The honest answer, before you sell
What is my diamond worth?
Less than it cost, and more than nothing: resale is a fraction of retail for every diamond, small stones carry little value, lab-grown stones have no resale market at all, and what moves the figure most is size and the grading on a certificate. No page can price your stone. Testing can, which is why every stone is tested before any offer.
Why this page has no calculator
Gold has a published price per gram, so our gold pages carry live figures and a calculator. Diamonds do not work that way. Two stones of the same weight can differ in value several times over depending on colour, clarity and cut, and none of those can be read from a form or a photo. A per-carat figure on a website is either meaningless or a hook. We publish neither. What we can give you is the honest shape of the market, and then a tested, itemised offer on your actual stone.
The four things that decide it
Size first: value rises steeply with carat weight, and the centre stone carries almost all of it. Then the grading trio: colour, from icy white down to visibly tinted; clarity, how clean the stone is inside; and cut, how well it returns light. A certificate from GIA or IGI states all four in writing, which is why a certified diamond is the easiest kind to sell. Stones of roughly one carat and above may be quoted subject to grading by an independent lab, so the figure rests on a lab’s word, not ours alone.
The three hard truths
First, the receipt is not a benchmark. Retail included margin, VAT and the cost of selling to you; none of it comes back. Second, small diamonds have limited value however many the ring holds. The market pays little for melee, and a ring of small stones is valued mostly on its metal, at the published per-gram rates. Third, lab-grown stones have no resale market. New ones get cheaper every year, second-hand ones have no floor under them, and we do not buy them at any size. We buy natural diamonds only, and every stone is tested, so this is always established before any offer.
Where the value hides
The quiet good news: the setting is worth real money on its own. Gold and platinum have published prices, and the band of a typical ring often outweighs expectations. An inherited ring may also hold an old cut stone with genuine interest to the right buyer. The way to find out what you actually have is not a calculator but a conversation: photos first, then testing, then an itemised offer you are free to decline. Start on the diamonds page, with the paperwork if you have it.
Questions people ask
Why is resale so much lower than what the ring cost?
Because the retail price contained much more than the stone: the jeweller's margin, VAT, the shop, the warranty, the box. None of that survives into resale. Every seller meets the same gap, through every channel: a dealer, an auction house or a private sale. The honest comparison is not with the receipt but with what buyers pay for stones today.
Why will nobody give me a price per carat?
Because carat weight alone does not set a diamond's value. A one carat stone can be bright and clean or dull and heavily included, and the two are worth very different amounts. Colour, clarity and cut move the figure as much as size does, which is why every stone is tested before any offer rather than priced from a number on a form.
Are my ring's small diamonds worth anything?
A little, but less than people hope. Small stones, the pointers and melee set around halos and shoulders, are costly to remove, grade and resell relative to their value, so the market pays little for them. A ring set only with small stones is valued mostly on its gold or platinum, at the published per-gram rates.
What is a lab-grown diamond worth second-hand?
As a resale item, effectively nothing. Lab-grown production has scaled so fast that new stones keep getting cheaper, and no stable second-hand market has formed underneath them. That is why we buy natural diamonds only and do not buy lab-grown stones at any size. The metal they sit in keeps its full value.
Does a certificate make my diamond worth more?
It makes the value easier to establish, which is worth real money in practice. A GIA or IGI certificate states the stone's weight and grading, so nobody has to guess and larger stones may skip a grading step. It does not change what the stone is: a certified modest stone is still a modest stone.
So how do I get an actual figure?
Send photos of the piece, the stamps inside the band and any certificate, with a line on where it came from. We tell you what testing would settle, the stone is tested before any offer, and a stone of roughly a carat or more may be quoted subject to independent lab grading. The offer is itemised and free, and declining it costs nothing.
Ready when you are
Send four things: a photo of the piece, a photo of the stamps inside the band, a photo of any certificate or valuation, and a line on where the piece came from. Every stone is tested before any offer. We buy natural diamonds only and do not buy lab-grown stones.