Can a bargain hunter find a wholesaler and avoid the carriage trade stones?
Only if he knows his business and knows the wholesaler. Many of these dealers tend to handle only lower-grade stones. Small-time dealers are usually so short of capital that they have to pay premiums of 10 percent to get credit from the wholesaler, 10 percent to borrow the diamonds and an additional 10 percent because they can afford to take only a small quantity of stones at a time. How much does a one-carat diamond cost? The answer, as we have read in previous questions, is that it all depends on the stone. Diamonds all have little differences, so that each graduation of colour, each inclusion and each derivation in cut alters the price a little. Asking how much a one-carat diamond should cost is like asking how much a car costs. Similarly, diamonds have characteristics that determine costs too, so there actually are no fixed prices for diamonds. What percentage of diamonds on the market fall into the high-grade category for investment purposes? Only about 1.5 to 2.5 percent falls in
