If you are shopping for loose diamonds, be prepared to spend some time researching the subject. You certainly have heard about "loose diamonds" and "wholesale diamonds", but what does it mean? Loose diamonds are basically diamonds which have not been mounted onto rings, earrings or any diamond jewelry. There are many variables that determine quality, value and diamond prices of loose diamonds. Some you can control, others are based solely on market conditions and supply and demand. This site provides an overview of diamond terminology, the "4 C's", shapes of loose diamonds wholesale, GIA certificates, and explains diamond grading reports.

Know more about the diamond cut like the Asscher cut diamond, the princess cut diamond or what makes the emerald cut diamond rings valuable. The 4 C's emphasize on various cuts of diamonds, explaining the ideal cut diamond or shapes like emerald cut diamonds, cushion cut diamonds, asscher cut diamonds...

Buying loose diamonds and having it mounted separately gives you more flexibility and saves you a lot of money. The fact that you choose the diamond separately is your biggest advantage. Diamonds wholesale are priced on a per carat basis, and the loose diamonds prices jump at every full carat. This means buying a 2.9 carat diamond instead of a 3.1 carat can save you hundreds if not thousands. Compare the 2 carat diamond price list with the 3 carat diamond price list to see the difference in price and size. The price lists are overviews of the current wholesale prices for loose diamonds. Besides carat, the value differs depending on the clarity, cut and color grade.

Selection of loose diamonds Selection of loose diamonds

The price lists are divided into two categories: Round and Fancy Shape diamonds. The loose diamonds wholesale prices for Round Shape apply to Round Brilliant Cut diamonds and the price list for Fancy Shape applies to all other shapes such as Princess Cut or Heart Shape. The color grade ranges from D to Z and assesses the absence of color within a diamond, where D is colorless and Z has a slight yellow brown hue. Color diamonds such as a Pink diamond or a Blue diamond have a color intensity beyond Z, which is why they fall into their own category of color diamonds. If you can't wait for any further explanations: Check the Diamond Price List

Basics of wholesale loose diamonds:

Made from rough diamonds

Essentially, loose diamonds are diamonds that haven’t been bought by retailers yet to sell in jewelry shops. When diamonds are mined by large mining companies, they are bought by rough diamond traders who then sell the rough loose diamonds to cutters. The irregular shaped rough diamonds are closely analyzed using state-of-the-art technology, to assess what the optimal diamond shape would be to retain the highest yield. In simple words, how to cut the rough loose diamond the best way to waste as little as possible. The diamond cutter then chooses what would be the best natural fit for the rough diamond to be cut in, maybe two princesses cut diamonds or rather a large round cut diamond. The polished diamond that the cutter makes, is what we call loose diamonds. What People Say About Us

What happens to loose diamonds?

The loose diamonds made by diamond cutters, then end up in retail shops through a variety of different ways, either through merchants, auctions, diamond wholesale distribution networks, jewelers or other. Any which way, most loose diamonds will be mounted onto jewelry before being sold in diamond shops. Some retail stores will have a few loose diamonds in the window display, but usually, around 80% of their inventory will be mounted, finished jewelry pieces.

The price benefit of buying loose diamonds Wholesale

The process described above, what loose diamonds go through after being cut, is where the value-add takes place in the diamond world. The cutter creates jewelry quality loose diamonds from the rough, so when he sells his goods he increases the price to be rewarded for his value add. The same goes for the retail shop at the end: they display finished jewelry pieces for you to pick and wear immediately, in a glamorous shop on a fancy street promoted with glossy ads – and that’s what allows them to increase the price. Buying loose diamonds cuts away through all the unnecessary costs and allows you to buy diamonds at 50-70% less than retail prices. The more middle men you cut out the process, the more savings you pass on to yourself.

Buyer appraising diamond for sale Buyer appraising diamond for sale

The Diamond Registry opens up the wholesale distribution network of loose diamonds

The only way to buy loose diamonds at a considerably lower price than retail prices is from the wholesale diamond market. You might think to yourself “why not buy directly from the diamond cutter?” That’s because they are only allowed to sell to diamond dealers and wholesale distributors. It would be as if you go to a mining company and asking if you can buy a car from them. So the closest you can get to the source of diamonds, is at the wholesale distribution level. This means that you are buying diamonds just as jewelers or retailers do to stock up their inventory. This is where the Diamond Registry gives you unique access to a market previously closed off to the general public. Diamond Registry serves as the main entrance for the public to search the worldwide inventory of available loose diamonds, and connects you to any source available that is selling the diamond you are looking for. It could be as precise as looking for an 8.42 carat, round cut G color VVS1 diamond, GIA certified with excellent cut. If it exists, our global network will show it and the price it’s available for. Buying that diamond at the wholesale level is what saves you 50-70% off retail prices. This time, you’re not paying for the fancy shop front and expensive advertising, just the diamond you’ll be wearing. And it makes a lot more sense too if you think about it. Of all the different kind of branded products, diamond jewelry doesn’t show the brand like clothing does. So all those marketing and branding costs you’ve paid for included in the price of retail jewelry, doesn’t show once you leave the shop. The only thing people see if the shape and size of the diamond on your jewelry, the quality of the jewelry design, and the big smile on your face.

