We all know diamonds as these amazing-looking, sleek, and elegant rocks that people wear on their heads, ears, necks, wrists, and fingers without thinking about the process and the price that first went into the making of that polished diamond.
This only means that we are used to the end product and do not put much thought into why we pay for things as much as we do. Today, that’s going to change! Today, we’re talking about raw uncut diamond price list that is very important when it comes to the price that you pay for diamonds.
Let’s take a quick look at the price chart of rough diamond:
| The Clarity of The Raw Diamond | 1-Carat Rough Diamond Price* |
| I3 raw diamond | between $90 and $160 |
| I2 raw diamond | between $160 and $240 |
| I1 raw diamond | between $240 and $350 |
| SI2 raw diamond | between $350 and $480 |
| SI1 raw diamond | between $480 and $600 |
| VS2 raw diamond | between $600 and $900 |
| VS1 raw diamond | between $900 and $1,300 |
| VVS2 raw diamond | between $1,300 and $1,600 |
| VVS1 raw diamond | between $1,600 and $1,900 |
| FL raw diamond | from $1,900 and Up** |
The price list may sound like a scary thing in the first place, but trust us – you’ll manage to find your way of using it quite quickly. We’re going to tell you about the basic principles of raw uncut diamonds and the price list that determines their price, so if you’re interested, don’t wait around – scroll and start learning!
What Are Raw Diamonds?
Raw diamonds are the purest form of this gemstone in this world. Raw and uncut diamonds are what is excavated from the ground in the diamond mining facilities.
The purest of the diamonds is what we’re talking about. No cuts, no polishing, no embedding in gold – just the raw diamond that has been taken out of the ground.
This sounds like a strange concept – why would that have a price? Who would want such a thing? The answer is – the people that help make diamonds look the way they look when we see them at a jewelry store.
Companies and individuals that cut and polish diamonds into shapes are well-known to us. It’s quite easy to find a reason for them to buy them since they wouldn’t be able to make anything out of diamonds without buying them first!
So, what is the molecular nature of raw diamonds? Chemically, diamond is an allotropic form of carbon in a cubic system with impurities of SiO2, MgO, FeO, Fe2O3, Al2O3, TiO2, graphite, etc.
In the air, diamond starts oxidizing at 800–900°C and graphitizes at 1000–1100°C. Diamond is resistant to acids and bases but dissolves in fused soda niter. This gives you a good understanding of what raw diamonds are, and if you know a bit of chemistry, you’ll understand it on an even bigger scale.
Can You Buy Raw Diamonds?
People often think to themselves “Can I buy a raw diamond?”, and it’s a perfectly valid question. The only thing to consider while asking this question is your ability to find raw diamonds on the market.
Raw diamonds usually aren’t meant for the end consumer, but instead, they are meant for companies and diamond cutters that cut and polish diamonds that you later on buy. The question here is whether or not you can buy a raw uncut diamond as an individual without being a diamond cutter, a reseller, or a diamond dealer.
The answer is yes, you can. Jewelry, most often necklaces and rings, with raw uncut diamonds have been gaining in popularity over the past few decades. This means that you can, in fact, buy a raw uncut diamond and do with it whatever you please. The real question is how do you buy raw diamonds?
There are some diamond dealers that sell raw and uncut diamonds, and the best chance of you getting your hands on one of them is to find a dealer that has these types of diamonds.
Otherwise, you will be able to buy a diamond directly from a mine, if that’s the policy of the people that are excavating the diamonds from the earth.
Also, there are multiple websites out there where you can order your raw uncut diamonds, even in the form of a ring or other types of jewelry pieces. Buying uncut diamonds was never easier than now, and they do cost much less than cut and polished diamonds.
Buying rough uncut and unpolished diamonds can be hard for some people, depending on the part of the world that you’re living in. Certain regulations and the absence of these diamonds on the market in certain parts of the world can make your raw uncut diamond buying experience tedious and long.
So, we highly recommend that you seek advice regarding laws in your country or state about raw uncut diamonds, and see if there is any way of buying one without paying the shipping fees that are worth 100% of the diamond you’re going to buy.
Related Read: Is It Illegal To Have Uncut Diamonds?
Raw Diamonds & Blood Diamonds
Blood diamonds are one of those words that when you hear, you know it’s not good! These diamonds are used to fund civil wars and guerilla warfare in the countries that sell them, so you have to be careful.
Unfortunately, in Africa, there are a lot of civil wars and armed combatants that get their funding from selling diamonds. Fact that they can’t process, cut, polish, and arrange diamonds in a way that would make them easier to sell, means that these warlords resort to selling raw and uncut diamonds in order to get funding.
There are countless resolutions and worldwide organizations that try and prevent the sales of these blood diamonds.
So, if you see a blood diamond that has a price that is too good to be true, be careful! There are certifications that come with raw uncut and unpolished diamonds that are a testament to them not being blood diamonds and that they’re not sold in order to fund civil wars and conflicts of any kind.
Even the magazine TIME wrote an article or two about blood diamonds and how to avoid buying them, so you know it’s an important topic.
Also, raw uncut, and unpolished diamonds that are legal are made more accessible over the years, and that was done in order to make the buyer safer and not to make the seller worry about the origins of the diamonds that they’re selling.
Learn More: How Do I Get My Rough Diamond Certified?
Raw Uncut Diamonds – The Price List
The crystalline structure of rough diamonds is the most important part of buying or selling rough diamonds. Also, it’s important to know the basic structures or crystals: Stones, Shapes, Cleavages, Macles, and Flats.
