Jewelry

[geegerbee]

Last night the Affinity vendor said champagne diamonds are rare when talking about a $600 ring. That is totally false. Champagne diamonds are Brown diamonds---not a desireable quality. There were so many of them mined in Australia that they decided to call them champagne as a marketing tool to help sell them. Resale value of a champagne/brown diamond is low. Buy it because you like it, but know that it is neither rare, nor desireable in the diamond industry.

*****These earthy colored gems have become a hot item, but they weren't always this popular. At one time they were considered unacceptable for jewelry because they were seen as low color. Their color was not intense enough to be considered a fancy colored diamond, but there was too much color for them to be considered as a valuable white diamond. Many of them were set aside to use for industrial purposes instead. But with the help of good marketers mixed with the natural beauty of these gems they are now becoming increasingly popular as the centerpiece or an accent piece in jewelry.

So many of these brown and yellow diamonds are mined from the Argyle Diamond Mine in Australia that they have devised their own color grading scale for these colored gems. The scale goes from C1 - C7, light champagne to cognac. Some see this as a marketing ploy as this scale is not recognized by the well-respected Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Their scale goes from D, which is colorless, to Z, which is a less valuable slightly colored diamond.

The well known jeweler Le Vian coined the term chocolate diamonds to make their brown gems more appealing. It seems to have been a smart and successful move as the term has become more popular, and so have these diamonds.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3969304

[Still Raining]

Another clue is that Affinity is marketing them.

Anyone else remember "eye clean"?

[Group 5 minus 1]

Thank you, BailySue for the info.

[SilleeMee]

The one mine (Argyle Mine in Australia) which produced most, if not all natural colored diamonds closed in 2020. What you see out in the market today is old stock. Nothing new is coming out of the ground so in a way champagne diamonds are (going to be) rare.

[mom2four0418]

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@geegerbee wrote:

Last night the Affinity vendor said champagne diamonds are rare when talking about a $600 ring. That is totally false. Champagne diamonds are Brown diamonds---not a desireable quality. There were so many of them mined in Australia that they decided to call them champagne as a marketing tool to help sell them. Resale value of a champagne/brown diamond is low. Buy it because you like it, but know that it is neither rare, nor desireable in the diamond 

The very last people that i would trust are vendors and hosts on a shopping channel. It is all about making money, and you are a wise consumer. 

[Kachina624]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

The one mine (Argyle Mine in Australia) which produced most, if not all natural colored diamonds closed in 2020. What you see out in the market today is old stock. Nothing new is coming out of the ground so in a way champagne diamonds are (going to be) rare.

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@SilleeMee   Maybe, maybe not.  They're also mined in Siberia and Africa.  Saying they are rare and valuable certainly damages QVC's credibility when many of us know this isn't true. We've heard the old "mine is closing" story before while the product goes on and on. 

I found this:

You may be wondering if a colored diamond, specifically a champagne, is rarer and more expensive than a white, colorless diamond. In general, champagne colored diamonds are less rare than colorless diamonds and other fancy colored diamonds. Therefore, the prices of champagne diamonds are significantly less than these diamonds as well

[gertrudecloset]

@Kachina624Nothing rare about them.  You're right.  Diamonds in and of themselves are not rare. They are just hoarded by huge company. It's hard to get your hands on D flawless (not impossible) but it will cost.  It's an artificial market.  Keep them out of circulation to give the false notion that they are rare.  Diamonds are NOT rare.  The rarest naturally colored diamonds would be blue (like the Hope Diamond).

[nova]

@geegerbee  I worked in a high end jewelry store that sold Levian jewelry which did feature a lot of the chocolate diamonds.  The impeccable quality of the goldwork and design as well as the gemstones themselves were stunning.  Twice a year Levian would have a trunk show and you would not believe how their merchadise would fly out of the store.  Levian had access to the most brilliant of the chocolate diamonds and they would absolutely sparkle in the light - but different than a white diamond of course.  I have both a Levian necklace & earrings of chocolate diamonds with a large solitaire pearl set in rose gold and they are impeccable.  The gemstones Levian uses are also the finest quality and their pieces have a lifetime warranty.  I don't know if Affinity uses the same chocolate-champagne diamonds.