Diamonds

[Dave86]

I know this is a bit off topic for a forum that deals with PM scrap. However for those of us who deal in clean scrap jewellery, we may occasionally come accross a diamond or ten. I have been looking at prices on jewellery stores for their loose diamonds, and it seems even the smallest can fetch upwards of 100 GBP. However I appreciate that these shops will have a considerable mark up.

I'm dealing with a new refinery that say they take and recover diamonds. I'm wondering does anyone have any experience with this and what sort of money I can expect to get offered? As far as I'm concerned, any money ontop of the gold I recieve is a bonus, as I never offer any extra money for diamonds.

 

[Oz]

Given your location you should contact our forum member nickvc by PM. He is a stand up honest guy that lives in the UK and happens to be a jeweler.

 

[Dan Dement]

Dave,

I am a jeweler and have spent over 30 years in Diamonds business. I agree with Oz, that Nick, who is another old jewelry dog can lead you in the right connection. I manufacture nice Platinum and Palladium jewelry and can tell you that 90% of what we get over the counter is of fine cut diamonds. Here in the states, depending on size and quality, small melee diamonds that ae what we call are frozen spit, bring under $50 a carat. Semi decent small stones bring in the $75 tp $125. per carat. Bigger stones just depends on what it is, and what quanities and qualities that you have. WE manually extract the majority of our stones but for 1-2% fee, the refiner usually will return the stones to you clean. Usually, you can ask them to frost the CZ's with HF acid which you are not going to want to mess with as it is nasty stuff. My frosting, makes seperating the Diamonds from CZ's and others.

Good Luck,

Dan

 

[Dave86]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I bought a diamond tester off E-bay and calibrated it against known diamonds just to make sure it worked. I reckon I've got about 50 diamonds of the 0.03 cts range. A cursory glance on the internet shows me these are worth between 5 and 25 GBP each at wholesale prices, depending on clarity. Are these wholesale prices anything near what a scrapper can expect to get?

Regards,
Dave

 

[Dan Dement]

David,

In the states, breakout melee is worth about $100 per carat. The easiest way to seperate CZ's from diamonds is soak them in HF acid. HF is more than dangerous but I sure you can find someone to do it for you. Asking for the price of diamonds over the internet is like asking: How much is a car ? Just depends on what they are!

Dan