These are also some of the most important things to take into consideration when we’re talking about the raw uncut diamond price list:
- The rough diamond weight
- An image of the crystalline structure
- A description of the crystalline structure
- The number of finished stones
- The calculated weight of the polished and finished diamond
- The maximum values per carat for that rough diamond
- The color scale
- The clarity scale
When taking this many things into consideration at once, there is hardly any chance of talking about the price precisely. So, in order to avoid misinforming you, we’re going to take a safe approach. Let’s take a look at all of these important markers when it comes to the price of raw uncut and unpolished diamonds, and then let’s get onto the numbers.
The Rough Diamond Weight
The weight of the raw and uncut diamond is arguably the most important thing. We all know that diamonds are weighed in carats that equal to 0,2 grams. But is it the same with raw and uncut diamonds?
It pretty much is the same, except the prices per carat are much lower when it comes to diamonds that we’re talking about now since there isn’t a cutting and polishing process included in the price that you’re paying.
Also, you do need to keep in mind that some of the weight will be lost in the cutting process, but that’s only if you wish to cut your rough uncut diamonds subsequently.
Related Read:
- How Much Does It Cost To Cut A Rough Diamond?
- Diamond Price Per Gram: How Much Is A 1-gram Diamond Worth?
An Image of the Crystalline Structure
The crystalline structure is very important for the durability and the overall well-being of your diamonds, so you should pay close attention to an image of that crystalline structure when buying raw and uncut diamonds!
A Description of the Crystalline Structure
The same goes for the description. The only difference between the description of the crystalline structure and the image of the crystalline structure is the fact that in one you are informed about the structure, and in the second one, you have an opportunity to see it for yourself.
The Number of Finished Stones
You should also take into consideration how many finished stones you can get out of a raw diamond that you’re looking at. Usually, the weight of the diamond plays a huge role in this, but so do many other things.
For example, if you have a stone that has a “faulty” or hard to work with an edge that won’t be able to be turned into a polished and cut diamond, that’s not considered a usable diamond piece; this brings the price down, so be aware of that.
Of course, if you want to embed that raw diamond into a ring and wear it as such, that’s completely fine, so you’ll get a stone that you’ll use and pay less money for it!
The Calculated Weight of the Polished and Finished Diamond
The calculation of the weight of the diamond when it’s polished and finished is quite important since polishing and finishing a diamond results in you losing a fine amount of diamond in weight, so this should be considered when moving towards a total price.
These calculations are done precisely since the dealers of raw and uncut diamonds know how much it will cost to you do so and how much you’ll lose in advance.
The Maximum Values Per Carat for That Rough Diamond
The maximum value refers to the biggest price you can get for that rough diamond on the market today. Of course, the seller won’t ask you that price, since the dealer knows that the market sets the price, and if nobody wants to buy the rough diamond for their full price – they’re worthless!
Also, this “maximum value per carat” can mean that they calculate the maximum price of a rough diamond when it’s polished, cut, and sold on the market as a finished product.
Learn More: Price Of Diamonds Over The Last 50 Years: How Did It Change?
The Color Scale
The color scale is quite important in the world of diamonds. It’s one of the 4 C’s of diamonds, and it needs to be taken into consideration.
This scale will tell you what color is your diamond and how vivid it is. If you have a rough diamond that’s a colored diamond, you should also be looking at a scale that determines the vividness of the color of your diamond.
GIA has a good scale for colored diamonds, as well as for non-colored diamonds, so check it out here and see what it looks like!
Read More: Diamond Color Vs. Clarity: What’s More Important?
The Clarity Scale
Clarity is also one of the most important things when it comes to diamonds, and it’s also one of the 4 C’s of the diamond world. Because of that, you should also be aware of the clarity of the raw diamond that you’d like to buy.
The higher the clarity of the diamond, the higher the price. In addition to that, it’s worth mentioning that not always the entirety of a bigger rough diamond has the same clarity grade, so be aware of that as well.
What we mean by that is that there might be a part of your diamond that’s graded higher than the rest of your rough diamond, depending on the creation process that it underwent.
The Price
Now that you know what goes into determining a price of a raw uncut diamond, let’s talk about numbers. The price range in which you can find yourself a nice 1-carat rough diamond ranges anywhere between $90 and $2,000 depending on the factors above.
It’s complicated and almost impossible to pinpoint a price that will be accurate in all situations and scenarios, but there are some price tables that will help you better understand how complicated it is to determine a price of a raw uncut diamond.
Now let’s take a look at a price list that will help you better understand the price of raw uncut diamonds:
*For better understanding, we will use a 1-carat rough diamond as an example for all of the following prices*
- I3 raw diamond: $90 – $160
- I2 raw diamond: $160 – $240
- I1 raw diamond: $240 – $350
- SI2 raw diamond: $350 – $480
- SI1 raw diamond: $480 – $600
- VS2 raw diamond: ~ $600 – $900
- VS1 raw diamond: ~ $900 – $1,300
- VVS2 raw diamond: ~ $1,300 – $1,600
- VVS1 raw diamond: ~ $1,600 – $1,900
- FL raw diamond: $1,900 and up
Note that specific FL diamonds can go for more than the price that we mentioned above, if it has a specific color to them, or if it has a special characteristic that makes the diamond specific and unique.
Related Read:
Conclusion
Now that you know what goes into this long and exhausting process of determining a price of a rough diamond, let’s sum up what we learned!
Rough diamonds are common, and they’re more available than ever. This means that you, as an individual, can buy one online and get it directly to your door. It was never easier to obtain a rough diamond, and this contributed massively to the increase in the popularity of raw and uncut diamonds.
You witnessed how complicated it is to determine an exact price of a rough diamond and how many factors need to be taken into consideration to tell you even a pool of prices in which you’ll find yourself if you want to buy one of these diamonds.
Regardless of the level of complexity, we hope that we made it easier for you to understand the raw uncut diamond price list!
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