Price comps for coloured diamonds in more unusual cuts (not cushion, radiant etc)?

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Hi everyone! Was wondering if anyone knows a vendor or a retailer who sells fancy coloured OECs… my jeweler sourced a ~2ct fancy yellow OEC and he’s going to call it in for my mom if she asks to see it. I know she’s wanted to get her hands on an unusual OEC for a while so she’s happy to take a look, but she won’t do so unless his pricing is what she considers acceptable. Would you know of anywhere we could try and get comps?

 

[kenny]

I'd give www.leibish.com a call and let them know what you're looking for.
FCDs are rare, and looking for an unusual cut further complicates the search, but good luck.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I'd give www.leibish.com a call and let them know what you're looking for.
FCDs are rare, and looking for an unusual cut further complicates the search, but good luck.

Would it be unethical if we ask them to search given that we are quite unlikely to buy from there?

The longer version of the story is that my family jeweler reached out to us to let us know that he has access to a 2.03ct fancy yellow OEC, and that he would call it in for us if we’re interested. He’ll let us know more exact details in a few days (including certification). We were hoping to find some price comps before we ask him to call it in, because if it’s wildly overpriced we won’t go ahead with it since this is a good to have/ would love to have rather than a holy grail item.

I was trying to find comps online but I can’t see any - would you know what would be considered a decent/good price?

 

[Rockdiamond]

He’ll let us know more exact details in a few days (including certification).

Exciting!! A GIA graded Fancy Yellow OEC is a rare bird indeed!
It's absolutely crucial that the lab report be a GIA report.
I just did a quick search- worldwide.....I already knew what I'd find......Fancy Yellow OEC's are super rare. I located 2 worldwide, between 1.5-4cts, Fancy Yellow. Modify the shape from OEC to Cushion Modified Brilliant, the same search gave 2200+ results.....
In general- this will result in prices that could be double the price for an OEC FY as compared to a CMB

Would it be unethical if we ask them to search given that we are quite unlikely to buy from there?

I can't speak for any other companies...but as a general rule, I think most companies would view it as an opportunity.

 

[yssie]

I was going to say “reach out to David of DBL” so my commentary is unnecessary

I’m biased, but if I was going to buy a coloured diamond I would go to DBL to actually buy. Coloured diamonds are whackadoo. What the report says and what your eyes actually see - there can be some truly bizarre discrepancies. And those discrepancies can lead to nontrivial pricing differentiation. I would want to buy from someone who has a ton of experience evaluating coloured diamonds - to be sure I’m getting a great specimen at a fair price.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Exciting!! A GIA graded Fancy Yellow OEC is a rare bird indeed!
It's absolutely crucial that the lab report be a GIA report.
I just did a quick search- worldwide.....I already knew what I'd find......Fancy Yellow OEC's are super rare. I located 2 worldwide, between 1.5-4cts, Fancy Yellow. Modify the shape from OEC to Cushion Modified Brilliant, the same search gave 2200+ results.....
In general- this will result in prices that could be double the price for an OEC FY as compared to a CMB



I can't speak for any other companies...but as a general rule, I think most companies would view it as an opportunity.

Thanks so much David! I spent like 30 mins on your site today looking at all the pretties

Yes we already decided that we would be asking him to get it certed if it isn't already, before purchase. It's one that another client of his wants to sell, so it's "preloved", not one that he got from a dealer, which means it is fully possible that these numbers are coming from an appraiser report, not a GIA cert. That's another reason why I'm not jumping out of my seat as I don't know if its GIA certed Fancy Yellow or whether it's closer to Fancy Light Yellow, if its truly OEC or Circular Brilliant (though that would personally not bother me since GIA's criteria can be quite restrictive). No idea what the price is yet - so far we've asked him to find out everything he can and inspect the stone himself before bringing it up to us. I think I jumped the gun by posting, but I got excited, haha.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I was going to say “reach out to David of DBL” so my commentary is unnecessary

I’m biased, but if I was going to buy a coloured diamond I would go to DBL to actually buy. Coloured diamonds are whackadoo. What the report says and what your eyes actually see - there can be some truly bizarre discrepancies. And those discrepancies can lead to nontrivial pricing differentiation. I would want to buy from someone who has a ton of experience evaluating coloured diamonds - to be sure I’m getting a great specimen at a fair price.

Thank you for the advice, yssie!

To be honest, the only reason we are even considering it is because it's an OEC and a fancy colour OEC is super rare! But because this is not holy grail material for us we would only buy it if the price was excellent + all the ducks are in a row. E.g. if it isn't something that we think is pretty to the eye we wouldn't buy - no matter how rare it is, do you get what I mean? Or if it isn't certed or if the cert comes back significantly different to advertised.

Mostly just trying to get some knowledge out of you guys who know so much better than I do

 

[Rockdiamond]

Or if it isn't certed or if the cert comes back significantly different to advertised.