The steps to buying loose diamonds with Diamond Registry – How it works

Over the course of 50 years, Diamond Registry has set up the most comprehensive network of wholesale loose diamonds – our inventory is practically endless. This means that no matter what type of loose diamond you’re looking for, we will find it.

This is how it works:

• Step 1: Diamond buying information

Usually, people like to read through our extensive library of diamond information articles. This is where you learn about different diamond shapes, what makes a diamond high-quality, what to look for when buying diamonds of particular shapes, or even how to buy diamonds purely for investments. Imagine a whole Wikipedia database dedicated to diamonds, including news updates on the latest trends, fashion and exceptional auctions.

• Step 2: Wholesale diamond prices

Now that you know a little about what kind of loose diamond you are interested in, it’s time to have a look at the diamond prices. In the wholesale diamond industry, diamond prices work a bit differently than what you might have seen before in retail diamond stores. They are divided into different categories based on carat weight – more on that later.

• Step 3: Price quotes and diamond certificates

Seeing what type of diamond would be within your budget, you can ask our diamond experts for a free quote. That means that you will give the requirements of the loose diamonds you are looking for through our diamond quote form, after which you will be contacted by our diamond consultants. They will search the worldwide inventory of loose diamonds, to find the exact loose diamond you are looking for, at the best possible price. You will be sent the diamond certificates of the loose diamonds that made the selection, so you can pick which diamond you want to see. We recommend GIA diamond certificates because it is most reliable and accurate diamond grading system used internationally. But the choice is completely up to you if for some reason you prefer other diamond grading certificates like AGS or EGL.

• Step 4: Seeing the loose diamonds We have offices in New York City, Tel Aviv, and Hong Kong, plus a number of agents throughout the US, UK, Europe, Taiwan and Australia. There are three options available to you: either you come visit us in the office to see your selection of loose diamonds (open after working hours if you make an appointment), you come meet our agents to see the diamonds (appointment only), or we fly our diamond consultants out to your location (anytime, anywhere). Flying our consultants out is something we do regularly and free of charge of course. In fact, a lot of our diamond consultants divide their time between the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Dubai, France and the UK meeting clients like you.

• Step 5: Creating your own unique jewelry - optional

For the final step, you have the chance to work with our in-house diamond jewelers to create unique jewelry with your loose diamond. Essentially, our jewelers can create any type of jewelry you want based on your sketches, or photos of designs you have seen before and like. It gives your jewelry so much more meaning because the design is very personal, and nobody else in the world will have the same diamond jewelry piece as you do. Of course, this an optional thing to do, you can also keep the loose diamonds as they are. Payment method is agreed on between you and your personal diamond consultant – we accept pretty much anything but Bitcoins.

Besides being unique, what other benefit is there to create your own diamond ring?

When you see a nice ring design in the shop, you might not like the mounted diamond as much. Maybe it’s a VVS2 and you really want a VS1. Or it’s a 7.4 carat diamond, but having a 7.11 carat diamond is important to you because it has a special meaning to you – like an anniversary date? Creating your own personal unique jewelry gets rid of these obstacles and puts you fully in charge of everything. You pick the loose diamond, as described in the process above, so if having the 7.11 carat round diamond is important to you, you will get it. Then designing the ring afterwards means that it will be exactly as you want the ring design to be, down to the last detail. Taking care of this yourself is also a big cost minimizer, and it’s a very easy thing to do. You tell our designers what you’d like to see, and they will make it for you. The degree to your involvement is up to you. You are in full control of both the look of the diamond jewelry, and the price.

