Real, Live diamonds Sold

A friend of mine, for some 40 years, sent me 5 sealed containers of diamonds, something he had invested in. The accompanying appraisal forms totalled them at $63,000.00. I think he thought that I could sell them for that.

No matter where I went for an estimate of what I might receive, legally, the value was $10,000.00 and that is what I received.

So why, in the movies. are a mess of diamonds worth stealing?

Does everything have to be underhanded?

Maybe you got ripped off?

They WILL NOT pay the value of the diamonds, because they have to make a profit on them.

Besides, if you couldn't document that these were NOT blood diamonds, without that certification, they don't want to pay full price.

reply to post by canadiansenior70

Real, Live diamonds Sold

Just curious: (ie. no offense intended)
What exactly are "live diamonds"?

And why would your friend just decide to send you 5 containers of diamonds....?

reply to post by canadiansenior70


Did you know they can make diamonds in the lab now? That they are also around 30% cheaper than "real" diamonds? They are practically the same thing...

I for one would not pay big money for a piece of pressurised coal...

reply to post by canadiansenior70


Secondary, and tertiary 3rd party appraisal forms may have helped you get a better price by simply seeking out and getting different appraisals.
There's also bulk price, and individual price to consider.

On a side note, in humor, if you have any other friends that just want to send diamonds to people, I'll be more than happy to be one of those people.

obviously you do not know the huge and I mean insane markup on diamonds. The diamond that go for a couple hundred are like 20 dollars cost if that, that is why you made so little, if you get some beast of a diamond that has nice clarity well then you would have made more.

Diamond imo are a complete rip off and having worked in a jewelry store marked up WAY beyond what they are really worth.

The whole "diamonds are rare," is just a sales line. They are not rare, diamonds are everywhere. Now how can something that is suppose to be rare be everywhere? It's a great way to get people to pay a lot of money and well we all know they will and do.

Personally I think tanzanite, sapphires and emeralds are much prettier and are actually rare. You never see real emeralds or sapphires really in jewelry stores, they are almost always lab created ones. The real ones cost more than a diamond and why? Because they ARE rare. We had a tanzanite ring at our store one time that was more expensive than any diamond we had in the case. It was 20k and it was beautiful.

I had a friend of mine argue with me that her emerald was real and I had to burst her bubble because it was lab created. The emeralds you see in places like Kay Jewelers or Zales are almost always lab created, they very rarely have real ones. The lab created ones are all shiney and clean, real ones are actually quite dull and look nothing like lab created ones. They have specs in them and arent all perfect and shiney. Rubbies are the same but my favorite actually are pearls...real freshwater pearls. Pearls don't get nearly enough attention. They are very classy and elegant looking and I have seen some beautiful settings with diamonds and sapphires that makes a 2ct Tiffany's ring look like crap

Anyway.....also did you shop around before you sold them? Many people will pull the wool over your eyes esp when you don't know about diamonds. Good thing I was certified so I know my C's and actually helped a friend who got taken in a stone replacement on her ring. It was horrible and she didn't have a clue but I did and I went with her to return it and they winded up replacing the stone with one to match the rest of the band. She didn't know but knew it didnt look right and because of that they took full advantage of her! So just be careful in the future

Diamonds are only worth what they are worth because because of a clever marketing campaing by DeBeers throughout the early 20th century...they do have valuable characteristics, such as their durability, but in terms of rareness, they're fairly common....

The real money is in sapphires.

Originally posted by ParAvion
reply to post by canadiansenior70

 

Did you know they can make diamonds in the lab now? That they are also around 30% cheaper than "real" diamonds? They are practically the same thing...

No they really aren't. Diamonds are actually very sturdy and when they say they last forever well they mean it. The lab created ones don't. They get cloudy and can crack. Oh they may look nice but usually after a few months of normal wear they lose their "luster" and you have to either trade it in or get a new one...So in the end you might as well have bought a diamond.....but i do agree they lab created ones are cheaper and more affordable just make sure the person receiving it knows it's not a real diamond or you might have a story like this:

Funny story since you mention how they are practically the same thing. When I worked at the jewelry store we had a woman come in and want her ring cleaned and looked at cause one of her stones was loose. Well we knew by looking at it that it wasn't a diamond but CZ. We didn't know how to tell this woman that what she thought was a diamond was actually CZ. She had NO clue! Let's just say the look on her face was "priceless" and I can only imagine what happened when she got home. The poor woman left in tears! I felt so bad for her because she thought it was real and well as a female that had to be embarrassing and for the man well I'd put him on the couch for a long while!

