‘I now buy moissanite’: Houston woman gets emerald necklace appraised. Then the jeweler tells her something shocking about precious stones like diamonds
A Houston woman went into a buy-and-sell shop to get an emerald necklace appraised. Then she discovered that the jewels inside her necklace do not have significant retail value.
“This just blew my mind because… when you are getting engaged, married, whatever it may be, we want big rings. We want the bigger the ring, the more success. [But that’s not what it actually means]… It just blew my mind,” said Lucy K (@its.lucyk), a TikTok influencer with around 5,000 followers. After visiting a local pawn shop in her area, she posted about her experience, garnering 1.6 million views since Oct. 16.
What’s the resale value of diamonds?
Lucy went into a resale shop one morning to check the value of an emerald necklace she had owned for a while. But she quickly learned that the only thing valuable in her necklace was the gold the shop could melt down.
Surprised, Lucy decided to ask more questions. She specifically asked whether diamonds have any value when people bring them in.
The pawn shop owner explained that they are essentially “worthless” to resellers. Lab-grown diamonds, he said, have even less value.
Are diamonds worthless after you buy them?
Technically, a diamond is not worth much after a consumer gets their hands on it. It may have an impressive value in store, but its difficulty in selling makes it essentially “cheap” once a regular consumer purchases one.
It is misleading, however, to say that diamonds have little to no resale value. They technically do, but they require significantly more steps to sell and are therefore less desirable for resellers and retailers. They almost never have the same value that a person paid for them, especially if they are lab-grown, which is essentially an infinite resource.
To resell a diamond, a person would probably have to ensure it has a GIA certificate. The diamond itself would also have to have some notable sizing or intrinsic value, even with certification. Sellers will look for cut quality, color, carat weight, and overall clarity in the jewel. There are secondhand diamond sellers and online diamond resale platforms that will purchase these items, but they generally are not interested in small or uninteresting pieces that have poor carat weight, clarity, color, or overall quality.
For a regular pawn shop, it is probably true that emeralds and other jewels are “worthless.” A pawn shop can have gold or silver melted down, making it an immediate asset.
As the resale shop owner told Lucy, “What has resale value is the silver that’s sitting on the stone or the gold… The jeweler… raises the price.”
One viewer told Lucy, “Buy Emeralds, Rubys, or Sapphires. they actually have value. Diamonds have no value because there [are] too many of them on the planet.”
@its.lucyk Diamond rings, engagement rings, diamond bracelets don’t hold value? This was an interesting conversation and one I’m curious to see what opinions everyone has… #diamonds #diamondring #engagementring #labgrowndiamond #jewlery ♬ original sound – Lucy.K
Are diamonds only valuable to Westerners?
The pawn shop owner made another interesting comment, saying that for people outside the United States and other Western countries, diamonds and other jewels are not as valuable.
“I’m Kenyan and Africans, we deal with gold, pure gold and he was like, diamonds are more of a western thing,” the shop owner said.
Other commenters agreed, saying that jewels are not as valuable in other countries, especially if they are abundant. “I have a friend from Sierra Leone who told me diamonds are so abundant that they played with them when he was a kid…” one person added.
Diamond sales are essentially a large advertising campaign, since they are one of the least rare gemstones. They can be difficult to mine, but they are not a drained resource by any means. “Diamond prices have been manipulated for decades by a small group of companies who control the Diamond mining. They are just clear rocks that are plentiful!” added another viewer.
So next time you want to purchase a ring, it may be best to think about whether a diamond or a fancy jewel is actually worth it.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Lucy for comment.
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