Diamonds

[boykinlp]

I am sure that many of you folks have realized this already, but I just experienced it yesterday. My mother passed in 1984 of cancer, when I was 23, and one of the things that I inherited from her was her engagement ring. My bother inherited my grandmother’s ring. I happened to find in her belongings an appraisal for both rings that she had gotten done before she died, I guess to help her split things equably. Fast forward to now. I did what we all here have probably done before. I took the appraisal number and googled what those 1983 dollars would be worth today. It had almost tripled! I thought that’s really good.

Then I started doing a little research online which I find myself doing pretty often. Not only did I find out that diamonds for the most part don’t appreciate over time, like most everything out there that doesn’t get used causing wear, but most of them actually LOOSE value! That was a complete surprise to me! As a lifelong bachelor, I haven’t gone through the process of buying an engagement ring before. I mean I thought diamonds were something that “we” cherished and were extremely special to their owners.

As an example if I bought any product costing $250 40 years ago, I probably wouldn’t expect it to be worth $700 today, but I definitely wouldn’t expect it to be worth $100-150 today either. That just seems crazy to me. What say you?
I miss my mother everyday and feel very blessed to own something that she treasured so much!
Larry

 

[Bald1]

It should go up at the rate of inflation. 1980s dollars vs today’s dollars.

 

[JimW]

There’s a big difference between most diamonds used in the jewelry the average person can afford and investment grade diamonds which usually start at 10 carats.
I still have my deceased wife’s engagement diamond ring and some day I’ll give it to my granddaughter mostly for sentimental reasons.

 

[ameridaddy]

Another factor in the diamond not keeping up as you expected is that artificial diamonds and the West African diamonds have broken the DeBeers monopoly, where they created artificial rarity and controlled prices worldwide.
Diamonds are not so "rare and precious" any more, as the engagement ring ads would have you believe.

 

[22hipower]

A little like real estate, you don't make money when you sell it, you make money when you buy it. Most folks are buying diamonds for sentimental reasons and often don't take the time to research them and compare quality as well as price. So much of the value is determined by size, cut, color, and clarity. Most of us are trying to get something that will be appreciated and cherished by our loved one, we often succeed there but equally often pay high retail for low quality product. The value of the gold a diamond is set in though should have appreciated nicely, but again, much of the original price was for the labor and more so, the profit of the retail jewelry store.

 

[pawngal]

Diamond jewelry in a jewelry store has a 400% mark up from the value of the raw materials. Example, 1 ct diamond ring priced at $4000.00 has a raw material value of $250.00. Diamonds under 0.10ct have virtually no value.
The advances in manmade/lab grown diamonds has been amazing. A standard diamond tester will test them as diamonds, there are testers that will tell the difference but they are not totally accurate yet.

 

[jeffrefrig]

They are just minerals mined out of the ground. If a diamond ring at least looks good then all is good.
They work well in those concrete/stone hole saw bits.

 

[boykinlp]

It should go up at the rate of inflation. 1980s dollars vs today’s dollars.

That’s exactly what I thought! But it DOESN’T!! According to my research, it would probably sell for less than paid 40 years ago. Remember we are talking about non-investment diamonds. That’s NUTS to me! Pawngal, I’m sure you’ve bought and sold a lot of diamond rings. Am I mistaken?
Larry

 

[Jimbo41]

Everything related to weddings is a huge scam from the engagement ring to the napkins.

 

[22hipower]

That’s exactly what I thought! But it DOESN’T!! According to my research, it would probably sell for less than paid 40 years ago. Remember we are talking about non-investment diamonds. That’s NUTS to me! Pawngal, I’m sure you’ve bought and sold a lot of diamond rings. Am I mistaken?
Larry

The value of the diamond, think wholesale price, will appreciate at least at the rate of inflation. The problem is that most folks bought that diamond at high retail including the gold ring and whatever else the manufacturer stuck on it. The wholesale cost of the diamond is maybe 10-25% of the price we pay at high retail for the ring. Start with that 25% as the base and you'll be much closer to the value of the diamond now.

