DOES A CHIPPED DIAMOND LOSE VALUE?

“CRACK!”

“CRAP!”

You have a big beautiful diamond that you accidentally chipped.

(Usually when you chip a diamond, it happens on the vulnerable part of your diamond, the girdle.)

So now the question is:

Does that little chip hurt the value of your diamond?

Does it lower the quality or clarity as well?

What about the appraisal?

A lot of nervous diamond owners want to know.

And it’s a sad reality…

The truth is; YES!

Yes, it does affect the value of the stone.

Yes, it does lower the diamond’s clarity.

Yes, you do have good reason to be nervous or alarmed.

For once you chip or break a diamond…

There is no way to repair it.

Once a chipped diamond, always a chipped diamond.

Sure, you could get your diamond recut to remove that little chip on the girdle. Recutting a diamond will make it a little bit smaller. It’ll probably lose a couple of points as well. And it may even lose appraisal value if it loses enough carat weight.

Unless you get lucky and recutting it only removes a few points, it may not harm the value much. It really all depends on where the chip is, how they have to recut the diamond, and how much weight is lost (read more about recutting diamonds here).

And that’s to say that you actually spend the time and money to send your diamond out for recutting.

Most don’t or wouldn’t.

Most people do one or two things when they chip a stone: they either keep their diamond and live with the chip, or they trade their diamond in towards a better one.

(Do note that a lot of insurance companies will pay to replace a chipped diamond. So check that out. See what your agent or policy says…)

Chips lower value:

So Yes, leaving your diamond in a chipped state (which is considered an inclusion) will lower its value.

Plus it makes it harder to resell that stone as well… Who wants to buy a chipped diamond?

Even trading in that diamond won’t be all that great either, since the jeweler will have to pay more themselves to have the stone recut just so they can resell it again. It’s a no-win situation for anyone.

Chipped diamonds are sad and unfortunate. But it happens all the time. And once your diamond is chipped, the quality of the diamond drops. This is because chips and breaks are flaws. The more flaws you have, the lower the clarity rating is. The lower the clarity, the lower the diamond’s value.

Plus a chipped diamond does one more thing to that lovely diamond of yours…

It chips MORE!

It can make a diamond more vulnerable to chips and other breaks.

That’s right…

A chipped diamond weakens the integrity of a diamond’s structure. Hitting a diamond in that same spot can make a chip or break bigger and may even fracture a stone further.

My recommendation:

When it comes to chipped diamonds, I would recommend seeing a jeweler about recutting the diamond and making it perfect and new again (although slightly smaller), or trading in your diamond for a sparkling new one (the easiest route).

And, if your insurance will cover the break, then you’ve got nothing to lose.

(Except the chip & your deductible.)

Cheers! :)