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Posted on 04/19/2009 9:36:17 PM PDT by JoeProBono
You've heard the stories about gold prices being high (currently $868 an ounce). You've seen the ads to sell back your gold. You might have heard about gold parties where guests sell their gold.
But what about diamonds?
This week, Marketplace reports on the downward sales on diamond jewelry. It is of little surprise that sales of expensive jewelry are down, but why would the price of gold be high, but the price of diamonds be low?
Gold is purchased as a way to protect against inflation. Even if your dollars buy you less, you can hold onto your gold. The dollar value of the gold will go up with inflation while the value of a given dollar drops. One would expect a similar result with diamonds.
Diamonds are not as versatile as gold. While gold can be melted down and reworked into new shapes, diamonds remain whatever shape they were cut into in the first place. And diamonds are hard to value. Unlike gold, which requires only a couple measurements to find out how pure it is, diamonds need to be inspected by experts. The end result is, while diamonds "are forever" just like gold, they are not as convenient and certain. What results is stockpiles of diamonds and fancy jewelry while the gold settings are sent off to be melted down, leaving the gems behind.
So while this might be a decent time to sell gold, it is not a good time to sell your precious gems. There are already more out there than consumers want to buy. But it might not be a bad time to invest in jewelry, especially if you are in a position to, and even more so if you enjoy jewelry. You can get good deals on pre-made jewelry and you may be able to purchase say, a nicer engagement ring than you might have managed a year ago, heavy on the stones and low on the precious metals. It's anyone's bet whether gems are gong to be a good investment on their own, but it's a good time to buy if you're interested.
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Diamond sources are no longer under reliable control, and there is a strong liklihood that the market will be flooded soon.
Gold, on the other hand, is sharply limited in supply, and well understood by a majority of the world’s population.
What, you don't trust the Russkies?
unless you have raw uncut diamonds they are basically not worth selling in a stand alone state as the price can go up many fold depending on the setting they are in and the history behind them.
Diamonds come in a large range of colors that are hard to distinguish for the “average” layman. You have to have the right light to look at the diamonds and a set of color graded stones for comparison.
Then there is clarity. You need a 10X powered loop to examine and look for flaws etc.
Then there is the cut or make which is different from the shape (rounds, emerald, oval, etc.). The cut or make must be very well and precisely done to extract the maximum amount of sparkle and light etc. It takes great skill and a lot of time to cut and polish a diamond.
One of the few absolutes about diamonds is the carat weight. You need a very fine scale for the weight.
Gold is easy compared to diamonds.
The most valuable commodity is still guns, ammo, food, water and energy. You can’t eat gold or diamonds. At the right time, you might be willing to trade a 3 carat diamond for some ammo or a nice cheeseburger or a gallon of gas.
Arkansas Diamond Mine (no I’m not kidding...lol)
http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/photo-gallery/
http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/
NEWS RELEASE: September 20, 2008
VISITOR FROM MICHIGAN FINDS 4.68-CARAT WHITE DIAMOND TODAY AT ARKANSAS’S CRATER OF DIAMONDS STATE PARK
Finder Names His Diamond the “Sweet Caroline” After His Wife, Carol, and Their Song, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”
(Murfreesboro)—Richard Burke and his wife, Carol, of Flint, Michigan, had been visiting Colorado. While there, they went panning for gold and fossil hunting. The couple then decided to drive 950 miles in two days to visit Arkansas’s diamond site, the Crater of Diamonds State Park. They’d read about Arkansas’s diamond site in a geology book and seen a feature about the park that aired on The Travel Channel’s show, “The Best Places to Find Cash and Treasures.” Their visit to the Crater of Diamonds paid off when Richard found a 4.68-carat white diamond in the park’s diamond search area at 11:15 a.m. today.
Burke, a retired high school counselor and golf coach, unearthed his gem while surface searching in a shallow ravine near West Drain area of the park’s 37 ½-acre search area. He and his wife had been searching for approximately three hours this morning when Burke discovered it.
According to Assistant Superintendent Bill Henderson, Burke’s white diamond looks like a frosted ice cube and is about the size of piece of Chicklet Gum. Burke named his diamond the Sweet Caroline after his wife, Carol, and their song, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” They plan to keep the diamond and mount it in a piece of jewelry.
Henderson noted that it was the 612th diamond found by a park visitor so far this year. According to Henderson, “Surface hunting is very good at the Crater of Diamonds State Park right now because of the heavy rains the park received from recent Tropical Depression Gustav and Tropical Depression Ike.”
