ModernJeweler.com |

Gas is up 25-40 percent at the pump from last year. Food and clothing price hikes aren’t far behind. Your house, where most of your net worth may well lie, would currently fetch how much less than last year? And you’re shopping for a diamond? Are you nuts or something? Nope. And congratulations!

Congratulations on the marriage, anniversary, milestone, or occasion—the love you’ve chosen to celebrate with a diamond. And because you’re embarking on one of the safest, smartest, most significant purchases life has to offer. At a very good time, too.

But you’re also experiencing some sticker-shock right about now. Diamonds aren’t just expensive, they’re a lot more expensive than they were a year ago. Even on the price sensitive Internet, the four types of diamonds most frequently bought on-line had, by May 2008, seen price hikes of an average of 18.66 percent year to year.

And is it really safe to buy that diamond on-line? After the house and car, this may be the most expensive purchase of your life. Certainly, the Internet is a fantastic place to start house and car shopping. But to buy? Are you nuts or something?

DIAMOND PRICING: WHY YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

In a perfect world, the decision on which diamond, and where to purchase it, would be made regardless of price. Rather, it would be made much like the event your diamond is celebrating—chosen for its beauty, significance, rarity, trustworthiness. In short, because it attracted you more than the others—and below, we will discuss what it is about a certain diamond that can draw you to it like no other. This guide will help you cleave as close as possible to that principle while keeping a foot in the real world, where money is short. Its aim, in short, is to help draw you to your best diamond for your money.

It’s important first to distinguish between diamond price and diamond price hikes, for they have very different impacts on you, the end consumer.