How wholesale diamond prices work

Buying loose diamonds means that you will source the wholesale diamond market, and save big on retail prices. But buying wholesale loose diamonds is slightly different than what you might expect, especially prices. In fact, once you understand how the pricing works, you’ll see that it’s a lot easier and transparent than when you buy retail jewelry where you can only see the final price of the whole ring. Wholesale loose diamonds are divided into categories based on their carat weight. Every carat weight has a different diamond price list. So there is a price list for 2 carat diamonds, 4 carat diamonds, 6 carat diamonds, and so on. The list itself has to variables: diamond clarity and color. Every combination of the two diamond quality variables has a different value – that value is what we call the price per carat. The diamond color range on the list is from D to K, and clarity ranges from IF to SI2. Price per carat is not the final price of the diamond. As the name suggest, it is the value of your diamond on a per carat basis. So to calculate the full diamond price, you have to multiply the per carat value with the total carat weight of the diamond you want. Similar to the price per pound when buying food. Below you can see the example of the diamond price list for 3 carat round diamonds:

Let’s do the math

All the numbers you see in the diamond price list above, are on a price per carat basis. So, let’s say you want to see what the total price would be for a 3 carat, G VS1 diamond. Looking at the table, you’ll that the G VS1 price per carat value is 28,270. To get the total price, multiply by 3 and you end up with a total price of $84,810. If you want a specific size, like 3.47 carat, simply multiply the price per carat by 3.47. Note: The most recent price update might not be reflected on this page yet, contact our consultants to get a free quote for today’s current prices. There are also two different sets of diamond prices per carat: round diamond prices and fancy shape diamond prices. The price difference can be quite significant for some. That’s why many people often look for roundish fancy shapes such as oval or cushion cut diamonds – to get close to the look and feel of a round diamond, for a much lower price. Calculating the price for both round diamonds and fancy diamonds works the same way as illustrated above.

Loose diamonds always come with certificates

So when your personal diamond experts locate a number of diamonds through our worldwide loose diamonds network, you will get to see photos of the diamonds, prices and certificates to make your first selection. Diamond certificates are a very important part of buying diamonds. They provide accurate and reliable information regarding the quality of loose diamonds. There a number of diamond grading labs available that issue certificates, but by far the most accurate is the GIA. They were the first to standardize diamond grading, and they are the ones that developed the systematic grading using the 4Cs – carat, clarity, color and cut. The certificate is linked to the specific loose diamond by using a GIA code, it’s like a license plate for a car. The code is laser inscribed on the girdle of the diamond, which is only visible under 10x magnification (and honestly even difficult to read then) and connects it to the certificate you hold in your hand. On the certificate, you will find a number of important information about the quality of the diamond assessed by diamond grading experts. This includes but is not limited to carat, color, clarity, cut, fluorescence, measurements, symmetry, clarity plot showing the location of feathers, clouds or other impurities, polish, faceting and much more. The GIA keeps a central reference database online, and using the GIA codes, you can find any of the GIA loose diamonds available on their website.

Why are GIA diamonds the best? What’s the difference with others?

The GIA is considered the industry standard. GIA is used by most reputable diamond shops, jewelers, retailers, merchants and the like. That’s because their diamond grading methods are the most accurate, and their standards are kept up to the highest level. While a specific diamond might receive an F color grading from another diamond grading lab, the true color might be a J color. Other labs are a bit more flexible when it comes to color grades, which is their way of creating bargains, but these are empty promises. You might be thinking that knowing the true color is not that important, because the diamond in your hand is beautiful no matter what. Well, the real trouble only comes when you are thinking of selling your diamond. People sell their diamonds all the time. Usually, it’s because they want to upgrade their current diamond for a larger better diamonds, or diamond prices have gone up considerably and it’s time to sell the diamond investment and enjoy the profits. Whatever the reason, you’re going to be looking for a buyer. Most buyers will insist on GIA grading – because it is the most accurate. Now you might be in for a surprise if you bought the diamond with another certificate. Your F color might come back as a J color after the GIA graded it. That’s a big price difference. So make sure you purchase loose diamonds correctly, and always insist on GIA certificates.

Diamond Registry has always been a pioneer

Diamond Registry opening up the wholesale diamond trade to the public is what we have been doing since 1961. Back then, it started with a diamond information newsletter that shared insider information with the public, it was the first time wholesale diamond prices became truly transparent. People from all over the world without any affiliation to the diamond industry could see how diamond’s priced, and that way learn about the benefits of buying loose diamonds. It changed the industry forever. As both the public and diamond professionals subscribed to the newsletter, the network continued to grow and grow. In 1997, Diamond Registry again was at the forefront of innovation of the industry as it became the first online source of diamond information. Besides publishing prices for loose diamonds, more detailed information was made available revealing industry information, trends, the details about diamond quality and to buy diamonds as an investment. This 50 year long journey has enabled Diamond Registry to offer you the most extensive source of diamond related information, the current wholesale prices for loose diamonds, and the ability to search the global inventory of all loose diamonds available today. It is become the only source you need for buying diamonds at the best possible price.

