The Rapaport list. Diamond quotation.
The Rapaport list. Diamond quotation.
Surely no jewelry store will explain the Rapaport list to you. Surely it’s because they don’t have the time, or because they’re not interested in explaining their business model to you in detail. It is understandable, but we are very transparent about this, and we also want to teach new entrepreneurs or clients who have shown interest in these precious stones.
The Rapaport list, created by Martin Rapaport in New York at the end of the 20th century, is a listing that takes into account the 4 Cs, explained in this blog here, to provide an initial and approximate valuation based on color, clarity, carat weight, and cut type.
This list leaves New York every Thursday of each week and is used by diamond dealers from around the world: manufacturers, cutters, brokers, traders, jewelers, and clients to know the approximate price that their items should have or what is being offered to them.
Doing the calculations with the Rapaport list is relatively simple, and if you keep reading, you’ll learn something that you probably didn’t know until now. Understanding the Rapaport list is very simple, and it will bring you a lot of value from now on.
First, we should choose the list that corresponds to the stone we want to quote.
If it’s a ROUND stone with 57 faces, we will go to the ROUND list. If it’s another type of cut (Emerald, Oval, Cushion, and as many as there may be), we will go to the PEARS list.
Example of Rapaport listing “PEARS” and “ROUNDS”
Once we have chosen our type of cut, let’s say in this case we have a ROUND diamond, weighing 2.3 carats (ct) with clarity VVS1 and Color F, we will go to the LISTING ROUNDS and make sure that the date is correct (less than 7 days old). For this case, and as an example, we have chosen this list from 2017, specifically from January 20, 2017.
The left row refers to the color of the diamond (we had said F) and the top column refers to the clarity (we had said VVS1). We just need to draw a line and see where the data points are, leading us to a quote of $250 per diamond point. A diamond point is one hundredth of a carat, which translates to the starting price paid last week in all diamond exchanges worldwide averaging $250 for each hundredth of a carat.
Now, we need to convert that measurement to carats. Since it is one-hundredth of a part, we should multiply by 100, and having 2.3 ct of stone, we will need to multiply it again by 2.3.
Likewise, we will proceed to carry out the conversion:
$250 x 100 x 2.3 = $57,500
From here we can extract another important piece of information: the price per carat.
$57,000/2.3ct = $24,782/ct
Being a diamond with a considerable size of 2.3ct, a very good clarity of VVS1 (very very small inclusion), and an exceptional color (F), it is not surprising that this diamond has such a high price per carat.
This would have been the price for a stone of those characteristics on January 20, 2017.As of today, there has been a variation, showing a downward trend.
This will be the maximum amount that should be paid for this “Full Rapaport” stone, 100% of its quoted price, but this price will vary along the supply chain until the diamond reaches the final consumer, with a possible discount of 10%-15% for natural diamonds, and for lab-grown diamonds of 96%-93%. If you visit our stock, you can find diamonds at very competitive prices. We work with the best exchanges worldwide, we have a very varied inventory, and our team of professionals will assist you without obligation via phone or video call, advising you to help you purchase the diamond that you love the most.
