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There are a lot of misconceptions out there when it comes to diamond prices – specifically the price per carat. As Houston’s premier diamond wholesaler, Jonathan’s Fine Jewelers takes a lot of pride in making our customer’s diamond buying experience as easy and informative as possible.
Today we are going to take a look at how the carat weight REALLY effects the price of the diamond, and also show you why our diamond buying experience is far superior to other dealers (especially the internet variety!).
We hear a pretty common theme when customers come into our store for a one-on-one appointment with our diamond experts. “I have to get at least a 1 carat diamond – she said so.” Trust us when we say this: We get where you are coming from.
You’ll find out very soon that she’s always right. Always. Seriously. Always.
One of the things that we always try to stress to our customers in the market for a stone this size, is that a diamond in the .90 carat range will look almost exactly the same as a 1 carat stone, but will yield a lower price. Now, are we saying you should always go with a smaller diamond to save money? Not necessarily. However, if you are working in a strict budget and don’t want to go over, this is great information for you.
Here are two stones that we have for sale in our inventory. We want you to note the price difference, but we especially want you to see what you could pay for similar diamonds if you decide to go with an online retailer instead:
Diamond #1
GIA Certified (All of our diamonds are!)
.96 Round Brilliant Cut Diamond
I Color
VS2 Clarity
Excellent/Ideal Cut
No Blue Fluorescence
Jonathan’s Price = $4,200
Popular Online Diamond Dealer = $4,400 – $4,976
Diamond #2
GIA Certified
1.02 Round Brilliant Cut Diamond
I Color
SI1 Clarity
Excellent/Ideal Cut
No Blue Fluorescence
Jonathan’s Price = $4,275
Popular Online Diamond Dealer = $4,666 – $6,120
Now, you will notice that our price on the two stones is very similar, which translates to several different options for a savvy customer. The smaller stone is actually an UPGRADE in clarity (VS2 vs. SI1) over the 1.02 carat diamond. You can apply this exact same concept to find upgrades in the cut or color of your diamond, or pocket the extra money that you have saved by selecting a unnoticeably smaller stone over a larger one.
Remember, just because a 1 carat diamond is fractionally larger than a stone in the .90 range doesn’t mean that you should experience a huge price hike.
Take a look at the change in the internet retail price from a .96 to a 1.02 carat diamond. It ranges anywhere from over $200 more, to over $1,100 more on stones that look identical! You are going to pay a premium for a number on a certificate instead of how the diamond looks in real life.
You think that’s crazy too….right?
Next, lets tackle another carat price myth that we come across fairly often. Regular logic would tell you that a diamond with twice the carat weight would cost twice the price. Sounds reasonable, but what many customers don’t realize is that a diamond twice the size can actually cost up to 4 times more than the smaller stone.
We will bring back diamond #2 in this example and compare it with a 2 carat stone:
Diamond #2
GIA Certified
1.02 Round Brilliant Cut Diamond
I Color
SI1 Clarity
Excellent/Ideal Cut
No Blue Fluorescence
Jonathan’s Price = $4,275
Popular Online Diamond Dealer = $4,666 – $6,120
Diamond #3
GIA Certified
2.07 Round Brilliant Cut Diamond
I Color
SI1 Clarity
Excellent/Ideal Cut
No Blue Fluorescence
Jonathan’s Price = $15,100
Popular Online Diamond Dealer = $16,767
Yes, you are seeing those new prices correctly. And no, we aren’t raising the price because we are mean and hate your bank accounts…we have to pay more for the diamond too. 🙂 A 2 carat diamond in this example will cost almost 4 times more than a 1 carat diamond.
Now, lets move over to another similar example, but this time with oval cut diamonds instead of round cut. Unfortunately, “Popular Online Diamond Dealer” won’t be coming with us this time. They don’t have the diamonds in their inventory, but it IS hard to compete with the largest diamond inventory in the state (us). We are subbing them out for a similar internet company for this comparison:
Diamond #4
GIA Certified
1.02 Oval Brilliant Cut Diamond
G Color
VS2 Clarity
Excellent/Ideal Cut
No Blue Fluorescence
Jonathan’s Price = $4,400
Another Popular Online Diamond Dealer = $4,820 – $5,420
Diamond #5
GIA Certified
2.02 Oval Brilliant Cut Diamond
G Color
SI1 Clarity
Excellent/Ideal Cut
No Blue Fluorescence
Jonathan’s Price = $16,750
Another Popular Online Diamond Dealer = $17,400
As you can clearly see, it’s the same result. The 2 carat oval cut diamond costs around 4 times as much as a 1 carat stone. The other result that is the same? Our price easily beats the internet retailer again. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main one is that we are experts in finding high quality diamonds from all over the world and purchasing them for a great price. The savings ALWAYS get passed on to our customers.
In addition to the price, there are a few other things that Jonathan’s can provide that an online retailer can’t. When you buy a stone from us, you can always come to the store and get the stone tightened or cleaned for life.
Try taking your wife’s engagement ring away from her to send it away to the online store for a few weeks, and then let us know how that goes.
Jonathan’s can also handle resizing the ring if needed, or let you roll over the amount that you paid for your center stone into an upgraded stone later down the road. We will let you look at and hold the diamonds you are considering for purchase, and will also give you access to the same tools that we use to evaluate diamonds. Using a real loupe with the help of a diamond expert is a lot cooler than using the fake one on the computer screen. Trust us.
Give Jonathan’s a call today and schedule your one on one appointment at Houston’s favorite premier jeweler. We are less than 30 minutes away from some of the key areas in Houston (Woodlands, Sugar Land, Katy, etc.), and will save you thousands on your most important purchase. If you need the internet experience, we have you covered on that too. Give our FREE DiamondChat online service A TRY with Jonny Nuncio today!
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