My first wife was a GIA certified jeweler and diamond buyer. I gave her a synthetic diamond engagement ring because we especially knew about the ridiculous mark-up.
My gut feeling is that its about 1000% (10X) of the cost.
“My first wife was a GIA certified jeweler and diamond buyer.”
Sweet career! Very unique.
I worked a contract with a certain “friend in the diamond business” here in Colorado. I saw the markups and they were stunning. Wholesale was pennies on the retail dollar.
Thats why i asked my husband for one. The vacation we used the money for meant a lifetime of great memories. He did buy a pair of diamond earrings for me and i fussed and never wore them. Would have liked another vacation instead.
I'm sure there was no cause and effect :-)
“My first wife was a GIA certified jeweler and diamond buyer. I gave her a synthetic diamond engagement ring because we especially knew about the ridiculous mark-up.”
Didn’t know about the synthetics, but I gave my wife a cheap ‘real’ diamond (at least that’s what we were told) for engagement...and that was it. All fake stuff after that.
There’s a saying: “A diamond is much more valuable when you buy it, than when you sell it.” In other words, you learn the true ‘value’ of a diamond when you try to get a dealer to buy it back from you.