How to Buy Diamond Engagement Rings

Some jewelry stores mark up their diamond engagement rings as much as three times the Rapaport List wholesale price. However, on the wholesale market diamonds are sold well below the published value, so you can buy below list wholesale from a jeweler with low overhead and markup.

Diamond prices vary widely with diamond quality. The highest quality are many times the price of attractive but lower quality stones. Below is a brief rundown of the "4Cs" that govern diamond quality: color, clarity, cut and carat.

Diamond color, or lack of it, ranges from D-E-F (colorless) to G-H-I-J (near colorless), K-L-M (off white), N-R (faint yellowish tint) to S-Z (tinted light yellow). Your best buys for a good looking diamond are in the I-J range.

Diamond clarity (absence of carbon and other inclusions) runs from FL (flawless) to VVS, VS (very slightly), SI (slightly included), down to I1, 2 and 3 (included) where you can see imperfections with the naked eye. With SI and above they are "eye clean". Your best buys are in the SI and I1 range. Below that inclusions are more visible.

Today's standard diamond cut or"make" is the brilliant cut. Its formula was developed in 1919 to give the most sparkle and fire (play of colors) to a diamond. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has categorized diamond cut or make into four Classes:

1. Ideal Cut, 2. Well Cut, 3. Average Cut, 4. Below Average Cut. There are six factors that determine a diamond's class and only round brilliant cuts can be in the Ideal Cut Class

1. Carat (ct) is the weight of a diamond. There are 5 carats to a gram. Diamonds are priced per carat no matter what size they are, and the price per carat goes up the larger the diamond. A top quality 2.00 carat stone could easily cost four times the price of the same quality 1.00 carat stone. Also, the price drops as you move down below a main carat size, so a 1.90 ct stone will cost a lot less than a 2.00 ct stone but look almost as large.

Diamond prices vary greatly with the quality. The highest quality 1.00 ct diamond could easily cost $20,000. But we can find you a beautiful 1.00 ct stone of near colorless I-J color and eye clean SI clarity below wholesale for around $3000. We stock no diamonds, but display over 30,000 diamonds from major wholesale merchants listed at www.diamonds-diamond.net  and will also search the wholesale diamond markets for the best diamonds that fit your budget.

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