Do Diamonds in diamond jewellery have no resale value?

.......was a simple question posed by Poonam who stumbled on our blog recently. I was on the phone with the enquirer who is getting married in March 2009. She wanted to know this because thats what she heard from her friend. That diamonds are worthless in an old diamond jewellery.

Diamonds in diamond jewellery are usually very small in size compared to a solitaire ring. Often called melle or star in industry lingo. These diamonds are usually cut and polished from the fragments(leftovers) of cutting bigger diamonds.

When returning to the same jeweller where you originally bought the diamond jewellry from, the best practise is deducting 10% of the entire value and making charge. The 10% deducted is on account of losses due to broken diamonds. Yes even though diamonds are the strongest natural substance known to humans, they do break when jewellers try to salvage whatever they can from the scrap(old gold ornaments).

The severe competition among jewellers discourages a common shopper to try selling the old diamond ornaments purchased elsewhere. Any jeweller is reluctant to pay you the price you paid to another jeweller. Otherwise a diamond is a diamond and even a small diamond dropped on the floor in our manufacturing unit leaves the Karigar scurrying for a broom to sweep it in.