How to Buy a Diamond: Insider Secrets for Getting Your Money's Worth
400
How to Buy a Diamond: Insider Secrets for Getting Your Money's Worth
400eBook
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Overview
Newly revised, and completely updated, How to Buy a Diamond is the only book on the market to include wholesalers' secret pricing charts that you, the public, never get to see! The charts are broken down by carat, clarity and color-including the various types of color within each color grade for the first time ever.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781402267338 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Sourcebooks |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 400 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
My first experience with diamonds, long before I became a gemologist and diamond merchant, happened for the best of all reasons: I was a young man in love, with a burning desire to offer my bride-to-be a diamond ring and ask for her hand in marriage. It seemed simple enough. Between college classes I would stop by a jewelry store, select a diamond worthy of my beloved, and be on my way. I thought it would be easy-and it was, until I glanced at my first price tag.
After I was resuscitated by the jeweler, I realized this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. The only "rock" I could afford then was one I could pick up off the ground.
That experience, however, led to a management trainee position with a major jewelry chain, followed by an opportunity to run a jewelry store. Then I became a wholesaler, and over time my business evolved into what it is today, where I can practice what I preach about buying and selling diamonds.
Keeping in mind my own first experience with diamond buying, I have always tried to teach my customers everything they should know before making their purchase. If you were planning to buy a new car or a washing machine, you'd probably read Consumer Reports to educate yourself before the purchase, and you'd at least want to kick the tires and look under the hood before putting your money down. That's what this book is all about. It puts you in charge of the transaction by showing you how to tell one diamond from another, what makes a diamond expensive, and what "investment grade" diamonds are. I'll also show you the tricks of the trade, how to avoid shysters-in short, how to get the most for your money.
When I first published How toBuy a Diamond, it created quite a stir. Honest diamond dealers-and there are many-loved the book. They said to me, "Fred, we've needed this for a long time, because it's hard to compete with dealers who cheat." The dishonest diamond dealers-and there are many of them, too, unfortunately-hated the idea of educating consumers, of revealing the "tricks of the trade." They were the ones who made threatening phone calls, who vowed to put me out of business. "You can't do this," they warned. "You can't let the suckers (that's you) see behind the curtain. You'll ruin us!" So of course they threatened to ruin me instead, and even went so far as to make attempts on my life! Things got so bad I had to hire a bodyguard to stay at my side for a couple of years.
During that time, a lot of people saw me on TV, heard me on the radio, read about me in their newspapers-and bought my book. Becoming well-known made me harder to threaten. Now I'm the jeweler to the Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, and service the diamond needs of nineteen other pro sports franchises. I supply two hundred jewelers with their diamonds and colored stones, supply replacement diamonds for three major insurance companies, and I'm one of just two suppliers of diamonds to the Saudi royal family. But I also provide fine diamonds to private clients, individuals who may be just like you. And what matters most to me is that I've helped thousands of ordinary people get diamonds at fair prices. Helping you get a good deal on a diamond is just as important to me as creating a ring for baseball star Roger Clemens, because it takes me back to when I was a young man in love, shopping for an engagement ring.
Read my book. Call my HelpLine if you have questions. And walk through your jeweler's door with confidence that you'll walk out with the right diamond at the right price.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
The Shortcut
BEST
Chapter 1: The 4 Cs
Carat Weight
Clarity
Color
Cut
Proportions Made Easy
Proportion and Price
GIA Classes of Cuts
The 61 Percent Factor
Artificial Lighting
Super Cuts
High-Definition Diamonds
Proportion Questionnaire Sheet
Chapter 2: Cost
Diamond Price Tables
Buying Shy
Buying Shy Endangered Price List
To Thine Own Self Be True
Buying Guide by Customer Type
Too Good to Be True
Chapter 3: Ring Settings
Accents
Adding Color
A Word about Gold
...And Platinum
Palladium VP
Chapter 4: Picking the Jeweler
Jeweler Questionnaire Sheet
Who's Your Jeweler, and How Do They Categorize You?
Fully Bonded Jewelers
Who Will Help Me Now?
The Gift of Jewelry
Gift Questionnaire Sheet
The New York Diamond District
Disposable Jewelry
Buying Diamonds on the Internet
Certifiable? Lab-Grading Reports
GIA's Bribery Scandal
Fine Print
Real versus "Fake" Diamonds
The Imposters
Making the Purchase
Chapter 5: Tricks of the Trade
Blue Diamond Blues
The "50% Off " Sale
"Certified": A Dirty Word in Today's Market
Bait and Switch
Is White Really White?
Grade Bumping/Soft Grades
The Fraction Scam
The Old Switcheroo
The Sandbagger
The Vanishing Act
The Dirty Dozen
Torquing
Inscription Deception
Pillow Tops
The "True Weight" of Diamonds
Diamond Mysteries
Chapter 6: Common Myths about Diamonds
Chapter 7: After the Purchase
Insurance
Dirty Diamonds
Dos and Don'ts
Some Final Suggestions
Cleaning Your Diamond
Jewelry Care Guide
Chapter 8: "Will You Marry Me?"
Planning the Perfect Proposal
Five Proposal Styles
Soul Mate or Cell Mate?
Crack the Case on Your Boyfriend's Proposal Plans
For Men Only
For Women Only
Chapter 9: Buying Your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Diamond
New Marriage
Replacement Diamond
Diamond Upgrades
Trade-ins
Special Occasions and Gifts
Chapter 10: How to Sell a Diamond
Step 1: Appraisal 247
Step 2: Rapaport Value 248
Step 3: Buyers 248
Antique or "Estate" Jewelry 251
Chapter 11: Anniversaries and Occasions
Conclusion
Inside the Diamond Business
Appendix A: The Alphabet Rules
Appendix B: Carat Size Charts
Appendix C: Glossary of Terms
Appendix D: Diamond Guy Q&A
Appendix E: Getting into Shape
Appendix F: Wedding Traditions
Appendix G: One Guy's Opinion
Index
About the Author
What People are Saying About This
Finally, one of the top diamond experts breaks the silence and demystifies the world of diamonds for regular folks like you and me.