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Question on How Much I Should Pay for a Brown Diamond

Forgive me for chiming in so much, but I just went on the Leibish website and right on the 1st page of champagne diamonds is a 3 ct. round light brown, I1, for $7,600. I wonder if they saw that and used it as a guide.
 
kenny said:
I've been reading PS for 17 years.
IIRC there have been 2 times someone took a gamble and bought an FCD without a report, sent it to GIA and it was fully natural so they got a great deal.

It can happen.

But, as with all gambling, people don't say much when they lose.
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Truth. One of my employees loves the casino and regales everyone with tales of her big wins. With how much she has “won”, gosh I have to wonder why she hasn’t decided to retire early. Oddly, I have never heard about a single loss...
 
Ibrakeforpossums said:
Forgive me for chiming in so much, but I just went on the Leibish website and right on the 1st page of champagne diamonds is a 3 ct. round light brown, I1, for $7,600. I wonder if they saw that and used it as a guide.
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I have been wondering how he got his price too. There is an appraisal, which has an obscene number on it (28k) - many years old now. The price I am looking at is a bit under 1/4th of that. Which, interestingly, coincides with a quick google of “what is my ring appraised at XXX actually worth?” It also coincides well with prices I have seen of poorer light browns. But, this is a local cash sale, so one would expect to get less. My seller is a 60-something retired gentleman who will certainly turn a profit as compared to what he paid.
 
JJNPJ said:
I have been wondering how he got his price too. There is an appraisal, which has an obscene number on it (28k) - many years old now. The price I am looking at is a bit under 1/4th of that. Which, interestingly, coincides with a quick google of “what is my ring appraised at XXX actually worth?” It also coincides well with prices I have seen of poorer light browns. But, this is a local cash sale, so one would expect to get less. My seller is a 60-something retired gentleman who will certainly turn a profit as compared to what he paid.
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He probably paid a great price to begin with, and marked it up by a certain percentage. For a long time, there was low demand for brown and old cut stones. Not everyone can move these types of stones at full retail, especially locally. Assuming GIA comes back natural, I think the price is great. To put ungraded second-hand pricing in perspective, I paid $2800 for my 2.46 yellow brown. Bought it ungraded on ebay, sent to GIA myself. TBH at the time I thought I overpaid, that's how low browns were selling for. I don't think the pricing on your 3ct is absurdly low or suspicious, as some here seem to imply. I would confirm with the vendor that the price they quoted is contingent upon GIA coming back natural, and put down a refundable deposit to lock down the price.
 
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Thank you, ForteKitty! Great perspective, great advice. You have experience here where I have none.
Plus your avatar is insanely wonderful. That picture of the black and white cat has burned a hole in my head.
 
I too have done a half gamble on a brown diamond. I saw an ungraded gorgeous 3.22 RB diamond. I asked the dealer to send it in to GIA for grading. He agreed to. If the grade doesn't match his spec I wouldn't have had to go through with the buy. The grade indeed came back as natural Fancy Yellowish Brown. I also think 7k for an almost 3 carat stone is a decent price.
 
I just want to thank everyone on this post. I have been considering a fancy brown diamond - and this was incredibly educational!
 
Interesting thread. i just purchased a brown oec from the Pre-loved forum and thankfully it has a GIA grading report. Much smaller at 1.64 carat weight
 
Queenie60 said:
Interesting thread. i just purchased a brown oec from the Pre-loved forum and thankfully it has a GIA grading report. Much smaller at 1.64 carat weight
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@Queenie60, interestingly and relatedly, when I bought that brown OEC from CJD Sako, there was no diamond report and he had it listed as 1.62ct Fancy Light Brown VS, 7.52 x 7.17 x 4.80mm

After my purchase, I sent the diamond in to GIA (fyi, Sako was willing to do this on my behalf, but as I've sent items to GIA myself before, I thought it would be faster ... also, fwiw, I had no doubt GIA's findings would come in very close to Sako's posted specs on the stone).

Per GIA, the diamond weighs 1.64ct (as compared to Sako's 1.62ct), and Fancy Brown-Yellow (as compared to Sako's Fancy Light Brown), and VS2 (Sako had it listed as VS). Dimensions were also very close: GIA said 7.61 x 7.19 x 4.82mm (as compared to Sako's 7.52 x 7.17 x 4.80mm).

=)2
 
marymm said:
@Queenie60, interestingly and relatedly, when I bought that brown OEC from CJD Sako, there was no diamond report and he had it listed as 1.62ct Fancy Light Brown VS, 7.52 x 7.17 x 4.80mm

After my purchase, I sent the diamond in to GIA (fyi, Sako was willing to do this on my behalf, but as I've sent items to GIA myself before, I thought it would be faster ... also, fwiw, I had no doubt GIA's findings would come in very close to Sako's posted specs on the stone).

Per GIA, the diamond weighs 1.64ct (as compared to Sako's 1.62ct), and Fancy Brown-Yellow (as compared to Sako's Fancy Light Brown), and VS2 (Sako had it listed as VS). Dimensions were also very close: GIA said 7.61 x 7.19 x 4.82mm (as compared to Sako's 7.52 x 7.17 x 4.80mm).

=)2
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And I thank you for allowing me to own this beauty. Will be set in a pendant, trying to decide style!
 
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