Have diamond prices dropped over the past 2 years?

Hi, I did a lot of research before buying a diamond a couple years
ago, and got a very good price at that time.

However, while I cannot remember the exact price I paid, (I have the
paper work filed away somewhere, but right now do not remember),
looking at prices today, it SEEMS that the prices have dropped
considerably since I bought it 2 years ago.

Am I right?
(It was an AGS certified half.48 carat diamond, SI1, F color, ideal
cut)

You probably just have more money now... How about a 1 carat?

-Stanley

"P.Nichols" wrote in message
...
Hi, I did a lot of research before buying a diamond a couple years
ago, and got a very good price at that time.

However, while I cannot remember the exact price I paid, (I have the
paper work filed away somewhere, but right now do not remember),
looking at prices today, it SEEMS that the prices have dropped
considerably since I bought it 2 years ago.

Am I right?
(It was an AGS certified half.48 carat diamond, SI1, F color, ideal
cut)

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 05:24:06 GMT, "sbright"
wrote:

You probably just have more money now... How about a 1 carat?

-Stanley
Yeah, right. But seriously, is there some web site that posts the
price of diamonds over the past year or two, to see the fluctuation of
diamonds?

I can't remember what I paid for it and am looking for the receipt,
but it seems like I've lost some money on it (I'm wondering if I
should lower the amount it's insured for.)

Miguel B Good wrote:
...
Yeah, right. But seriously, is there some web site that posts the
price of diamonds over the past year or two, to see the fluctuation of
diamonds?

http://www.diamonds.net/
Here You might get a weekly trade survey.
--
Heinrich Butschal
Gutachten, Projektmanagement
www.butschal.de

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:21:49 GMT, "Heinrich Butschal"
wrote:

Miguel B Good wrote:
..
Yeah, right. But seriously, is there some web site that posts the
price of diamonds over the past year or two, to see the fluctuation of
diamonds?

http://www.diamonds.net/
Here You might get a weekly trade survey.
Thank you for the link.
Can you tell me, though: have prices of AGS certified ideal cut
diamonds generally gone down over the past 2 years?

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 18:13:45 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Miguel B Good
wrote:

Can you tell me, though: have prices of AGS certified ideal cut
diamonds generally gone down over the past 2 years?

At the wholesale level, no, at least not so far as I've seen. We've certainly
not lowered our prices, and the online sellers I know don't seem to have done so
either, at least not that I've noticed. The diamond market in general is very
resistant to falling wholesale prices, because so much of the market is
controlled by DeBeers, or those working with them. They rather agressively work
to control the supply to match the demand, in order to control prices. When
demand wanes, they hold back rough supplies to reduce supply, and prices then
stay firm. Over long times, they've managed to quite consistantly generate a
price rise in diamonds, and I see no likely change to this in the near future.
Their percentage of market control isn't what it used to be, and there are new
challenges to their control ever appearing (including increasing possibilities
for synthetic diamond availability). But for the near term (I'd guess the next
decade at least) they still seem pretty much in control, to my viewpoint.

It's important to remember that diamonds, unlike most other commodities, is NOT
a free market, completely subject to the economic laws of supply and demand.
It's a mostly monopolized market, rather tightly controlled for the benefit of
the industry and producers. If the DeBeers monopoly were truely broken, and
diamond prices followed the free market completely, you'd then see more
dramatic swings in diamond prices. Conventional industry wisdom suggusts that
this would quickly drive some of the mines/sources out of business, since
there's some considerable variation in the cost of recovery of diamonds from the
ore or their natural state, and the larger mines, which may take several years
to bring on line, depend on a degree of predictable price stability in order to
be able to remain in business. That "party line" then suggests that a fully
free market in diamonds would initially result in a considerable price drop, as
less costly sources (alluvial surface deposits, for example) hit the market,
but that then these low price levels would tend to drive the bigger more
expensive to run mines, out of business. So then perhaps prices would rise to
even higher levels than today, and with less availability of the stones to the
market. I personally tend to think this viewpoint may be only partially
correct. markets and economics have a way of being a bit more complex than such
models, and supply/demand rules have a way of working things out. But who knows
for sure. At the moment, it's still speculation, as DeBeers is still quite in
control of things.

Now, you might find retailers prices weaker, what with the current economy. If
retailers are hurting for business, they may feel forced to reduce their
traditional markups, and sell for less, but this is a case of the retail sellers
making less money on the deal, not an underlying change in the prices of the
stones. And you can expect it to be quite temporary, since if, over time, they
cannot make the profit margins they used to, plus sales are down, then they'll
end up out of business. And once they're through their existing inventory,
they'll have to start buying more again, and you can bet they're not going to
be able to sustain dramatically lower profit margins unless their volume of
sales have dramatically risen again. And if that happens, then they'll have
less reason again to cut their margins.

By the way, the lab who issued the certificate, or even the fact that the stone
has a "cert", doesn't make a dramatic difference in whether it's price will have
risen or fallen compared to other stones of it's grade and size. The cert adds
a fixed cost to the stone, and may make it more saleable in some circumstances,
especially the internet. But it's price level will follow the market for such
stones in general, with or without the certs.

Peter

Miguel B Good wrote:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:21:49 GMT, "Heinrich Butschal"
wrote:

Miguel B Good wrote:
..
Yeah, right. But seriously, is there some web site that posts the
price of diamonds over the past year or two, to see the fluctuation of
diamonds?

http://www.diamonds.net/
Here You might get a weekly trade survey.
Thank you for the link.
Can you tell me, though: have prices of AGS certified ideal cut
diamonds generally gone down over the past 2 years?

You keep asking the same question. So let me answer you plain and simply.

No.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 01:34:25 GMT, Peter W. Rowe
wrote:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 18:13:45 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Miguel B Good
wrote:

Can you tell me, though: have prices of AGS certified ideal cut
diamonds generally gone down over the past 2 years?

At the wholesale level, no, at least not so far as I've seen. ...
Thank you. Very informative.

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 07:59:13 GMT, Abrasha wrote:

Miguel B Good wrote:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:21:49 GMT, "Heinrich Butschal"
wrote:

Miguel B Good wrote:
..
Yeah, right. But seriously, is there some web site that posts the
price of diamonds over the past year or two, to see the fluctuation of
diamonds?

http://www.diamonds.net/
Here You might get a weekly trade survey.
Thank you for the link.
Can you tell me, though: have prices of AGS certified ideal cut
diamonds generally gone down over the past 2 years?

You keep asking the same question. So let me answer you plain and simply.

No.

Thanks. Now, was that so hard?

Actually, I think the answer might be "yes". The Canadians and Russians
have been introducing excellent quality diamonds into the market at
below market rates. Anticipation of this fact has been affecting the
going rates for the past few months.

Antonio

Miguel B Good wrote:
On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 07:59:13 GMT, Abrasha wrote:


Miguel B Good wrote:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:21:49 GMT, "Heinrich Butschal"
wrote:


Miguel B Good wrote:
..

Yeah, right. But seriously, is there some web site that posts the
price of diamonds over the past year or two, to see the fluctuation of
diamonds?

http://www.diamonds.net/
Here You might get a weekly trade survey.

Thank you for the link.
Can you tell me, though: have prices of AGS certified ideal cut
diamonds generally gone down over the past 2 years?

You keep asking the same question. So let me answer you plain and simply.

No.


Thanks. Now, was that so hard?