Posted June 10, 2013
The last few months have been less than exciting when it comes to Diamond Prices. Shoppers have seen prices ebb and flow a little with the Mother's Day sales events, but steady supply and demand have not moved the market much. With wholesale supplies also steady, we think that prices over the summer should remain fairly constant. Continue reading
Posted February 6, 2013
Planning on a Valentine's Day proposal? Shopping for the right diamond? Not sure what to get? Not sure where to buy it? Thinking about buying online? Need to learn about diamonds? Max's Diamond Price Guide is here to help you get the right diamond at the right price. Explore the website ... starting in the Learn About Diamonds education section. Everything you need to know is there, from carats to grading reports to color, clarity, fluorescence and more. Continue reading
Posted October 9, 2012
Recent indications are that the volitility rate of retail diamond prices has declined and prices are stabalizing. Until there is real, sustainable global economic recovery — including in the USA and China — it is unlikely that there will be a significant rise in retail diamond prices. While the demand for diamonds in China should continue to increase with the growth in their affluent populations, as long as consumer confidence is weak, so will demand be weak for luxury goods like diamonds. Thus, as reported in www.tradingeconomics.com/china/consumer-confidence, “In China, consumer confidence index improved to 99.4 in August of 2012 from 98.2 in July of 2012. Historically, from 1991 until 2012, China Consumer Confidence averaged 110.5 reaching an all time high of 124.6 in August of 1993 and a record low of 97.0 in November of 2011. In China, the consumer confidence survey measures the level of optimism that consumers have about the performance of the economy.”
Posted April 28, 2012
Gem-quality diamonds are evaluated and graded by their clarity, the absence of naturally occurring internal flaws, called Inclusions, and external flaws, called Blemishes. Inclusions and Blemishes, whether visible to the naked eye or only under a 10X microscope, can interfere with a diamond's ability to optimally reflect light, thus reducing the diamond's brilliance, fire and scintillation. More importantly, flaws impact beauty and desirability; there is much greater demand for a diamond with no flaws or very few flaws. Continue reading
Posted April 17, 2012
If you want to interact with an some knowledgeable diamond people, there a few places online where you can. Two online forums (you know, those old non-live chat places where you register and then post a question or comment to start a thread, and then other registered users can respond) are available that might help you out. Check out the forums on www.DiamondReview.com andwww.PriceScope.com. While a lot of the chatter is on diamond education topics like color grades and GIA, and such, there is a fair amount of discussion of the relationship of things like Cut Grade and value. Continue reading