FAQ's
- Why should a diamond purchase in Antwerp be any better than in New York?
- To begin with, Antwerp is the very source of the diamond trade with as
much as almost 70% market share, in other words: a New York diamond most
of the times is bought in Antwerp before it was put up for sale in New
York.
- Secondly, Antwerp has always been the only diamond city in the world
with three diamond-cutting schools where young people are molded into
the worlds finest craftsmen in diamond polishing.
The Antwerp-cut is therefore known for it's finest sparkle!
- Beside the 4C's that all diamond websites inform me about, are there
anymore specific ' details ' I should watch out for. And can they devalue
the diamond?
- Absolutely!
First of all, a diamond should be accompanied by one of the world's
three leading certificates: The HRD or IGI in Antwerp and the USA based
GIA.
Other certification may be less accurate.
- You should inform yourself about the priorities you set to your
diamond's budget.
Do you prefer colour to clarity? Do you prefer size to colour and
clarity or will you go for the very top?
In any case, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the cut should be
perfect to near perfect!
The reason is simple: cut is what you see!
I would even go as far as to
state that it is sometimes better to buy a lower quality diamond with a
perfect cut than to buy a gem quality with a poor cut.
- I strongly recommend NOT to buy any carat weight that ends in .00 such
as 1.00ct or 2.00ct.
We, the diamond traders look at these stones with
suspicion because most of the times the polisher has had instructions to
do whatever necessary to keep the stone from becoming 0.99 or 1.99 ct.
I
have seen diamonds that still had a bit unpolished (rough) just to
maintain the commercially interesting 2.00ct weight!
- Fluorescence. Diamonds can glow - have fluorescence - and even though I prefer
'none' to 'slight', this is not an obstacle for me when I purchase my
diamonds.
'Medium' and 'strong' fluorescence should be avoided (unless
you favour 'overblue') as this may cause the diamond to appear milky white in daylight.
- How can I see if a diamond is genuine?
My honest answer: You can NOT! You need to be an expert and use specialized equipment to make sure a diamond is real.
Do not trust ideas like scratching a beer bottle (it may damage the diamond too), thermal conductivity (Moissanite conducts equally well), looking through, comparing weight, etc.
If the diamond is accompanied by a certificate you will know it is real and if it is treated artificially or not.
Tip:If you can not easily find inclusions under a 10 times magnification you should become suspicious, most likely it is not a real diamond. But be aware of the fact that some gas bubbles in cubic zirconium may appear like inclusions if you do not look carefully.
- The diamond market does not seem transparent to me. How do I know that I am getting a fair deal?
- I will tell you more: even to 90% of all jewellers this diamond market is not
transparent at all!
It therefore takes a good deal of informing yourself
about where to pay attention to, as I stated in the previous answer.
Always bear in mind that when you think you can do the diamond deal of
your life, you always get what you paid for!
Fair prices exist (buy with me), bargains do not, despite many others may try to convince you otherwise.
- Can it be worthwhile to personally come to Antwerp and see you?
- Yes, in many cases the difference in retail, internet prices and Antwerp cut quality are so
big that I will make it worthwhile to see me in Antwerp.
I can
think of many of my UK but also US clients who save a lot of money
coming to Antwerp ànd see this beautiful city at the same time!
It will save you sales taxes too!
- Do you have an advise on how much to spend on a what kind of diamond?
- As a rule of thumb two months salary is standard, however more or less is also fine.
- Ever since I started the business I had my own ideas on how a diamond should
look, to qualify for jewellery:
Color: a diamond should be more than just white but not necessarily Blue white
Clarity: a diamond should be far better than just eye-clean but should not necessarily be
Internally Flawless
Cut: a diamond should be cut in Antwerp where you can find the best
craftsmanship on the market :
It's the cut that makes a diamond sparkle !
The setting: the choice of platinum, white or yellow gold is yours although I think they
should match your other jewellery.
|
