For our anniversary I want to buy my wife diamond earrings. I bought her a lab made diamond bracelet in the past and she loved it, but said that she would rather have earth made diamonds because she wants it to retain value to pass on to our daughter.
Looking online I see many sites from jewelers that confirm what she claims, but I do not trust their bias. Is it true that man made diamonds that are considered ‘perfect’ are worth less in the long run compared to their earthen made brethren?
In: 1669
Gemologist here with 40 yrs experience and about 6yrs selling lab-grown diamonds. What jewelers and diamond dealers won’t tell you is a used natural diamond will typically fetch 50% to 75% of it’s current WHOLESALE value when you sell or trade it.
Lab-grown stones are still dropping in price as the makers of them (mostly in India and China) figure out how to create them for less money. The prices for lab-grown have fallen close to a whopping 80% in 6 years! This is as the product matures in the marketplace, economies of scale have answered the call and have accepted them as a bona-fide product, and more companies are producing them than were back in 2016-2018.
What I tell my customers is to buy a fine quality lab grown diamond of G color +, VS2+ (they’re not all fine quality),Excellent or Ideal cut (if round brilliant cut), and as large as you want. Future expectation of value doesn’t really mean much because 1. You’ll lose WAY MORE MONEY if buying a natural stone because diamond prices tend to drop a lot, but people in the business won’t admit it), and 2. Lab grown prices are the lowest they’ve been now ever, so you won’t be spending much, and there IS a secondary market for them. You can typically get 1/3rd to 1/2 of what you paid, as long as you purchased it at or near the bottom of the current market (in 2023), as we feel prices have or will finally stabilize from this point forward. Lastly, NEVER buy a lab-grown diamond unless it’s accompanied by an I sdependent lab report (GIA, IGI, GCAL) and it must have a laser-inscription on it’s girdle. Without an independent report, you cannot get insurance!
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