Round brilliants verses other cuts: price per carat

[bgray]

Are rounds more per carat than all other stone shapes (generic shape defnitions not branded stones like say Royal Asscher) because they cost more to cut (more labor) or because they are more popular?

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 3/6/2010 10:36:38 PM
Author:bgray
Are rounds more per carat than all other stone shapes (generic shape defnitions not branded stones like say Royal Asscher) because they cost more to cut (more labor) or because they are more popular?

Paul would have to answer about the cost to cut, but I suspect the real reason is because they are just more popular.

Once seveal years ago I took my daughter to Scotland for a course in Gemology with Alan Hodgkinson, the author of Visual Optics. When she finished her three day course, we went on to Antwerp and met with several of my suppliers there. (This was in my pre Infinity days.)

On one afternoon we went to a cutting factory and watched a cutter polishing a window into a large crystal so that the diamond could be properly evaluated.

On the next morning we went into the office of the cutter quite early and they were discussing the stone in French. I said good morning in French so they switched to Japanese, my daughter said something to them in Japanese (she spoke only a few words of Japanese at the time, but they did not know that) so they switched to German. I said a few of the very few words of German that I knew in response and they switched to Hebrew.

When neither of us could respond they laughed and said that no matter which language we spoke they would be able to speak one we could not.

Then they decided to "test" my daughter, whom they had met and liked the day before. She had just commented to them that the diamond they were discussing was the one we watched the cutter polishing a window in the day before.

"Cissy, maybe you can help us out here. We have a problem."

"Okay, I will try," she said.

"We don''t know what to do, we can cut a 2.90ct Marquise from this diamond, or we can cut a 2.10ct round. What should we do?"

"What will the two stones be worth?" she asked.

"The marquise will be worth about $200 more than the round," he said.

"How long will it take to sell it?" she asked.

At this point they looked at the glowing papa and laughed, "Wink, you should pay attention to this girl! Yesterday she sat here all day and said almost nothing, just asked a few very good questions, like now. How come you never ask such good questions?"

They all had a great laugh, including me. I was breathlessly proud of my baby girl for being so brilliant in her questioning.

Then she looked at them and said, "So how long will it take to sell it?" She was obviouly very focused on the question.

"Well, the round we sell in a week, maybe two. The marquise, we sell in a week, or maybe six months or maybe a year."

Then she looked them right in the eyes and said, "Well then, I would cut the round and buy more rough and cut five or six more while you are waiting for the marquise to maybe sell."

They looked at her with respect and laughed again, "And that is what we just decided while we were talking in Hebrew."

So, there you have at least one story of why rounds cost more.

Wink

 

[bgray]

Great story and very interesting! Thanks!

 

[Kaleigh]

Oh Wink what a great story. You must be so very proud of your Daughter. I love hearing these real life stories, we need more of them.

Thanks for sharing that with us Wink.

The demand for well cut rounds is huge, and the market for marquise... Not so much?? It would have sat in your inventory a lot longer than a round.

 

[small_paws]

I wondered this as well, I just got a princess and noticed that a round was quite a bit more for the same size. I had no idea this was the case tho until after starting my search.

 

[bgray]

makes you wonder too about the scarcity of certain sizes--is it easier to sell two 2 carat rounds than 1 4.5 carat round..........

 

[Dreamer_D]

Very cool story Wink!