Consumer Guide to Diamonds, 2nd edition
by Joseph Mirsky

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Book Reviews of Consumer Guide to Diamonds, 2nd edition

Book Review: Best of its type!
Summary: 5 Stars

Summary of Consumer Guide to Diamonds, 2nd edition

Are you afraid you will make a mistake?

Do you know what an ideal cut diamond is?

I assume your answers to these questions are yes, yes, and no (or maybe). Consumer Guide To Diamonds was written to help you to spend your fortune without making a mistake and to tell you in great detail what an ideal cut diamond is.

Judging by the number of pretty bad diamonds I see as a jeweler, gemologist, and appraiser, people are not going about looking for diamonds correctly. Consumer Guide To Diamonds offers real-world guidance in purchasing this high-anxiety, esoteric, and very expensive product, which most people buy at least once in their lives.

The book is deliberately concise, not straying from too far from the practical business of real-world diamond shopping for ordinary people.

The four C's of diamonds, clarity, color, carat weight, and cut, are thoroughly explained, but the emphasis is on cut, the angles and proportions of the diamond, which determine its brilliance and fire.

The cut, the most complicated and least understood aspect of diamonds, by jewelers and consumers alike, has the greatest potential for manipulation to fool the consumer. For example, diamonds are commonly cut to be smaller or larger in size than they should be for their weight. The former gives the illusion of more carats for the money, the latter of more size for the money. Both are discounted in price from a nominally sized diamond and both usually suffer in brilliance due to their poor proportions. And unwary consumers commonly buy both. The book tells you how to spot this common trick.

Although an interesting background about diamonds is given, the book also addresses at length the misperceptions and misinformation that underlie the considerable consumer anxiety about diamonds.

Price lists, and diamond grading papers are also discussed. In addition to engagement ring diamonds, other common jewelry products with small diamonds are covered. Numerous real life anecdotes and humorous asides are given.

The book also covers synthetic diamonds, imitation diamonds, diamond enhancements (yes, they doctor diamonds) and recutting diamonds to remove chips or improve appearance. Appraisals, an area with great problems of incompetence are discussed at length. Finally there is a section on practical tips about the mechanics of the jewelry itself: matching a wedding band, types of precious metals, cleaning, and care.

Please note: the third edition of Consumer Guide to Diamonds is now on sale at amazon. This edition brings the topics to life with 64 through-the-microscope photos of diamonds, 24 illustrations, and 3 facsimiles of diamond documents. A lot has happened in the diamond world in the 3 years since the second edition was published, especially concerning cut and ideal cuts. The new book is up-to-date on these developments. At 108 pages, it is more than twice the length of the second edition.

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