Table of Diamond Values

A table is given here, which not only establishes the fact that diamonds were assigned a higher price than in commerce they really bring, but which also furnishes other interesting conclusions. It is a table showing the prices of diamonds in the years 1606, 1750, 1865, and 1867.

COMPARATIVE VALUES OF DIAMONDS IN 1606, 1750, 1865, AND 1867.

BRILLIANTS. 1606. 1750. 1865. 1867.

Dols. cts. Dols. cts. Dols. cts. Dols. cts.

1/2 carat, 25 48 28 08

3/4 carat 44 26 51 52

1 carat 101 37 37 57 84 25 98 39

1 1/4 carat 172 42 58 59 131 31 164 05

1 1/2 carat 273 97 84 44 178 18 210 92

1 3/4 carat 354 88 124 57 225 06 257 79

2 carat 405 85 150 10 304 85 375 16

2 1/4 carat 456 81 189 53 328 29 422 03

2 1/2 carat 558 55 234 36 453 46 516 15

2 3/4 carat 761 48 283 27 468 90 562 65

3 carat 914 37 337 59 586 08 656 39

3 1/4 carat 632 95 703 26

3 1/2 carat 1015 56 395 80 703 26 821 19

3 1/4 carat 821 19 890 94

4 carat 1219 04 459 42

4 1/4 carat 1078 42 1125 30

4 1/2 carat 1421 97 677 04 1172 17 1406 71

4 3/4 carat 1312 97 1547 33

5 carat 1624 71 937 81 1500 46 1641 07

VALUES OF DIAMONDS IN 1872

(A Table prepared by Mr. HERMANN, President of the New York Diamond Company).

Melee, per carat, from $60 to $65

Melange, " from $100 to $110

VALUE OF BRILLIANTS IN CURRENCY.

Brilliants of

1/2 carat, $35

3/4 carat, 60

1 carat, 100 to $125

1 1/4 carat, 150 to 175

1 1/2 carat, 200 to 225

1 3/4 carat, 250 to 275

2 carat, 300 to 325

2 1/4 carat, 350 to 375

2 1/2 carat, 400 to 425

2 3/4 carat, 450 to 500

3 carats, $500 to $550

3 1/4 carats, 600 to 650

3 1/2 carats, 700 to 750

3 3/4 carats, 800 to 850

4 carats, 900 to 950

4 1/4 carats, 1000 to 1050

4 1/2 carats, 1100 to 1150

4 3/4 carats, 1200 to 1250

5 carats, 1300 to 1400

The prices of the preceding table refer only to diamonds of the first quality, and without a flaw.

One sees immediately that the rule of Tavernier is completely at fault. For by his rule the value of the one carat, being estimated in 1867 at $98, 39c., a diamond of two carats should have been worth $393, 56c., while in reality it brought $375, 16c.; and a diamond of five carats should have been worth twenty-five times as much, $2459, 75c., when it brought actually only $1641, 7c.

Another point that strikes the attention in inspecting this table, is the extraordinary depression in the price of diamonds in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was about that time that the discovery of the diamond districts of Bahia occasioned a panic in the diamond market.

Lastly, the table shows that, absolutely, the price of diamonds was nearly the same in 1606 as in 1867; but when we take into account the difference in the value of money at these two epochs, we see that diamonds were really much dearer at the beginning of the seventeenth century than they are now.

Large diamonds are exceedingly rare. It is estimated that among ten thousand diamonds hardly one will be found of ten carats weight; that is to say, of the size represented by Fig. 29.}}}