Diamond Valuations

Diamond valuations for Sale, Probate and Insurance Purposes

De Beers, the world’s leading diamond company, first coined the slogan “Diamonds are Forever” in 1947 as part of a brilliant advertising campaign that they still use today. The marketing suggests a diamond represents eternal love and affection for your partner. A boom in sales of diamond engagement rings resulted from that ad campaign and has continued unabated to this day. When it comes to an engagement ring “diamonds are forever” when only forever will do.

Most people are familiar with the criteria that affect the value of a diamond, generally referred to as the four Cs – cut, clarity, colour and carat but an even bigger factor to consider now is whether the stone is natural or synthetic. Synthetically grown diamonds produced under laboratory conditions are not to be confused with diamond imitations like cubic zirconia (CZ) or moissanite. They have the same chemical composition of a natural diamond but are generally produced via two different methods; high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) or chemical vapour deposition (CVD). To the untrained eye they look exactly like a natural stone produced by nature billions of years ago but they sell for about a tenth of the price and are not a sound investment. So it is more important than ever, when buying or selling diamonds, to seek the advice of a professionally qualified company like Nicholas Muston.

Recently we were asked to sell a number of beautiful diamond set pieces of jewellery that formed part of a probate valuation from a deceased estate and one of them was a large emerald cut diamond ring. Knowing how sensitive buyers are to a stone of this size being natural or synthetic we removed any doubt by first having the stone laboratory tested and certificated by one of the leading companies in the country. The certificate not only confirmed the stone was natural but also that it weighed 3.8carats, was a J colour and was VVS1 (very slightly included). Armed with this we were able to provide our client a price comparison between a leading auction house and a leading jewellery dealer. After factoring in the various expenses associated with a sale by auction the dealer’s offer came out slightly higher, it was guaranteed and without the delay of waiting for a suitable auction date. A sale was brokered and the client was delighted with the total price achieved for all the jewellery, with the ring making an impressive £24,000.