Colored Diamonds: Be Careful, Not Crazy
June 18th, 2013 by Noam Flint
Earlier this week, Kimberley Diamonds announced the results of bulk samples they recently conducted at the Ellendale Mine in Western Australia, which is responsible for approximately half of the world supply of yellow diamonds. The firm said that the figures they received were significantly higher than the numbers they had been expecting. If their studies pan out, would we see more yellow diamonds on the market in the months to come? That should please the people who purchase fancy color diamonds.
But a parallel development should have the opposite effect on diamond buyers. In an article published days ago, Gemological Institute of America senior vice-president Tom Moses noted a negative development in the colored diamond market. Moses said that while there have always been attempts to pass off man-made colorless diamonds as the real deal, the manufacture of synthetic blue diamonds has now reached such proportions that there is a separate market for them. So news of increased supply of colored diamonds should be met with excitement, but should also be approached with caution.
When buying a colored diamond, keep your wits about you and make sure that you receive proof of a diamond’s authenticity. But while you need to protect yourself at the point of purchase, once you buy the stone with the proper documents, you can drop your guard and go about your business. Be thankful that you don’t need to scrutinize your surroundings at all times. Security experts say that jewelers who carry expensive stones with them from store to store are sometimes trailed by gangs of thieves for literally days on end for hundreds of miles, waiting for them to make one teeny tiny mistake.
So the moral of the story is: treat news of the arrival of colored diamonds – whether they be yellow, blue, or any other hue – with equal parts excitement and skepticism. But don’t be paranoid: once their credentials have been verified – those of the stone and those of the seller – you can take it easy and take that diamond home and enjoy it.
