<p>How do you know when you go to a jewelry store that the diamond you are buying was recently mined and recently cut instead of being a diamond someone else wore for ten years or so and then sold it to a diamond re-seller? </p>
<p>It seems to me a diamond retailer could buy a diamond from an estate or elsewhere inexpensively, send it to the GIA for their report with a current date and then put it in a new setting and sell it at a high retail price even though the diamond is essentially “used.” </p>
<p>Many years ago (like 20+) I took my engagement ring to a jeweler to for cleaning and appraisal. He told me my diamond was “older” and that he could tell by the how the stone was cut. (Something about the style of the brilliant cut…Open facets at the bottom or something. I don’t remember all the details. It’s been a long time and I wasn’t really paying attention when he talked to me about it.)</p>
<p>I knew my diamond was ‘older’–it had been my MIL’s engagement ring, bought in the 40’s and DH had the stone reset into a more modern setting for me.</p>
<p>I have both…but the one more near and dear is my mine cut diamond ring with two remarkably similar mine cuts. The main stone has known history since it came from my grandmother. My grandfather was a leather merchant before , during and after the great depression. One of his customers didn’t have the money to pay for his shoe leather order so he paid it in diamonds, and I have one of them. I really wanted a three stone ring so my mother gave the diamond to my husband to have the ring made for me. I am not sure of the history of the two side stones…suspect that they were once a pair of earrings , but I do know that they are also mine cut so pre-1920
While modern , brilliant diamonds are more valuable in dollars, I like the idea of knowing that I have conflict free diamonds…can’t say that for sure with my engagement ring</p>
<p>I have purchased quite a few estate diamonds and most have been mine cuts. Mine cuts are deeper and not as brilliant a cut. However, a clean mine cut will out shine a dirty brilliant stone. I just keep jewelry cleaner handy and brush my rings once a week and no one would ever know it’s not a new stone, a brilliant or a mine cut.</p>
<p>Would the “used” diamond be preferable (especially if it were an heirloom used by an ancestor), because increased demand for “new” diamonds could increase the demand for slave/child labor to mine them or stoke civil wars in poorly governed countries?</p>
<p>I asked my son who sells fine jewelery/ diamonds and he said that you cannot usually tell, unless it is a branded diamond. </p>
<p>He said that this happens all of the time, and diamonds do no deteriorate. If you want a newly mined never worn diamond, you need to find a branded one like Hearts on Fire. </p>
<p>I don’t think it matters in the least. Diamonds don’t “age” or deteriorate.</p>
<p>My husband bought the diamond for my engagement ring from a jeweler who was friends with his parents. The jeweler showed him the diamond, which he had gotten from an estate sale in an ugly setting. He told him to ignore the setting and showed him why it was a good quality stone (no flaws, etc). H chose a new setting and got me a beautiful engagement ring for about 50% of what we later had it appraised for at a large jewelry chain.</p>
<p>The word is “estate” diamond. I have a mixture of new and estate jewelry. I own a diamond necklace which is an estate piece. If it were made today if would be tens of thousands more.</p>
<p>When my son gives a young lady a ring we have offered three diamonds that he can us in a new setting. The stones only total just under two carats but they’re fine as a starter. Why should he spend major money on a “new” stone when he (they) can put the money to a house or…?</p>
<p>Hey, I’ve seen the crown jewels in the Tower and they are holding up just fine! Basically, the value of the diamond has nothing to do with the age.</p>
<p>I just happened to show my older s, who is in town for a presentation, my grandmothers stone (european cut) that is set in a necklace. I told him he could have it when he wanted it and could reset it. I am currently wearing my mother’s ring, an old mine cut, I believe, along with her eternity band, on one hand, and my ring and bands on the other. My mother’s rings are beautiful. I dont care if the diamond is an “older” cut".</p>
<p>Some places like Tiffany claim to buy only diamonds mined in Canada. This eliminates the risk of buying a conflict diamond. But who ever heard of buying a diamond from Canada and how do you really know the Canadian diamond isn’t really from some place else?</p>
<p>I am sort of amazed that we can track where cars are made, where clothes are made, but there is no way to track the place of origin of a diamond.</p>
<p>From what I understand the diamond trade is totally secret. For years DeBeers had total control and only released a certain number every year to keep prices elevated. I have heard that there are ways to boost a diamond’s quality. So, now that places like Amsterdam and Israel entering the diamond trading business it must be almost impossible to trace a diamond from mining to cutting to dealer to setting to store.</p>
<p>I am not a diamond person, but if I were, I would like mine to have a “history” rather than new . However, a friend tried to sell her mine-cut diamond earrings, a gift from her H, after the divorce and the jeweler would not buy them.</p>
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