Originally posted by madhatr137
Diamonds are only worth what they are worth because because of a clever marketing campaing by DeBeers throughout the early 20th century...they do have valuable characteristics, such as their durability, but in terms of rareness, they're fairly common....

The real money is in sapphires.

Agreed!

Sapphires are the most beautiful natural gem! My friend's engagement ring was a diamond solitaire surrounded by little diamonds and it was gorgeous!

DeBeers is highly overrated!

Honestly, I'd say it's beyond me why people pay big money for shiny rocks, but I know too much about the Rothschilds and De Beers to say that. It's just another way to slowly siphon all Western money back to Israel and put money in the pockets of people who think that life is about constructing as many indulgent manors as possible.

And honestly, even tanzanite just looks like darker, shinier Copper Sulfate crystals. Diamonds are probably the ugliest of the bunch and so many synthetic materials look just like them...

And I wouldn't go making this too public if I were you. Seeing as you're Canadian, the diamonds could have been mined without the permission of the De Beers, and they can and WILL send in the corporate guns.

Jewelry is mostly sold keystone triple or quadruple the wholesale value.

That means your diamond ring was marked up from, for example $100, times 4.
That's why when you walk in and buy jewelry you always see the salesman with a calculator.
When I bought my wife her wedding ring and the price tag was 4k I knew that I could get them down to $1200.

Diamonds also are subject to further scrutiny based on carat weight, color and the number of inclusions of carbon in the diamond. Prices for perfect diamonds are of course higher than those diamonds that are brown with many inclusions in them of the same size.

reply to post by mblahnikluver


My mom used to have friends buy emerald jewelry in Colombia for her to sell in our store.
The emeralds were almost always a milky type of green. Not very see through.
And also contained many inclusions.

So you are right about emeralds.

My favorite stones are blue sapphires.

First, there is an incredible variety and value scale for diamonds based on the quality, color, clarity and other factors.
Second, I agree and perhaps you did get ripped off. The only way he would have been able to say "these are worth over $60,000" is if he had appraised them, and he would have had the appraisal included.
Third, please give me the contact information of this person handing out envelopes of loot, as I am more than happy to accept $10,000 worth of items without whining and posting in a forum.

Thank you everyone, and that is a small image of the grouping he sent to me, about 10 years ago. The ring is an engagement ring that I didn't accept and it was 1½ carats. He held on to it, then send this 'bunch" of diamonds and included the ring.

We had been friends, from my point of view (supervisor/employee for some years) nothing more to me. I apparently meant more to him and he was doing his Will....................and being that he is 10 years older than I, I am now tidying up my Will and making it easier for my Executor.....trying to consolidate, or sell or whatever, for simplicity's sake.

I was told, here, what I needed to hear, in particular the high mark-up. (As much as he was into investments, I always thought that 'jewels' were for movies only, as I had my own dianmond from my husband and received only ⅓ of the appraisal.)

I was checkiing to make sure I was okay on the selling price I received, as he wanted to know and when I told him he was very disappointed.

Now some 15 years later at 83 he has had a mini-stroke and has been rendered permanently blind. Some things he remembers and some not and this was one that he thinks he gave me $63M, but cannot catch onto what I told him before, that I was paid only $10M.

(I think he is re-writing his Will )

Thank you all

Diamonds have been artificially marked as being rare. Creating an artificial scarcity increases value. Many different companies use this same tactic in marketing. It also depends on the aspects of each diamond.

Oh and by the way, to those of you who are say lab created diamonds are the same thing. Here is some info for you. Jewels are rated on a hardness scale of 1-10. Diamonds have a hardness of 10. Corundum( sapphires, rubies, emeralds) have a hardness of 9. All "lab created diamonds" (if you want to call it that, which is not correct) can only be man made up to the hardness scale of 9. ( which is basically a colorless piece of corundum).

there are certain grades of diamonds that are rare, valuable, and highly sought after, but you really gotta have a nose for such things.