{"id":1296,"date":"2014-09-24T20:37:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T00:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/datlas.com\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2014-09-24T20:37:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T00:37:52","slug":"the-mostly-false-stigma-of-uv-fluorescence-in-diamonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/the-mostly-false-stigma-of-uv-fluorescence-in-diamonds\/","title":{"rendered":"The mostly false stigma of UV fluorescence in diamonds."},"content":{"rendered":"

The common approach to the question of how UV fluorescence affects diamond pricing is that medium or greater tends to create a somewhat discounted asking price from the more common non-fluorescent and less than medium fluorescent diamonds. As a generalization, this is an acceptable statement, but does not begin to tell the full story.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Right away, we need to separate blue UV fluorescent and some yellow fluorescent from the far more unusual fluorescent colors of white, peach, orange, greenish and red.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Blue fluorescence may cause diamonds with some tint of yellow color to appear more colorless. This is a potentially positive effect on asking price.\u00a0 So long as a diamond does not take on a cloudy or oily appearance due to UV fluorescence, it has little if any effect on what a consumer will choose, but dealers are far more inclined to haggle over the details, even when the details in question are not of much importance to an end user.\u00a0 The GIA allows some amount of UV light into their grading of diamond body color which does change the grading that GIA does from what might happen if no UV light was put into the mix.\u00a0 In the colorless, D-F range, blue fluorescence can\u2019t produce any desired effect.\u00a0 If the fluorescence is not strong enough to be eye-visible in normal wear, then the effect on value is negligible, but if cloudiness or oiliness is visible in normal lighting, then there will be a reason for discounting the asking price.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yellow UV fluorescence is usually associated with a negative effect on asking price, but it can help the color of a light to strong fancy yellow color diamond to be even more yellow and visible. This is rare, but it is a possibility we should not fail to mention.\u00a0 Truthfully, UV fluorescence of any color which matches, or coordinates in a beauty creating manner, the body color of a diamond may serve to enhance the visual color appearance of the diamond.\u00a0 When this rare but beneficial event occurs, the asking price might be increased.\u00a0 Most UV fluorescence just gives dealers an opportunity to argue over a detail of the value of a particular diamond.\u00a0 It is the free market at work, but it may mean very little to most consumers either in their cost or the appearance of the stone.\u00a0 One thing for sure, UV fluorescence is something that can make the choice of a diamond just a bit more difficult.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the second hand market diamond dealers will try to offer less for any diamond with any discernible problem or potential issue. UV fluorescence easily fits into this arena since it can be readily shown to the seller and you don\u2019t need to trust the buyer that it is present.\u00a0 That\u2019s how haggling over the buying price is done all over the world, but it is far less common in the USA.\u00a0 Quibbling over the details is how most of the world operates.\u00a0 Fluorescence is just one of many minor and more major small details which diamond dealers suffer over.\u00a0 Other issues are black inclusions, open inclusions, blemishes on the surface, ships, nicks, naturals, symmetry, polish, culet size, girdle thickness, old lab reports, HTHP, laser drilling and several more.\u00a0 The consumer just can\u2019t begin to get into these tiny details in a fully informed way.\u00a0 Sufficient to say is that UV fluorescence of medium or more usually creates an opportunity for the buyer to make a somewhat reduced offer.\u00a0 You may have gotten the right price already, but how can you tell if you don\u2019t ask?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the reality of the stigma surrounding diamond\u2019s UV fluorescence. Sometimes any reduction in cost when the diamond enters the market is passed along right to the eventual end user.\u00a0 Many times, this is not the case and the potential discount is taken in by the dealers and retailer as added profit.\u00a0 May consumers find a medium to highly fluorescent diamond very attractive.\u00a0 Dealers may like them a lot, as well, but since they are the kind of folks trained to haggle, that\u2019s what they do.\u00a0 Even when it is not meaningful, haggling is part of the life blood of the diamond trade.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rapaport and other price guide publishers report minor ranges of premiums and discounts in value for differing degrees and colors of UV fluorescence depending on the color and clarity of particular diamonds. The range is from a few percentage points plus to a few percentage points minus.\u00a0 The reality is that a very few diamonds might gain a bit in value for fluorescence when it improves the way they look, but many have no change or a reduced asking price because of such an effect.\u00a0 We hear of dealers who will not even buy a UV fluorescent diamond simply because it creates a problem in re-selling.\u00a0 We see other dealers who buy diamonds of all types and appear to have little problem with most UV fluorescent diamonds.\u00a0\u00a0 If you choose to buy a diamond with medium to strong UV fluorescence and ever wish to sell it back into the trade, you should be prepared to have a more difficult time in finding a buyer than if the stone had little to no fluorescence.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it is important to know this before you buy, not years from now.\u00a0 You buy what you like, but you should understand the facts when you choose.\u00a0 My wife has a good sized diamond which does not fluoresce but the 3\/4ct side diamonds are strongly blue UV fluorescent.\u00a0 Both of us like the effect sunlight has on them as they turn bluish in bright daylight.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The discount on initial bids for diamonds with strong UV fluorescence can be more than 25% less than for a diamond with no fluorescence.\u00a0 Rapaport does not publish this high a discount in his monthly news magazine.\u00a0 What we get are very nominal indicators of discounts from 0% to about 8% for the most part.\u00a0 I would speculate Rapaport chooses to make these discounts as \u201cminimum discount offer prices\u201d just as the main \u201chighest asking prices\u201d on his Rap Sheet do not reflect the best prices, but the highest range.\u00a0 It is all very logical, but might escape the consumer who is not so well aware of how the Rap pricing guide is a coded sheet for which outsiders have no key to full understand.\u00a0 Even highly experienced estate dealers do not have the complete key to the pricing in the diamond market.\u00a0 The key is earned knowledge by working daily in the diamond business.\u00a0 There is no other way to be kept current.\u00a0 The best we can do is to generalize and to keep the consumer aware of the issues.\u00a0 The diamond business may seem somewhat simple on the surface, but underneath the glitter there is a complex free market trading and moving 24\/7 all over the world.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Consumers may find a UV fluorescent diamond is the one they most prefer. Often there is no visual basis for any discount and on occasion the right color of fluorescence and a particularly well matching body color may create a meaningful premium value.\u00a0 The free market will always act to create the minimum of buying costs when a consumer wishes to sell back to the trade.\u00a0 In the several steps a diamond takes to get back to the next consumer that discount may be mitigated.\u00a0 The final asking price may be adjusted for the particular issues of the diamond, or may be priced based simply on shape, cut quality, weight, color and clarity.\u00a0 We can\u2019t know until each stone comes back to the end user exactly how it will be priced\u00a0 The consumer is best left to understand that UV fluorescence and pricing differences make sense, but don\u2019t always occur in apparent and simplistic ways in the final retail asking price.\u00a0 In the end, you must select what pleases you the best.\u00a0 Knowing the facts can give you a lot more comfort in your decision process.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Atlas, GG, <\/strong>Certified Senior Member, NAJA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The common approach to the question of how UV fluorescence affects diamond pricing is that medium or greater tends to create a somewhat discounted asking price from the more common non-fluorescent and less than medium fluorescent diamonds. As a generalization, this is an acceptable statement, but does not begin to tell the full story.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,28,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diamond-buying","category-education","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1297,"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions\/1297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.datlas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}