Illustrated Guide

to the natural beauty and value of coloured diamonds

Wealth and Appreciation

It is only in the past 30 years that the buying and selling of coloured diamonds has taken on the business attributes of an orderly market. The coloured diamonds market was exclusive, to celebrity buyers, sellers, and auctioneers.

Just as markets in the fine arts have become democratized — with prints, lithographs, etchings, drawings and works of lesser-known geniuses, so has the coloured diamond market. A great many more buyers are able to people are now able to buyers are able to seek aesthetic appreciation and security in the ownership of coloured diamonds.

No longer the province of sultans and Hollywood actresses, the coloured diamonds market is welcoming a new class of aware sophisticates, flush with earned and saved wealth.

Their entrée to the market has been facilitated by the rise of the independent broker or dealer. The most prominent and successful of these having roots deeply planted in the precious gem community, where credibility rests on long-standing relationships and recognized technical and scientific credentials. And rarity was defined by nature and the open market, rather than the opinions of a self-appointed elite.

In fact, all coloured diamonds are much rarer than colourless diamonds. Yet not all coloured diamonds sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars per carat, and weigh in the multiple carats.

A small coloured diamond in yellow or brown or black hues, priced at only a few thousand dollars may be equally intense (i.e., saturated in colour) with larger stones ranked among the highest-priced. Today, that small coloured diamond may still sell for less than the equivalent-sized colourless diamond, even though the coloured diamond is many, many times more rare. On this basis, coloured diamonds can be deemed greatly undervalued. A disparity (and opportunity) which, in our expert opinion, cannot persist much longer.

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