The Do’s and Don’ts of buying Fancy Color diamonds
Don’t Do
1. Don’t put too much emphasis on Polish, Symmetry and Clarity. These parameters were made first and foremost for colorless diamonds.
The value of a fancy color diamond is determined above all by its beauty, quality of color and rarity. Color retention is a top priority when polishing a Fancy Color Diamond while other parameters are secondary, especially as they are not visible to the naked eye. Clarity in Fancy Color is not correlated to a price list, therefore differences between the various clarities is minor and its impact decreases as rarity increases.
Do
2. Experience the stone away from an artificial light source, ideally under direct sunlight or near a large window, (An artificial light source that imitates sunlight could be a substitute).
Natural light is the light your diamond will be exposed to most of the time after you buy it.
Don’t Do
3. Don’t give importance to the issue date of the GIA report, it’s meaningless. Exceptional Fancy color Diamonds are kept in inventory for many years before they are offered for sale.
Do
4. After the purchase, clean your fancy color diamond whenever possible at your local jeweler — at least once a year!.
Because light transmission directions in a fancy color diamond are different from a colorless diamond, the translucency is greatly affected by dirt and hand grease covering the surface of a fancy color stone, hence cleaning maintenance is highly recommended.
Don’t Do
5. Do not use auction prices as a benchmark, they don’t reflect actual market prices.
The majority of Fancy Color Diamonds are brought to auction for two main reasons. Stones that failed to sell on the wholesale market due to poor quality or stones from old private collections that need to undergo a thorough repolishing. As the auction offering is random, it attracts two types of opportunistic buyers: Professional diamond dealers who are interested in re-polishing and upgrading inferior stones, or private buyers that are driven by the low price at the expense of quality and provenance.
Under these circumstances, it is impossible to find retail-quality Fancy Color Diamonds at auction and as such most of the diamonds will be sold below market price. The auction sale price should therefore not be used as a reference to a high quality stone sold by retailers.
Do
6. Learn about the rarity of the fancy color diamond you are about to buy.
Knowing how many similar diamonds enter the market every year will put the value of your purchase in perspective and will complete the story of your diamond. Today you are able to have access to the amount of Fancy Color Diamonds that enter the market, knowing the prevalence of your diamond will let you understand how special is your natural diamond.
Don’t Do
7. Avoid the “Public Price – Kiss of Death.”
The price of Fancy Color Diamonds that are sold in the public domain have a tendency to remain fixed for a very long period of time. This can be true even when the market has moved up in price. The next buyer in line may not feel comfortable paying more than the publicly known price, even when it is clear that market price has increased.
Do
8. Buy a fancy color diamond from a jeweler that is educated about your gem.
You need to have all the information you can get on your diamond, such as origin, the jewelry making process and more. Buying from a reliable jeweler gives you reassurance the diamond’s price is in accordance with its overall quality.
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