Diamonds are one of the rarest minerals on earth. The number of natural diamonds on earth are limited. Natural Diamonds are older than dinosaurs. Almost all the natural diamonds are more than a billion years old. Whenever the term “diamond” is used, it also means industrial diamonds and consumer diamonds. As a mineral, diamonds are not as rare as gemstones like sapphire, ruby and emerald. So, the question is, if diamonds are not the rarest among these gemstones, why are “some” diamonds expensive? In this blog we will cover all the aspects that affects melee diamonds prices.
The Basic 4 C’s (Carat, Colour, Clarity and Cut)
You must have heard the term 4 C’s a lot by going through different jewellery blogs and gemmological education websites. It is true that 4 C’s affects melee diamonds prices.
Carat
Carat in short is the total weight of a diamond. A melee diamond weight is smaller than 0.20cts. Per piece price of melee diamonds works on ascending order, higher the size, higher the price it will be per piece. Their sizes can go as small as 0.001ct. 1ct is 0.2gm.
Colour
Melee diamonds just like big diamonds are priced on the colour they have. Starting from D-Z, D-F colourless range are the most expensive range. Colourless melee diamonds are the rarest form of melee diamonds. Jewellery made from melee diamonds are certified with a range instead of one specific colour E.g., E-F, F-G, I-J-K.
Clarity
Ranging from IF (Internally Flawless) to I 3, melee diamonds are sorted by its clarity. They are graded by range i.e., IF-VVS, VVS-VS, VS-SI and SI-I. Unlike big diamonds, melee diamonds are graded with the range. Higher the clarity grade, higher the price it will be. IF-VVS clarity melee diamonds combined with D-F colourless range are the most prestigious and rarest melee diamonds in the industry. Explore Luxury Collection at Shining Star Diamonds.
Cut
Melee diamond’s cut is one of the most important factors that affects their prices. Before purchasing melee diamonds, you should know the quality of cut. Melee diamonds comes in single cut which is way cheaper than the full cut diamonds.
Full cut Diamonds are graded based on Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Excellent cut melee diamonds are the most expensive and poor cut diamonds are the cheapest.
Limited Supply of Rough diamonds
DeBeers and its sight holders and other diamond mining companies makes sure that there is an adequate supply of rough diamonds to meet the worldwide demand of polished diamonds.
Before the Russia-Ukraine crises, Alrosa a mining company based in Russia was leader in production of melee rough diamonds. After the market sanctions and ethical concerns of polishing a Russian rough diamond, there is almost no to zero supply of rough melee diamonds from Russia. Current increased melee prices is backed by limited supply of rough diamonds. In short, if the supply of melee diamonds is more than its demand, the prices will go down eventually.
Demand of Natural melee diamonds
Natural Melee diamonds prices are impacted by its demand. Surprisingly, with the increase in the supply of lab-grown melee diamonds, there is no impact in the demand of natural diamonds. In recent years, more and more people want to buy diamond jewellery made with natural melee diamonds.
Introduction of lab-grown melee diamonds have only expanded the market share instead of taking a share from natural diamonds. If the demand of melee diamonds is higher than its supply, the prices will go up and vice versa.
However, Natural melee diamonds, especially high-quality range, remains rare in the market. Lab grown melee diamonds work as a substitute of low-quality melee diamonds which are poorly cut, cubic zirconia’s, and moissanites. Now consumers have variety of choices to go with.
Continuous innovation in the manufacturing sector
Diamond industry in Surat, India is continuously innovating its manufacturing techniques. This means, we are now able to polish melee diamonds in more efficient way. This had led to fast production and quick supply. Shining Star Diamonds believes in high quality craftsmanship with constant innovation.
Quality of Labour
Excellent-Ideal cut melee diamonds are polished with extreme precision. It takes a lot of knowledge, experience, and time to craft high quality melee diamonds. Our Melee Collections at Shining Star is a paradigm of hard work and experience.
Melee diamonds also come in single cuts, poor cuts, good and fair cuts. Their prices are less compared to Ideal-Excellent-Very Good cut goods. This is because, poorly cut melee diamonds have less labour and less innovation has been put to it.
Author: Zeel Gorasiya