Clients of Diamond Registry

Our clientele comes from all over the world and all walks of life. We have clients walking into the office looking to buy a 2 carat diamond on the spot, and clients asking for a quote for 9 carat diamonds. We treat all our clients with the same respect and our diamond consultants always go the extra mile for you, regardless of your budget. Buying a diamond is a really unique thing, and usually for a very special reason. We know how sensitive it can be when you’re considering to buy a diamond, and we work with you to make sure the process stays fun and easy. Most of our clients buy diamonds as jewelry like engagement rings, or diamond earrings. But recently, many more people seem to be aware of the investment value diamonds have as an alternative asset to diversify portfolios. We have also had a number of celebrities that have used the Diamond Registry purchasing service, working together with President & CEO Nissan Perla. The media has always been eager to interview Mr. Perla, trying to find out exactly who bought what – but as professional jewelers we do not share this information. Call it a jeweler-client privilege if you will. But you’re still welcome to ask Mr. Perla when you speak with him, you may not get the purchasing details but he’s always keen to share a few anecdotes of his adventures in the Hollywood celebrity world.

Loose diamonds as an investment

Recently, loose diamonds have smashed record after record during auctions at famous auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s. This has increased the interest of the general public to consider investing in loose diamonds, and that interest, in turn, increased the prices of particular diamonds favored as investments. In the end, every diamond is a potential investment because of the price increases over time. But some diamonds simply offer more profit than others, and for the most part, these are the top quality diamonds and colored diamonds. For that reason, if you’re buying diamonds with an investment in mind (although you can still wear it as the jewelry of course), then we strongly advise you to buy the highest possible quality within your range. So consider your budget, then see what would fit in that budget as a D color, Internally Flawless round diamond. If it’s a 3 carat diamond, then that’s the best fit for you as an investment diamond. Buying fancy shapes diamonds is an option, although they are more subject to fashion trends and therefore fluctuating prices than round diamonds. Round diamonds are like stable bonds where fancy shapes are more like volatile equities – how to balance risk and return is your decision of course.

Where to buy colored diamonds

Colored diamonds are in fact very rare. Most of the colored diamonds are around 1 carat, which is why 5 carat colored diamonds collect millions during auctions. Naturally, you can’t buy colored diamonds everywhere easily. However, as the main entrance to the wholesale diamond industry, we also have worldwide connections with diamond cutters that specialize in colored diamonds, and if there is one available within your budget, we will find it for you. Buying a high-quality colored diamonds becomes a lot more complicated than a colorless diamond, because assessing the color intensity becomes far more important. Interesting, most colored diamonds are cut into fancy shape diamonds because the fancy shape brings out the natural color of a diamond. The more intense the color, the more mesmerizing the diamond.

In Summary

Buying loose diamonds saves you 50-60% off retail prices because you cut out the middlemen and overhead costs. It means you are buying diamonds from the same place as retailers do, so you know you will get the best prices. You should start with reading up on diamond information to learn about the quality of diamonds and how to buy a diamond in a smart way. Have a look at our extensive database of diamond education articles. When you are in the process of choosing a diamond, always insist on seeing GIA diamond grading reports. These certificates are the most accurate and reliable, used by everyone in the diamond industry. Diamond Registry takes you closer to the source, enabling you to buy loose diamonds from the wholesale diamond market. With 50 years’ of experience, we have set up the world’s largest network of diamond suppliers of loose diamonds. Any diamond you are looking for, if it exists we will find it for you. We offer jewelry services if you want to create unique diamond jewelry. We help you to make the smartest purchase if you’re buying diamonds as an investment. Buying loose colored diamonds as a quite difficult process, but made possible and easier with The Diamond Registry purchasing service. You can come to our offices in NYC, Tel Aviv or Hong Kong. You can meet one of our agents stationed across the globe. Or we can fly our diamond consultants out to you, anytime, anywhere. Ask for a free quote to get started on your diamond buying adventure! Check the education section for a detailed explanation of the 4 C's. Learn more about the Diamond's Clarity, understand how the clarity affect the Diamond Prices. Learn more about the Diamond's Color, understand how a different color can affect the Diamond Prices Learn more about the Diamond's Cut, understand how the clarity tremendously affect the Diamond Prices Learn more about the Diamond's Carat (weight) and diaminds prices are depending on many variables.

Check the loose Diamond Prices

Diamond Registry provides you with a diamond price list with loose diamonds wholesale prices, which shows an average of the current market pricing trends for wholesale certified loose diamonds. This diamond price list helps you to buy loose diamonds GIA certified, which is a grading certificate from the most accurate and appreciated grading lab for diamonds in the industry. Ideal to narrow down the question where to buy diamonds, which diamonds to buy or as known to compare diamond wholesale prices or retail diamond prices.