Nobody’s Perfect…Including Diamonds

I can’t count how many times I’m told while examining a customer’s diamond engagement ring that they were told it was a perfect blue white diamond they purchased. Only problem is the diamond in question is very, very far from being just that. 

This leads me to a dicey situation, especially when I have to appraise it for insurance reasons. For the record, the value of the diamond isn’t always what you paid for it even if it was a half a century ago.

First of all I have never seen an appraisal in my 50 plus years in the biz say, “here is a perfect blue white diamond.” So when that so called perfect diamond appraised at a rock bottom price and the owner(s) cries… WHAT? You must be mistaken we paid many times that!

That perfect blue white one carat diamond appraised at much less than the store’s purchased price, like $3,800, and I’m looking at an old receipt from the 70’s with the purchased price of $8,500 complete with the store’s appraisal of $10,500.

The store’s appraisal was priceless…One ladies diamond ring approximately one carat white in color and clean and round. There was no mention of it being a perfect blue white. To even be in the category of being called that blue white thing, where I come from, a diamond would have to be in the color range of “D” to “G” and perfect means a perfect cut and it must be flawless. This diamond in question is none of the above. On close examination the color is near light brown “K” color and the diamond isn’t quite round, not to mention it has numerous flaws “SI2” clarity that can be seen with the naked eye. 

Some folks accept the cold hard facts…some don’t. Needless to say the vagueness of the original appraisal should have had a few red flags flying.

I look at a lot of diamonds and finding a flawless one is a rare thing. Almost all diamonds have some kind of inclusion; they are in a way like fingerprints, rarely are two are exactly alike. Any diamond that has dark or bad color and lots of flaws are simply not valuable and never will be. This is true with all gems: less attractive = less cost.

It is very important to do your homework and learn the Four C’s before purchasing that important diamond so you can understand why a diamond costs what it costs and it will pan out in the long run. 

The fact of the matter is diamonds are just like people - not many of us are perfect except the one person I wish I never met who lives on the island in her own little “Karenworld.” I never like to name names in my column even though she told the world on social media that “I was a poor excuse for a human being!” That really hurt my mother’s feelings! Personally, I still laugh when I read it, and so do the poor customers who were in the shop that day who had to endure her embarrassing performance. Therefore to avoid a brick being thrown through my shop window, and I would not put that past her, I won’t name her, taking good advice from my attorney and that’s killing me. It’s apparent I must have ruined her world because she just won’t let it go and still continues to bad mouth me on Yelp, all over the result of our locking of horns over her “untimely demands” days before Christmas four years ago. All one has to do is look at her profile. She complains about everything and everyone, apparently the world is out to get or scam this poor Karen. This “perfect person” would write a two page negative review about a bottled water company because it was hard to open or wasn’t wet enough. The only reason I’m harping on this, even though most business owners would ignore it and leave it to die in cyberspace, is that it’s not my nature. The reason is this Queen of all Karen’s recently re-posted, yet again, still complaining about me and my “disgusting” column. Hey, Karen…now it’s my turn to return the favor. Want some advice? Don’t read my column, or better yet…move off the island! Seeing that my presence here upsets you, believe me not one business or restaurant owner will miss you, including this poor excuse for a human being. Gee, that must be the only thing we have in common. Maybe your one friend on Yelp has a truck and can help you with the move. Bye bye! (P.S. While on the subject of diamonds - the diamond you claim is worth $50,000 is the ugliest most flawed diamond I ever laid my eyes on).