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Provident starts selling diamonds

They have been on their site for a while but now they are available.
I don't think it is a great investment in such small sizes but the fact that they will be easier to buy for the general audience may open new frontiers.

What say you?

Diamon bullion in Certicard
The member formerly known as Ciccio / Posts: 1453 / Joined: Apr 2009

Comments

  • I have never viewed diamonds as a good investment.

    The market is controlled with an ample supply held back from the market to keep prices up. There really isn't much use industrially for them so they are mostly an expensive trinket worn to impress people. They can be manufactured now with the quality so good it is hard for anyone besides an expert to tell if they are buying the real thing.

    I suppose this is why I value silver, it is actually critical for industrial and medical use as well as a hedge against fiat currency.
  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,764 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Junk for junkies. Not a good investment, but would sell well on TV.

    bobimage
    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Gemstones in general are not a good investment. Producers and jewelers make money... not so much for others. Cheers, RickO
  • PokermandudePokermandude Posts: 2,713 ✭✭✭
    Shenanigans. They aren't the first online bullion dealer to do this though. There is a big one in Canada which has been selling diamonds alongside bullion for about a year now. Not surprisingly, they don't show their buyback prices on the diamonds like they do with gold and silver.
    http://stores.ebay.ca/Mattscoin - Canadian coins, World Coins, Silver, Gold, Coin lots, Modern Mint Products & Collections
  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,660 ✭✭✭✭✭
    These diamonds in particular are the small (< 15 points) "chips" that are probably the least suitable for investment, but most suitable for a novelty product with high seller mark-up.

    These little diamonds are very common and have very little value, they're the "nuisance stones" in scrap gold and platinum jewelry.

    Investment-grade diamonds are large stones (>2 carats) with excellent clarity and color, usually internally flawless or flawless and D,E, or possibly F in color, and start at about $40,000 Example Blue Nile

    (and even those are probably only suitable for large diversified portfolios of at least $2 million. No one in their right mind would put their only $40k into diamonds)

    All that said, a card of diamonds is actually a pretty cool little thing for a couple hundred dollars, might be as enjoyable to a stacker as their premium-priced certified bullion, novelty "theme" rounds, and old pour bars, albiet with much tougher re-sale potential. Suggestion: do an occasional search on ebay for resale potential of these before buying it from the retailer.

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • mrpaseomrpaseo Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I have never viewed diamonds as a good investment.

    The market is controlled with an ample supply held back from the market to keep prices up. There really isn't much use industrially for them so they are mostly an expensive trinket worn to impress people. They can be manufactured now with the quality so good it is hard for anyone besides an expert to tell if they are buying the real thing.

    I suppose this is why I value silver, it is actually critical for industrial and medical use as well as a hedge against fiat currency. >>



    You hit the nail on the head (In Bold above), once I learned that they can produce flawless gems in a lab that look EXACTLY like "real" gems minus the flaws, I thought to myself... there goes an entire gem market. As I understand it, the only way to tell the difference from a naturally occurring gem and a lab produced gem is the natural gems have flaws (No matter how small, all natural gems have flaws).

    To bring up the only second argument, why would you pay $1,000 for a gem that you can get for $39.99 if they look EXACTLY the same when you are wearing them? I mean, the only thing a gem has going for it is how "Pretty" it looks right? So if the fake stuff looks just as nice, can be produced flawlessly and can be had for a fraction of the cost... Why, is all I have to ask. Why would you spend stupid money on something that only holds value if someone else thinks it's pretty?

    Thanks, stepping off my soap box now.
    Ray
  • DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,315 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've been a gemologist and jewelry appraiser since 1982.

    This is NOT an investmant (actually not even close to good value).

    RFR!!!!!!
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,676 ✭✭✭✭✭
    For several years we bought gold over the counter, I could never find anybody to buy the diamonds we took in. Not worth the time and effort on getting them out.

    In fact, I use to throw them in the trash most of the time.

    Absolutlely a 1 way market IMO, unless you had some very special one or large I suspect.
  • SUMORADASUMORADA Posts: 4,797

    Gemstones in general are not a good investment. Producers and jewelers make money... not so much for others. Cheers, RickO

    image

    And I've been a goldsmith/jeweler for over 37 years.............
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