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by TacticalCoder 956 days ago
This is wrong:

> 3. A diamond is an illiquid asset, not an "investment". Don't believe me? Try to sell a second-hand diamond ring on eBay or at a pawn shop. Do you really think you'll get anything close to what you paid for it?

Yes you'll get close to what you paid for it if you buy it the same way jewelers buy it. There's an ultra liquid market for diamonds: a friend jeweler showed it to me. He needs a diamond to make a ring? He goes on a website where diamonds are sorted by their four Cs (clarity/cut/color/carat) and their price and all guaranteed legit. And he buys it at market price.

Of course if you overpay 3x the price by buying the diamond as part of a complete ring, you're sorry out of luck.

Now the diamond market may crash too, but that is another topic.

If your wife/fiance really insists on having a diamond: find a reputable jeweler and tell him you want to pick the stone with him, on such a site. And that you're willing willing to pay for the ring and his craftmanship but that you don't want to pay the stone 3x the price for what is actually two clicks for him.

Heck, you can even bring your own stone to the jeweler (I did it, with a family heirloom diamond). You can even bring a picture of a famous brand and say you want the same shape of ring: they're not supposed to do it but they'll gladly copy the famous ring (I didn't do that but I know someone who did).

BTW while you're at it buy a diamond that comes with a certificate.

And if you want to pay 1/5th of the price: then buy a lab-grown diamond instead of moissanite for 1/10th of the price. To me moissanite is a bit too shiny.

While a lab-grown diamond or a "real" diamond are the exact same thing.

See user glimshe 's comment in this thread.

3 comments

> If your wife/fiance really insists on having a diamond:

... rethink whom you are marrying and maybe the practice of marriage itself.

> “…you can even bring your own stone to the jeweler…”

I’m curious, how would you know the diamond you gave the jeweler was the same diamond they put into the ring, as a layman?

Well, I'm seemingly able to tell these two high quality diamonds apart from only pictures thanks to the minute differences in the Ideal Scope / ASET pictures coming from slightly different cuts, so better also invest in these tools (a tiny fraction of the price of even these diamonds) ?

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/compare/?lidnos=26...

I have no clue but maybe you could measure it with a micrometer
Also, jewelery is a luxury, an indulgence ideally bought to feel good and enjoy. If you treat luxury goods as investment, unless your job is buying and selling luxury goods, you are already out of luck from the very start.