Fluorescence is the innate glow of a diamond that it produces in black light. This is considered to be a positive as well as a negative trait by many people. However, the current trends are leading us to conclude that diamond fluorescence has a big impact on its price.
Until a few years ago, buyers treasured diamonds with fluorescence greatly because there was a common perception that the diamond appearance was enhanced with the presence of fluorescence. The presence of a yellowish tint was considered an added bonus to the looks of the gemstone’s body.
Prior to the establishment of the grading system, there was a unanimous agreement that the presence of fluorescence imparted a higher value to diamonds. Hence, their prices were also higher accordingly. Especially, the blue-white tinted diamonds, which contained fluorescence, were in vogue in those days. In fact, these diamonds were even used as the substitutes for fancy blue diamonds. Thus, they had much higher demand than the non-fluorescent diamonds.
Yet soon, the important decision to stop the use of the term “blue-white” came into being. Furthermore, grading reports started to mention the presence of fluorescence. This influenced people’s thinking and their interests started to shift. Customers demanded the purest versions of diamonds. This meant that they started avoiding the diamonds with anything additional, even fluorescence. Resultantly, the demand of diamonds having fluorescence saw a steep decline.
Even today, buyers have a negative mindset towards diamonds fluorescence. When the overall preferences of the buyers shift, there is nothing that the sellers could do about it. Even if there are several benefits of having fluorescence, the mass mentality drives people in a different direction, and hence, the trend shifted. This has resulted in the lowering of prices of diamonds with fluorescence. You can only take advantage of the trend if you want to.
The price of a diamond is determined based on the degree of fluorescence too, apart from its clarity and color. For instance, an E color diamond with VS1 clarity and strong fluorescence will sell at 3% to 5% lower rate than one without any fluorescence. At the same time, a J color diamond with medium fluorescence will sell at around 2% higher rate than a diamond with no fluorescence.
Even though clarity does not affect fluorescence and color of the diamond, it does affect the prices. This is due to the fact that buyers who prefer higher clarity are reluctant to purchase diamonds with fluorescence.