Laser Inscriptions

[cathiejade]

Do laser inscriptions on diamonds depreciate teh diamond ? If so by how much on average ?

[Yosef]

If it's a personal message, like "Mike Loves Debbie", then sure it depreciates it, but only really by the amount it takes to remove the inscription. Inscriptions are not very deep... Usually by polishing the girdle, you lose say 0.001ct if that.

If the diamond comes with say a GIA lab report, and the lab report says an inscription found saying "Mike Loves Debbie" on it in the description/notes section, then a future buyer may not be very happy about that and want to get a new GIA report. That costs money as well. So the inscription isn't so much a cost of depreciation, it's more of a headache to remove which brings the cost down.

It's like someone who writes "Pimp Mobile" on the hood of their car. Sure you can get the hood painted for a few hundred bucks and it's good as new. But if you try and sell it as is, someone may be hesitant to buy.

If the inscription is a serial number or lab report, etc, then no it doesn't really depreciate the stone.

[Mervyn L. Cohn ASA]

Do laser inscriptions on diamonds depreciate teh diamond ? If so by how much on average ?

Funny you should ask; I asked this question of one of the GIA Instructors at an alumnus meeting. The answer I got is that GIA maintains that if they don't see the damage in the table up position it isn't there, I would argue that, but who am I?