 

[Bevo84]

Sorry for your loss. While gold and silver value is easy to determine, the value of diamonds is not. Jewelry box stores inflate the prices of diamond rings. A small pawn shop's youtube channel popped up in my feed one day and I started watching it. They pay up for gold and silver based on current prices. If it's a diamond gold ring they base the value of the ring on the gold content and really don't consider the diamond unless it's unusually large and perfect. Here's their channel
https://www.youtube.com/@PawnBrokerPickers

 

[ZGrand]

Plus, diamonds are really no longer in style (except for the older generations). When was the last time you saw a millennial or Gen Z woman wearing diamonds (other than a wedding ring)?

 

[boykinlp]

Plus, diamonds are really no longer in style (except for the older generations). When was the last time you saw a millennial or Gen Z woman wearing diamonds (other than a wedding ring)?

I actually know some of them that “tattooed” their rings on.
Larry

 

[Denverd0n]

I have a feeling that you're misreading the research that you're doing. Yes, the inflation-adjusted value of the ring is less than you paid for it. Probably significantly less. But given the amount of inflation between then and now, I have no doubt that you could sell it for AT LEAST as much as you paid for it, and probably more.

 

[Oldsalt66]

Retail diamond appraisals that are included at the time of sales are inflated and therefore, not indicative of the actual value of the article or precious stones.

Oftentimes, they're simply highly inflated "vanity appraisals" intended to allow the purchaser to believe they got a killer deal.

Independently issued aftermarket insurance appraisals are more accurate as to the true retail replacement value at which they should be insured, and are useful in determining the actual fair retail cost, but with the caveat that if you choose, you can get an inflated insurance appraisal and the cost of insurance will be based on that figure at a cost of $X.00 per thousand dollars of insured value; but in the event of a loss, although the insurance company happily accepted inflated premium payments from you, they will pay only the true replacement value for stones exactly as described in the appraisal.

When you buy diamond jewelry, you buy at retail, but when you sell, you're selling at wholesale and there's a huge price difference between the two and you will lose money.

The true wholesale value of diamonds is represented on The Rappaport Sheets published weekly, and used by professional diamond dealers.

All that being said, I believe that the availability of high quality lab grown diamonds will drive down the prices consumers will be paying for mined diamonds very significantly.

 

[STCM(SW)]

I paid $2,000 for my wife's engagement ring in 1982. She was old fashion that way and though it was the greatest ring in the world...
a little over 1 caret and pure white. Her love of it was worth more then what I paid for it.....
I told the great grandson when he finds the right girl it is his to give to the woman he loves..
He gave me a big hug!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Appraisals are nice and all like that- and if there’s any possibility of any family member wanting that ring, I’d recommend you that you pass it down.
But if you really want to sell it, the only thing that really matters is how many Benjamin’s somebody is willing to throw down.
My wife passed few years ago, and our only daughter is wearing her Mother’s rings right now.
She’s also wearing the Thai Gold rings that have my name and my wife’s name on them in Thai and English.
Bottom line - lock it in your safe.
Don’t do anything for a year or two.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In an offering at Church there was an engagement ring with a Square cut or Emerald cut .55 carat diamond. When we took the jewelry to a gold dealer, they would give nothing for any of the stones!

We returned all the jewelry with stones to the donators and allowed them to redeem their family treasures as they saw fit.

Those guys are in a business, and need to make money to live, however you still need to watch out for con artists and thieves!

Ivan

 

[llowry61]

I didn't spend a lot on my wife's wedding ring. I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 back in 90. I got her about a 1/2 carat marquis cut.

The whole 3 months' salary thing never sat well with me. I was aware of the DeBeers monopoly at the time.

A golf buddy was asking me if I knew anyone in the jewelry business because his wife inherited a fairly large diamond set in a ring and they were interested in selling it. I told him to just give it to their daughter or pull the stone, and have it set in something she likes if she doesn't feel comfortable with the ring. You almost can't sell them today.