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Diamonds at a coin shop: why that bid feels insulting
We are a metal shop. A diamond is a stone with its own market, its own lies, and often a tiny wholesale number. Ask a jeweler if the rock is the point.
You brought a ring. The gold is one conversation. The diamond is another.
A lot of coin shops will bid the gold and treat the stone as a shrug, a pull-out, or a very small number. That feels insulting if you paid jewelry-store retail in 1998.
Why the stone number is small
Retail diamond prices are a theater. Wholesale for a small, slightly worn, slightly yellowish stone that is still in a mounting can be a fraction of what you remember. We also have to resell it. Many of us do not run a diamond case.
If the diamond is the point, go to someone who sells diamonds every day. If the gold is the point, we are your people. Jewelry testing. Karat.
What a decent shop will say out loud
“I can pay you for the 14k. I am not the right buyer for this stone.” That sentence is a gift. Take the stones to a jeweler. Or leave them in and accept a gold bid.
Do not let anyone pressure you into a blended “one number for the whole ring” you cannot unpick.
Part of the coin shop counter wiki · visitors & collectors · NumisQ Learn