while only the worst end is in Spec C. The numbers on Rap, as it is absolutely incorrect to call them prices, refer to Spec A diamonds. Since this is such a broad range, it does very poor job of communicating sufficient data about really fine cut diamonds versus just so-so cut ones.
In other words, watch out. Use other tools to evaluate a purchase if at all possible. Meanwhile the Rap sheet is an essential for diamond dealers. It has real value to dealers, but is so highly misused with the public that it is all but worthless in retail transactions.
There has been a fair amount of discussion on this topic on this forum. Use the search feature near the top to look for discussions that contain 'Rap', 'Rapp', and 'Rappaport' to view old threads on this topic.
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