The Journal
What decides the price of a laboratory-grown diamond ring
Most jewellery is priced behind a curtain. You are shown one number, and told it is a good deal. A ring's price is really four numbers added together, and once you can see them, comparing two jewellers becomes straightforward. Here is how ours is built.
In short
A ring’s price has four parts: the metal (its weight times the day’s gold rate for that karat), the stones (priced per carat by shape and size), the making (casting and setting by hand), and the IGI report, hallmark and insured delivery. Choosing moissanite instead of a laboratory-grown diamond changes only the stone part. Indian prices include GST. Prices are for a US 6.5 ring; other sizes are quoted on request. Gold colour doesn’t change the price, but the gold rate does.
1. The metal
Every design needs a particular weight of metal, and that weight is fixed by the design, not by the customer. What changes is the metal you choose.
Gold is sold by purity. 9K gold is 37.5% pure gold, 14K is 58.5%, and 18K is 75%. The rest is other metals that give the alloy its colour and strength. So the same ring in 18K holds twice the gold of the same ring in 9K, and weighs more as well, because gold is heavier than the metals it is mixed with.
That weight is then multiplied by the day's gold rate for that purity. Silver is the least expensive of all, with a small fixed cost for rhodium or gold plating.
What doesn't change the price: the colour. Yellow, white and rose cost the same, because the gold content is the same.
2. The stones
Stones are priced by shape, size and quality, per carat. Two things surprise people here:
- Bigger stones cost more per carat. A two-carat stone is not twice the price of a one-carat stone; it is more, because both the weight and the rate per carat rise together. Large stones are rarer to grow well.
- The small stones add up. A pavé band can hold thirty or forty stones. Each is inexpensive, but each one also has to be set by hand, which brings us to the third number.
Choosing moissanite instead of a laboratory-grown diamond changes only this part of the price, and changes it a great deal. Everything else about the ring stays the same.
3. The making
Casting the metal, setting every stone, filing, polishing and finishing: this is where a piece is either made well or made quickly. Metal is also lost in the process, and that loss is part of the real cost of the piece.
More stones means more setting hours, which is why a pavé solitaire costs more to make than a plain one in the same metal, even when the two hold a similar weight of gold.
4. The paperwork and the parcel
Laboratory-grown main stones above 1 carat are sent for an IGI report, which is charged by the carat. Gold jewellery in 9K, 14K and 18K is BIS hallmarked. The piece then travels insured, signed for, in plain packaging, free of charge within India. Indian prices include GST.
Why the price moves
Gold is a traded commodity, and its rate changes every working day. Our prices follow the rate rather than sitting still and being quietly padded to absorb the swings. A price you noted last week may be a little higher or lower today, for the same reason the gold rate is.
That also means a quoted price is honest only for as long as the rate holds. When you place an order, the price is fixed at the moment we confirm it with you.
How we show it
Open any design and you will see one price for each combination of metal and stone: silver, 9K, 10K, 14K or 18K gold, with a laboratory-grown diamond or moissanite. Choose, and the number changes. Nothing is added afterwards: no separate making charge revealed at the end, no "rate on the day" surprise when you come to pay. The price is for a ring in US size 6.5; any other size is made on request and quoted separately, because it takes a different amount of metal.
You pay in full when you order. The full terms are in Terms of Sale.
Quick answers
- Does the price include GST?
- Yes, Indian prices include GST.
- Why is 9K cheaper than 18K?
- It holds less gold: 37.5% against 75%, and the piece weighs less as well.
- Does a larger ring size cost more?
- The prices shown are for US 6.5. Other sizes are made on request and quoted separately.
- Does gold colour change the price?
- No. Yellow, white and rose cost the same.
- Why did the price change since I last looked?
- The gold rate moved. Prices are recalculated from the current rate rather than being padded to hide it.