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Diamonds
Buy and Sell Diamonds and Precious Stones

Diamonds and Precious Gems

At South Bay Gold, we buy, sell and trade Diamonds along with precious stones. These precious gems include Emeralds, Rubies, Sapphires, Tsavorite Garnet, and Tanzanite. The value of a particular stone is determined based on four key factors: cut, color, carat weight and clarity.

Cut

The quality of the cut determines the performance of light that reflects through the stone, which affects the overall brilliance. Based on the quality or type of cut affects the brightness of the surface and interior of the diamond, the fire that emits from a diamond, and the brilliance as the diamond moves when observed. The cut scale ranges from Excellent to Poor, where excellent would be a diamond of fine proportion, symmetry, and polish which would have an optimal light performance.

Color

For diamonds in particular, the color grade ranges from D to Z where D stands for colorless and Z stands for light yellow or brown. The value increases with the lesser amount of color. This scale is for basic diamonds and does not account for colored diamonds.

Clarity

The clarity grade scale for diamonds ranges from I3 (included level 3) up to VVS1 (very very slightly included). It is rare for diamonds to lack internal and external characteristic because it takes a large amount of heat and pressure to be formed.

Carat Weight

The last characteristic required in determining value is the carat weight. The larger the carat, the more value a diamond is worth. One carat is equals 200 milligrams in weight.

What to know about selling your stones

We have several courteous, GIA (Gemological Institute of America) certified gemologist on site to assist you upon arrival. It is always best to bring in a certification for any stone to speed up the process, but we will still have to grade the stone. While appointments are not necessary, it is preferred since it may require a decent amount of time to give an estimate. It is also impossible to give an estimate over the phone since we must actually see the stone in order to be accurate.

NOTE: We only buy 0.5 carat or larger for diamonds and 2 carat or larger for colored stones.