WHAT DOES A 3/4 CARAT DIAMOND COST?

Trying to tell someone what a 3/4 carat (75 point) diamond costs is almost an mission impossible.

There are so many factors that fall into place when it comes to pricing diamonds. You can’t just say 3/4 carats roughly cost $3,500…

It would be nice to give a roundabout figure, but it really depends on the rest of the quality.

• What’s the clarity of the stone?
• What’s the color of the stone?
• Is the stone certified?
• Is the ring one stone, or many stones put together?
• What’s the shape of the stone? (Yes, shape can make a big difference too!)

A low quality diamond could be as cheap as $700, or a top of the line diamond could run you $10,000.

Is saying $3,500 a nice in between figure?

How about 4 Grand? 5?

This is usually what I do when someone wants me to belt out the on going price for a diamond of a particular carat weight, I give them a stone with an average grade in color, clarity and cut.

Which is: SI1, H color, “Very Good” or “Excellent” cut. I also always quote a round brilliant cut diamond (unless shape is specified). Round stones are by far the most popular shape and when people are looking at diamonds, it’s presumed they’re talking about a round one. Any other shape would be asked for by name “What does a 3/4 princess cut cost?“

So let’s take a look at some diamonds from different jewelry stores across the net. I tried to get all the same quality at first, but found this task to be impossible. So, I then just focused on what they had in stock if they didn’t have what I wanted. Some stores didn’t list much info. I wonder how they even sell their stones…

3/4 Carat Diamond Prices

CARAT, CLARITY, COLOR, CUT, CERTIFIED	PRICE	STORE
.75, SI1, E, EXCELLENT, GIA	$2900	James Allen
.75, SI1, E, EXCELLENT, GIA	$2897	Blue Nile
.75, SI1, E, EXCELLENT, GIA	$2995	Buy Jewels
.75, SI1, E, EXCELLENT, GIA	$2930	Ross-Simons
.75, I2, I, ROUND, NA	$2999	Kay Jewelers
.75, I2, I, ROUND, NA	$2299.99	Jared
.75, SI1, E, EXCELLENT, GIA	$4194.26	Fred Meyers
.75, SI1, E, EXCELLENT, GIA	$5241	Zales
.50, FL-SI1, D-I, EXCELLENT, TIFFANY	$3340	Tiffany

Average 3/4 Carat Price: $3,351

As you can see, prices are all over the board. And it’s not exactly fair either. But some places didn’t have anything online higher than I clarity stones…

Some of these stones were loose, some mounted, some high clarity, some low. Some stores listed the quality, others didn’t. Some didn’t even list who certified the stone, and Tiffany grades their own stones. The info that Tiffany’s gave actually is the least to go by. You can pick the size of the stone you want, but what’s funny is the fact that it jumps from 1/2 carat all the way up to 1 carat. They don’t even have 3/4 carat listed!

No matter, I dealt with what I could find…

It does make me want to give you guys some heads up though. Like make sure the stone has all the proper info (the 4C’s) listed and make sure the stone is certified. I highly recommend GIA or AGS diamond reports!

Now, let’s change things up a bit. Let’s look at TOTAL weight prices!

Carat Total Weights

Rings that have more than one diamond, will generally list all the carat weight of the stones together. Especially in advertisements. It will say something like: 3/4 CTW SI-I, H-I-J… This means, all the diamonds added together will equal 3/4 carats (CTW = Carat Total Weight), and the diamond quality could be anywhere from SI to I clarity, and anywhere from H color all the way down to J. You just don’t know exactly what it is, but it does give you a nice overall picture of the item in question and approximately where it will fall.

When you take 75 points and break it down into smaller stones, it breaks the price of the ring down as well. Sometimes in half or more.

Take a look at the image of 3/4 carat diamond rings to see for yourself…

The average price for these engagement rings is just $1,225. WOW! Big difference when you buy multiple stones…

What’s my Recommendation?

Figure out your budget first. Decide on whether or not you want to give her a solitaire (single diamond), or a ring with lots of stones.

Decide on what clarity and color range you’d like to go with, and stick there!

Any diamond clarity SI1 or higher will pretty much look identical to each other unless you microscope them (Using a microscope or a 10x jewelers loupe). So SI1 is a good place to start.

Colorwise, I would advise H color or higher. That way the diamond looks white and won’t look like yellow stained glass. White diamonds rule! :)

So out of everything that I have shown you here today, what’s the average diamond price for all the rings listed?

Average Price: $2,365

That’s not a Bad Figure.

After all, it could be worse. You could be looking at one carat diamond prices where the average price jumps up immensely… :)

So now you know what to expect. The big question ends up being: Is 3/4 carat the right carat weight? Should you go larger? One carats are the dream diamond weight. Are they calling your name?

It all comes down to price. Set your limit. Know what you have and how much you can comfortably afford to spend.

Because when it comes to diamonds, really, the sky’s the limit!

Cheers! :)