How much is a chipped diamond worth?
Oh Lesley, I’m heartbroken! I smacked my ring against the granite countertop in my kitchen the other day while doing aerobics, hard enough to chip the diamond. The claims department of
has indicated that I have a valid claim, and that they will replace the diamond, but there is a lot of sentimental value, and so they indicated that it might be possible for me to purchase the diamond for salvage; so how much is a chipped diamond worth? And then the next question is how do I ensure that the diamond which provides as a replacement is of the same cut quality as the Brian Gavin Signature diamond which I purchased originally? – D. Park
How to determine the value of a chipped diamond:
Let me begin by saying how sorry I am that you chipped your diamond, and I hope that your hand did not suffer any damage as a result of being struck against the granite countertop, I’ve seen this kind of thing before and quite often the force required to chip a diamond results in broken bones.
Without getting into a long and drawn out explanation, the value of a chipped diamond is determined in one of two ways, the most common approach is to downgrade the clarity of the diamond to I-3, which is the lowest clarity grade, thus your 1.10 carat, VS-2 clarity, I-color, Brian Gavin Signature diamond would not be valued as if it were I-3 in clarity, that’s a pretty substantial decrease in value.
The second approach, which is the approach that we would take as diamond cutters, is to determine what the carat weight of the diamond would be after the diamond has been re-cut to eliminate the chip and return the diamond to ideal proportions and the overall diamond cut quality required for the diamond to exhibit a crisp and complete pattern of hearts and arrows.
The challenge is that without seeing the diamond and being able to determine the extent of the chip, there is no way for me to tell you whether the re-cut diamond is likely to remain in the range of one carat, or whether the carat weight is going to dip down into the 0.90 – 0.99 carat range, or possibly even lower if the damage is extensive.
Insurance Replacement of Brian Gavin Signature diamonds:
You might not be aware of it, but when you purchased insurance to protect your Brian Gavin Signature diamond against loss, theft, fire, damage, and accidental loss, you insured a branded diamond, and your insurance company is obligated to replace the diamond with a diamond of the same brand and quality, up to the policy limits.
Be sure to remind the claims adjuster that the diamond which was insured is a Brian Gavin Signature diamond, and tell them that you would like to replace the diamond with another Brian Gavin Signature diamond, we happen to have a 1.11 carat, I-color, VS-2 clarity, hearts and arrows diamond that is an excellent match to the diamond which was damaged; we can use this diamond as the basis for valuation of the damaged diamond, and hopefully get your ring repaired and back on your finger quickly. Just tell the claims agent to contact us; we’ll help them work out all the payment details, we’re pros at this!
