Poor Economy vs Diamond Prices.. Any Correlation?

[Imdanny]

Great chart! Love it!

 

[Judah Gutwein]

Guys,

With the way our economy is nosediving, it seems the only good spot to place your money in nowadays, is in your mattres ("leave out the last S for savings" "

)

 

[TraderDude]

Interesting discussion.
I am looking for a ring in a large size (3.5 to 4 Ct). My wife is dead set on a Tiffany ring. I haven''t seen prices come down there at all. And the salesperson told me they are planning on going ahead with their regular prices increases in the new year.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

I was down in Palm Beach last week and wandered around Worth Avenue on Saturday afternoon with my mother [yeah, the weather was not the best]. I had heard that the shops there were hurting but what I saw was striking. There were very few people out on the street and we saw only two other people in one store [Hamilton's] - not what I would have expected.

Everything we looked at was open to a large discount [the sales people offered - we didn't even ask because we were just poking around!] - watches, jewelry, art work . . . [we were looking at things that were not inexpensive]. I had an interesting conversation with my friends over at Kauffman de Suisse. They are discounting everything substantially for cash flow purposes. One piece that I was looking at for its setting [for my EC for those of you that remember that story] was marked at $160k. They said that last year they would have been asking $200k for it [before the discount, I assume] but that now, they would be happy to move it for $90k [which was their first offer]. Interesting . . .

I saw a fancy yellow eternity band at Graff that was marked in the upper $100k's and their first offer on it was $115k. Ditto for various nice watches at Hamilton.

It looks like there are some good opportunities at the high end and I would expect them to be around for a while.

ETA The people working in the stores seemed to be bored stiff! They couldn't wait to haul everything out and show it to us! LOL!

TraderDude - I have heard that Tiffany does not discount. I do not know whether that is still the case. If it is, you might want to go see one of the other high end shops for your 3.5 to 4 ct. piece. There are certainly many vendors out there that are much more prestigious than Tiffany [IMHO] that are willing to deal.

Just my $.02

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 12/18/2008 1:35:18 PM
Author: DiamanteBlu
I was down in Palm Beach last week and wandered around Worth Avenue on Saturday afternoon with my mother [yeah, the weather was not the best]. I had heard that the shops there were hurting but what I saw was striking. There were very few people out on the street and we saw only two other people in one store [Hamilton''s] - not what I would have expected.

Everything we looked at was open to a large discount [the sales people offered - we didn''t even ask because we were just poking around!] - watches, jewelry, art work . . . [we were looking at things that were not inexpensive]. I had an interesting conversation with my friends over at Kauffman de Suisse. They are discounting everything substantially for cash flow purposes. One piece that I was looking at for its setting [for my EC for those of you that remember that story] was marked at $160k. They said that last year they would have been asking $200k for it [before the discount, I assume] but that now, they would be happy to move it for $90k [which was their first offer]. Interesting . . .

I saw a fancy yellow eternity band at Graff that was marked in the upper $100k''s and their first offer on it was $115k. Ditto for various nice watches at Hamilton.

It looks like there are some good opportunities at the high end and I would expect them to be around for a while.

ETA The people working in the stores seemed to be bored stiff! They couldn''t wait to haul everything out and show it to us! LOL!

TraderDude - I have heard that Tiffany does not discount. I do not know whether that is still the case. If it is, you might want to go see one of the other high end shops for your 3.5 to 4 ct. piece. There are certainly many vendors out there that are much more prestigious than Tiffany [IMHO] that are willing to deal.

Just my $.02

HI:

Blu: What happened with your large stone seach--what did you end up getting?

Things seem to be in liquidation mode here as well; cars, jewellery.......

cheers--Sharon

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 12/18/2008 1:35:18 PM
Author: DiamanteBlu
I was down in Palm Beach last week and wandered around Worth Avenue on Saturday afternoon with my mother [yeah, the weather was not the best]. I had heard that the shops there were hurting but what I saw was striking. There were very few people out on the street and we saw only two other people in one store [Hamilton''s] - not what I would have expected.