Henderson emphasized that the park policy is finder-keepers. “What park visitors find in the diamond search area is theirs to keep.”
The search area at the Crater of Diamonds is a 37 1/2-acre plowed field, the eroded surface of the eighth largest diamond-bearing deposit in the world in surface area. It is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the public. Diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow. The three most common colors found at the park are white, brown and yellow, in that order.
The park staff provides free identification and certification of diamonds. Park interpretive programs and exhibits explain the site’s geology and history and offer tips on recognizing diamonds in the rough.
In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at Arkansas’s diamond site since the first diamonds found in 1906 by John Huddleston, the farmer who at that time owned the land, long before the site became an Arkansas state park. The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed here in 1924 during an early mining operation. Named the Uncle Sam, this white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. Other large notable finds from the Crater include the Star of Murfreesboro (34.25 carats) and the Star of Arkansas (15.33 carats).
The largest diamond of the 27,000 discovered by park visitors since the Crater became an Arkansas state park in 1972 was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight. W. W. Johnson of Amarillo, Texas, found this spectacular gem-quality, white diamond in 1975.
In June 1981, the 8.82-carat Star of Shreveport was added to the growing list of large valuable stones found at the Crater.
Another notable diamond from the Crater of Diamonds that has received much national attention is the 1.09-carat D-flawless Strawn-Wagner Diamond. Discovered in 1990 by Shirley Strawn of nearby Murfreesboro, this white gem weighed 3.03 carats in the rough before being cut to perfection in 1997 by the renowned diamond firm Lazare Kaplan International of New York. The gem is the most perfect diamond ever certified in the laboratory of the American Gem Society. The diamond is on permanent display in a special exhibit in the Crater of Diamonds State Park visitor center.
Another gem from the Crater, the flawless 4.25-carat Kahn Canary diamond, discovered at the park in 1977, has been on exhibit at many cities around the U.S. and overseas. The uncut, triangular-shape diamond was featured in an illustrious jewelry exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium in 1997 that included precious stones from throughout the world including the Kremlin collection, the Vatican, Cartier and Christies. And, in late 1997, the Kahn Canary was featured in another prestigious exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York entitled The Nature of Diamonds. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton borrowed the Kahn Canary from its owner, Stan Kahn of Pine Bluff, and wore it in a special, Arkansas-inspired ring setting designed by Henry Dunay of New York. Mrs. Clinton chose to wear the gem as a special way to represent Arkansas’s diamond site at the galas celebrating both of Bill Clinton’s presidential inaugurals.
Other semi-precious gems and minerals found at the Crater of Diamonds include amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite and quartz. Over 40 different rocks and minerals are unearthed at the Crater making it a rock hound’s delight.
Crater of Diamonds State Park is located two miles southeast of Murfreesboro. It is one of the 52 state parks administered by the State Parks Division of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
I’d never invest in diamonds...worst investment ever.
Diamonds feel like they have an oily film on them. This characteristic prevents diamonds from being dirty. Diamonds have a metallic luster like new steel or lead.
The most common colors of diamonds are white, yellow and brown.
History of the Crater of Diamonds State Park
Arkansas?! Who woulda thunk?!
Arkansas Man Nearly Throws Away 4.38-Carat Diamond
Monday, November 05, 2007
MURFREESBORO, Ark. — Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park since moving to Murfreesboro in February, but the former Iowa resident on Monday nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.
Overall, more than 700 diamonds have been found at the park this year.
I found a pink half carat diamond there in the 1960’s.
I still have it and it’s still uncut. It is worth around $1,000 according to the jewelers.
Diamonds are not a scarce item. More are mined every year than can be sold so there is a glut in the market.
Diamonds are a dog. The proof is that unlike gold, you could never resell a diamond for anywhere close to what you paid for it. Diamond values are manipulated to the extreme prices they occupy by Debeers. The mastered the art of cornering the market of a gemstone that is not all that rare.
They store an incredible amount of diamonds. They feed a small enough number of diamonds into the system annually to always ensure high prices. They can flood out competitors until they sign on to maintain the system.
Diamonds are nothing like gold.
I found a pink half carat diamond there in the 1960’s.
I still have it and it’s still uncut. It is worth around $1,000 according to the jewelers.
Wow how fun; bet it would be very beautifulif cut & probably worth quite a bit of money as well :)
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