From Chapter 5 from the book: "How to Select the Best Diamonds" by Garry Holloway

Diamonds are not rare: True and False. Smaller stones are plentiful; however, quality, large diamonds are very rare. This explains why they command much higher pricesas determined by the law of supply and demand.

A 2 carat diamond costs a little more than twice as much as a 1 carat diamond: False, a 2 carat diamond costs 4 times more. Twice as much per carat!

Diamond size is measured in carats: False, carats are units of weight. Most natural diamond SIZES are small, in millimeters, for their weight. Look at the size difference between the marquise and the cushion cut below. The marquise is more than twice the SIZE yet both weight one exactly carat.

Cutters try to maintain rough diamond yield to get to the next magic carat weight price jump. Lab grown CVD diamonds tend to be bigger and shallow because they are grown to the minimum thickness/depth to achieve a magic carat weight. Shallower diamonds sparkle more than deeper cut stones in spite of what the GIA and the industry have misled you to believe.

Look carefully at the chart below. It shows how important carat weight is (at the expense of cut quality.

Supply and demand: the only vaults that are full of diamonds are the wives and investors of the world. No business in the industry can sit on goods earning $0 in a vault! No miner. Only the Russian Gokhran storing sanctioned diamonds!

Ever wondered why fancy shaped diamonds cost around a third of the price for the same carat weight, color and clarity? Cutting a round diamond typically results in more than half the rough diamond being wasted. See the image below:

Diamond conspiracy theories

That there are vaults full of diamonds is a myth that began with an article in the Atlantic magazine in 1982, “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?” In my book I refute every argument raised in the 1982 Atlantic article; perpetuated by left wing journalists. Learn how De Beers went from controlling 85% of the rough diamond market to less than a third! And now part owned by Botswana with no Oppenheimer’s for more than a decade. USA monopoly charges had nothing to do with gem diamonds.

The book is full of information to refute many topics that make it harder to sell natural diamonds.

Because carat weight is the only no-negotiable characteristic listed on a diamond grading report, or cert, the cut quality suffers more than 90% of the time. If you like this information the following articles will address cut quality and how you can buy and sell, profitably, better quality diamonds.

If you find this information useful or of value for staff training, please buy my book. The Kindle version is $9.99 and the paperback is $39.50 at Ideal-Scope.