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Why Colored Diamonds Cost Serious Cash

You might think that the brilliant white diamond is the most prized because if its beauty. In most cases, you would be right.

But much rarer and more coveted are the naturally created colored diamonds. The Hope Diamond is probably the most famous of the colored diamonds. Its soft blue hue has wooed many, including the thief who originally stole it from an idol in India, which is (as the story goes) where the curse began. To say his ending really tore him up is an understatement. He got torn up by wild dogs. Legend has it that anyone who wore, or even touched the diamond was cursed. Good thing it’s now housed in a museum where no one will get the curse!

Oops. I digress. Colored diamonds, known as “fancy” diamonds in the industry, can be found in colors that span the palette […]

By admin|October 10th, 2012|Buying Jewelry, Diamonds|Comments Off

Maintaining Diamond Jewelry

We love buying up gold jewelry, but we understand that some pieces you just can’t or don’t want to part with. In that case, it’s better to maintain the beauty of the piece by taking good care of it. This is especially true for diamond jewelry.

It’s said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. If that’s the case, then you’ll want to take exquisite care of your (likely expensive) best friend. Yes, diamonds are quite hard, but that doesn’t mean they are impervious to scratches or damage to the setting.

Here are some things to keep in mind when caring for your diamond jewelry.

It’s best to avoid wearing your diamonds when doing “dirty work” like cleaning. Disinfectants, bleach and other caustic cleaning supplies may affect the luster of your stone and damage the texture or color […]

By admin|September 12th, 2011|Diamonds|Comments Off

The Bad News About Diamonds

Okay. So I have some bad news…and this is unfortunate. I always thought diamonds were the most precious of natural stones and that’s why they’re so expensive. Well, it turns out they ARE the most precious, but they’re not as valuable as I thought. When we decided here at GlitterBug that we wanted to offer our customers more than just gold parties, we began to get educated on diamonds. Then we learned that the “market value” (or it’s true value) is roughly 6 to 12 times LESS than what we buy them for.

Yep. You heard me right folks. When you go to your local jeweler or online store, those prices are marked up a minimum of 6….all the way on up to 12 or 15 times the actual value. Boy was I shocked. But I guess it makes sense if you think about it. If the true value of […]

By admin|March 5th, 2011|Buying Jewelry, Diamonds, Gold Parties, Selling Your Gold|Comments Off

Determine the Diamond Anatomy

We’ve already covered Step #1 (the four C’s: color, cut, clarity & carat), and Step #2: how to determine if your diamond is real or fake. Step #3 is knowing the anatomy of the diamond. When our gold buyers buy diamonds at our gold parties (both here in California and all over the U.S.) they all follow these basic steps that I’m sharing with you. When you learn these basics, you will be in a better position to buy diamonds from your local jeweler, or to determine the quality of the diamonds you currently own…and let us here at GlitterBug Gold Parties give you a quote!

Diamond Anatomy

Table

This is the first surface (surfaces in gems are called facets) that you will see. It is on top of the diamond, and is the largest area in the whole stone’s body.

Crown

This is the upper part of the diamond just above […]

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By admin|March 4th, 2011|Buying Jewelry, Diamonds, Selling Your Gold|Comments Off

Checking The Diamond CLARITY and CARAT

Let’s continue with learning to determine the value of your diamond by now learning #3 of THE FOUR C’s: clarity. Check my post from yesterday to catch up on the first two C’s: color & cut. And tomorrow we’ll finish up with figuring out the carat of the diamond.

DIAMOND CLARITY

Diamonds have natural imperfections called inclusions. These are minerals or crystals trapped inside the stone, and they determine the clarity of the stone.
Nearly all stones have characteristic inclusions (“birthmarks”) which make them unique and identifiable. These imperfections are graded accordingly and these also determine their value.
These are noted in the stone’s certificate from IF (internally flawless), VVS (very, very slight inclusions) all the way down to I (visible inclusions).
Here’s a couple of great charts that show the basic clarity categories. It gets much more detailed than this, but I’m assuming you only need to know the basics.

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					By admin|March 2nd, 2011|Buying Jewelry, Diamonds|2 Comments				
				
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						Diamond Color & Cut
			
				Let’s get started on our diamond estimating lesson! Today I’ll teach you about THE FOUR C’s that you need to be familiar with when buying or selling a diamond.
COLOR
• With the naked eye, most diamonds appear colorless, but they do have subtle shades of colors. Experts use the letter D (colorless) moving through all the letters all the way to Z (light yellow) in identifying them.
• A colorless diamond is chemically pure and structurally perfect. It lets through most of the light (perfectly transparent) and produces the most amount of brilliance.
• Most natural diamonds are imperfect, and colorless diamonds are very rare. The price increases as the color classification moves up the scale toward D.
• The diamond color is produced by chemical impurities or structural defects in the stone’s crystal pattern. It causes a yellowish to brownish tint.

CUT
• This is the most important […]
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					By admin|March 1st, 2011|Buying Jewelry, Diamonds, Selling Your Gold, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Diamond Color & Cut				
				
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						How To Know If A Diamond Is Real…Or Fake!
			
				Before we talk about the FOUR C’s you need to know when determining the value of your diamond, I think it’s important that you first be able to determine if the diamond is real…or fake. With very few exceptions, diamond jewelry is the world’s most expensive in its class. Even those diamond items that are small or flawed still cost more than the best of the other gems. It stands to reason that some people will capitalize on this and put out fakes to rip off the unwary and make a fast buck for themselves. How do you make sure the diamonds are real?
As a consumer, you can rely on your common sense and use some of the following random tips. Spotting a fake diamond may not be very easy (some con artists use very sophisticated techniques nowadays), but it can be done.
Scratches 
• Check for scratches. As your […]
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					By admin|February 27th, 2011|Buying Jewelry, Diamonds, Selling Your Gold|Comments Off on How To Know If A Diamond Is Real…Or Fake!				
				
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						4 Easy Ways to DetermineThe Value of A Diamond
			
				So, even though we specialize in gold parties here at GlitterBug…we also buy diamonds.  As a matter of fact, we’re one of the few gold party companies that DO buy diamonds! 
In learning how to check the quality and estimate the market value of a diamond, I thought this information might be valuable to you when either selling your gold jewelry (hopefully at one of our gold parties!), or buying a new piece from a jeweler.  Or you might just want to know what they’re worth…just to know.   No matter what your goal, determining the value of this precious gem is complicated and there are lots of factors.  
You need to be a relatively knowledgeable consumer to determine not only what quality you are willing to pay for, but whether or not the jeweler is asking too high a price.  As with […]
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					By admin|February 25th, 2011|Diamonds, Gold Parties|Comments Off on 4 Easy Ways to DetermineThe Value of A Diamond				
				
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Diamonds

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