The plot thickens!!
It is certainly within the realm of possibility that diamonds that can't be found on the list may still exist in consumers' hands.
If a dealer approached me claiming to have a Fancy Yellow OEC, without a GIA report, I'd throw him out of the office....ok, maybe not that harsh...but I'd call BS. Any dealer worth his/her salt knows they'd need a report to prove the color/clarity
A consumer having such a stone sans report is more plausible.
Still, I'd truly hate to be in the position of having to predict what GIA will grade such a stone. It's far more difficult to predict as compared to a "standard" CMB

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

The plot thickens!!
It is certainly within the realm of possibility that diamonds that can't be found on the list may still exist in consumers' hands.
If a dealer approached me claiming to have a Fancy Yellow OEC, without a GIA report, I'd throw him out of the office....ok, maybe not that harsh...but I'd call BS. Any dealer worth his/her salt knows they'd need a report to prove the color/clarity
A consumer having such a stone sans report is more plausible.
Still, I'd truly hate to be in the position of having to predict what GIA will grade such a stone. It's far more difficult to predict as compared to a "standard" CMB

Yeah we don’t have all the info in yet so I don’t want to get (too) excited. He just gave us a heads up and said he can get it in for us to look at, but right now even he hasn’t set his eyes on it or even gotten all the info from the client. He’s a really fair guy though. If it doesn’t pass the basic sniff test for him I full trust him to tell us “nah not for you.” He’s actually discouraged us from buying something from him before because it’s something he doesn’t thing would pass our quality barometer.

We already told him that we wouldn’t buy without a report, so if it doesn’t have one he’ll let the client know that at least one potential buyer requires a GIA report. It’s up to them to agree or disagree, but if they disagree then no bueno (at least for us). Let’s see what happens!

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Quick update: so it looks like we got excited for nothing I spoke to my jeweler and he said he had the client bring in the stone for him to see. He said it was definitely an OEC, but in his opinion the colour seemed quite light - more plausible it’s a fancy light than fancy; though he didn’t want to commit to a colour grade. It’s apparently set in a ring which complicates things. It’s an old stone so there’s no cert, just an appraisal, like I’d suspected. He advised that client that a report would go a long way to help sell but they are a bit reluctant to unmount and send it off; and want to try and sell without that first.

So we told him that we would pass on even seeing it unless it comes back certed as fancy or even fancy light. Sigh. Not the update we all wanted but I thought I’d provide it anyway.

 

[Mreader]

Quick update: so it looks like we got excited for nothing I spoke to my jeweler and he said he had the client bring in the stone for him to see. He said it was definitely an OEC, but in his opinion the colour seemed quite light - more plausible it’s a fancy light than fancy; though he didn’t want to commit to a colour grade. It’s apparently set in a ring which complicates things. It’s an old stone so there’s no cert, just an appraisal, like I’d suspected. He advised that client that a report would go a long way to help sell but they are a bit reluctant to unmount and send it off; and want to try and sell without that first.

So we told him that we would pass on even seeing it unless it comes back certed as fancy or even fancy light. Sigh. Not the update we all wanted but I thought I’d provide it anyway.

Did the jeweler not even provide a pic? Bc now I want to see what it looks like!

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Did the jeweler not even provide a pic? Bc now I want to see what it looks like!

He didn’t - he’s kinda old school, so he doesn’t jump to pics and texts. He just calls. He’ll send a pic if you ask him for it in advance or something, but since the ring is still in his client’s possession I don’t think he has pics. My mom was in touch with him and didn’t ask for pics because she didn’t want to like it unless the client was willing to get it certed which as of now they aren’t. They’re afraid the stone will get switched, which now means no one wants to take responsibility of sending the stone off for them because in case it comes back anything else other than Fancy Yellow OEC - which is likely - they’re probably going to kick up a huge fuss and insist they’ve been cheated, and while this could easily be proved in court, in India reputation and trust is everything in the jewelry business. The lost commission wouldn’t be worth the possibility of lost reputation to my jeweler. It’s annoying but oh well. If he said it’s not likely to be fancy yellow I trust him. If the client lowers their price demands we can consider it again… but it would have to be low enough to be an ok price for alphabet yellow, and that’s a lot lower than they’re going to go in my opinion!

 

[lulu_ma]

Quick update: so it looks like we got excited for nothing I spoke to my jeweler and he said he had the client bring in the stone for him to see. He said it was definitely an OEC, but in his opinion the colour seemed quite light - more plausible it’s a fancy light than fancy; though he didn’t want to commit to a colour grade. It’s apparently set in a ring which complicates things. It’s an old stone so there’s no cert, just an appraisal, like I’d suspected. He advised that client that a report would go a long way to help sell but they are a bit reluctant to unmount and send it off; and want to try and sell without that first.

So we told him that we would pass on even seeing it unless it comes back certed as fancy or even fancy light. Sigh. Not the update we all wanted but I thought I’d provide it anyway.

Is your mom only interested in Fancy Yellow? I saw a Fancy Grey OEC recently.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Is your mom only interested in Fancy Yellow? I saw a Fancy Grey OEC recently.

That sounds super cool! I’ll run it by her for sure, thank you for asking!! Could you post a link to it so we could see (unless you are considering it for yourself of course)?

 

[lulu_ma]

No link unfortunately.

I have a video. It’s a 2.76 fancy grey SI2, but the table seems kind of big for an OEC. It was about $5073 per carat.

Here’s a bad screenshot:

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

No link unfortunately.

I have a video. It’s a 2.76 fancy grey SI2, but the table seems kind of big for an OEC. It was about $5073 per carat.

Here’s a bad screenshot:

Thanks for posting! The price is lower than I thought it would be, given that its fancy OEC, though I have no idea how prices work for something like this (neither coloured diamonds nor OECs are in my wheelhouse) so maybe its more than it should be?

I don't know if I am a huge fan of the colour though. I'll show it to her as well, but I think she would prefer yellow or pink (though pink is just not happening in any reasonable budget that we would have for an appreciable size, so yellow it is) if she does go for fancy. Though like I said, it’s not a holy grail for her, so she might not go fancy at all.