Everything we looked at was open to a large discount [the sales people offered - we didn''t even ask because we were just poking around!] - watches, jewelry, art work . . . [we were looking at things that were not inexpensive]. I had an interesting conversation with my friends over at Kauffman de Suisse. They are discounting everything substantially for cash flow purposes. One piece that I was looking at for its setting [for my EC for those of you that remember that story] was marked at $160k. They said that last year they would have been asking $200k for it [before the discount, I assume] but that now, they would be happy to move it for $90k [which was their first offer]. Interesting . . .

I saw a fancy yellow eternity band at Graff that was marked in the upper $100k''s and their first offer on it was $115k. Ditto for various nice watches at Hamilton.

It looks like there are some good opportunities at the high end and I would expect them to be around for a while.

ETA The people working in the stores seemed to be bored stiff! They couldn''t wait to haul everything out and show it to us! LOL!

TraderDude - I have heard that Tiffany does not discount. I do not know whether that is still the case. If it is, you might want to go see one of the other high end shops for your 3.5 to 4 ct. piece. There are certainly many vendors out there that are much more prestigious than Tiffany [IMHO] that are willing to deal.

Just my $.02

HI:

Blu: I haven''t been around much lately--which of those large stones you were looking at made it home with you?

Vendors seem to be in liquidation mode here as well, cars, jewellery......

cheers--Sharon

 

[laughwithme]

I don''t post on this board much but I will offer my two cents... I have been closely following several princess-cut, J-color diamonds on James Allen for about 5 months. Yes, I have my eye on several that I am hoping my bf will buy one of these days. Earlier this week, I was checking them out (I like to stare, what can I say) and today, went back to the site to check them out again. Of the several diamonds I "follow," all have dropped by approx. $200 since earlier this week. I thought I was imagining it, but I went back to the email hint I sent my bf to verify the price and sure enough, they''ve dropped. They dropped about two months ago, as well.

Do you think it''s because they are J-color? I''ve heard all the online retailers are beyond busy right now with Christmas - does it make sense prices would be falling? Do you think they will fall even more in the next 2-3 months?

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Date: 12/18/2008 2:07:37 PM
Author: canuk-gal
I haven''t been around much lately--which of those large stones you were looking at made it home with you?


Vendors seem to be in liquidation mode here as well, cars, jewellery......


cheers--Sharon

Hey Canuk-Gal! Good to see you!

I have not been around too much lately either. At the end of March I was swept into a new business venture that has taken up most of my time and attention so I have been focusing on building it along with putting together a couple of joint ventures with another group. The great news is that my primary business is countercyclical so it is going gangbusters! All the more money for the upgrade.

No, no new stone has followed me home yet. If it had, I would have certainly posted. I wouldn''t hold out on you guys!

Finding an appropriate large stone is a loooong process - for me at least [it took me 2 years to trip over my EC]. I got distracted [if you want to call it that - maybe I should say I got focused] with growing the business so lost focus on the upgrade. Seems that this is a good thing given what is going on with prices! I really think things are going to get much worse before they get better and prices will decline further. I am, however poking around and following the auctions. You never know what might pop up.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Sotheby''s sent out an analysis of last month''s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction:

Interestingly, they pointed out that:
"The average price for Sotheby''s Geneva sale of Magnificent Jewels was $66,000, a figure that is roughly in line with the $67,500 average price of the May 2006 sale."

What was even more interesting to me is that "the average price rose to nearly triple the May 2006 level in the fall of 2007". Ouch! Good thing I didn''t buy one of those big stones in 1/08!!!

In any case, here is the link: Magnificent Jewels

 

[cooperchien]

I bought my princess diamond just 2 days ago. I was thinking about to delay my purchase, too. The price has dropped in November in many stores. I visited Robbins Brother in October and the sales followed up with me just recently saying that many of their diamonds reduced the price from 10 to 20%. I dont know about the online market but I think the price will not go up for sure.
The question is will it go down.
I dont believe the diamond price will fall like the stocks because unless DeBeers and Alosa decided to end their business, they have every incentive to save the diamond market. DeBeers has been through ups and downs in the last 100 years. Those cartels know how to keep their gold chicken to lay more gold eggs in the future.
So the bottom line is that the price has been reduced. If you have shopped for a diamond this October, you must have seen that big drop. However, the price will not drop anymore. I firmly believe the price will stay at the current rate unless you see De Beers turning into another GM....