Local jewelers are benefiting once again from the desire of the jewelry shopping public to make high end diamond and jewelry purchases in person. The novelty of buying at perceived discounts online from diamond brokers is waning. It’s a bit ironic that the same internet technology that brought us e-commerce and enabled us to buy diamonds online is now bringing the type of quality diamond information to consumers needed to understand that buying sight unseen, even from reputable shops that sell strictly graded diamonds, can be risky.

Engagement ring and wedding band season are upon us. Consumers in the market for engagement rings or wedding bands, I recommend you make your move sooner rather than later. Precious metal prices have once again broken through a new high since the last time we blogged. The stock market is getting crushed on an almost daily basis. Commodities like gold, silver, oil and even diamonds will be the security hedge against floundering currencies world wide.

As we look forward to a recovering economy, wage increases for those of us that have jobs, and new opportunity for those who don’t, there appears to be a small but growing sense of “reserved hope.” For the jewelry industry professionals, we are slowly realizing the anticipated increase in diamond values, as well as platinum. Gold prices remain high, but mostly stable. Many looking to liquidate gold are struggling to decide if now is the time, or if we’ll see another jump in prices when inflation hits.

This was written in February of 2009

It’s a strange thing. The past few years have brought a new degree of genuine “commodity type” behavior for diamonds. Declining value of the US dollar triggered large and consistent increases in the value of most wholesale diamonds, as it did with other commodities. A weakening global economy and subsequent strengthening of US currency precipitated declines in diamond values.

Selling your jewelry? There are a few things to keep in mind when you make the decision to sell your diamond, platinum or gold jewelry. I had a gentleman come in looking to sell and engagement ring he purchased a few years ago from a retail shop for over $3000.00. After getting a few details from him over the phone, he met me in one of our affiliate Jewelry showrooms so I could look at the diamond ring.