Gold Melting & Diamonds: Understanding Jewelry Repair & Recycling

Question
QUESTION: HI, I'M CURIOUS, WHAT HAPPENS TO DIAMONDS IE; SET IN GOLD AS IN TENNIS BRACELET, AND THEY MELT THE GOLD.

THANKS

ANSWER: Hello Barbara and thank you so much for your question!  I need to ask you for clarification so that I am certain I understand what you are asking.  Do you mean if a jeweler repairs a tennis bracelet and uses a torch on the gold?  Or do you mean if a bracelet like that is scrapped, or melted down for the value of the gold?  Are you asking about the affect of heat on diamonds, or what a jeweler does with the diamonds if he intends to melt (and "cash in") the gold?  

Let me know if one of those is correct, or if I am missing the boat entirely!  I am happy to help I just want to make sure I understand the focus of your question.

Thanks again and please write soon!

David Fortier
Staff Gemologist
tiptopgem.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,
It would be the later. I recently had a friend sell my gold. As an after thought I wondered, "what about the diamonds?"  Since they were only paying for the gold. My friend said the diamonds were not reclaimable after melting the gold.

Answer
Thanks Barbara I understand now.  Typically a jeweler would remove the diamonds before scrapping the piece.  The stones could be reused or sold depending on the size.  There are 100 points in a carat, and sometimes these stones are only 1 point each.  Of course, sometimes with an expensive bracelet they are much larger and there are all sizes in between.

One-point stones are worth nearly nothing in quality ranges usually seen in commercial (discount-store or department store) jewelry.  As the stones get larger and higher in quality, they are of course worth more money.  But remember a jeweler does not pay retail prices for diamonds, he pays wholesale.  That could be as little as less than one dollar each for low-quality tiny stones.

It is fairly likely that you did not lose much because he weighed the entire bracelet when he gave your friend a price, meaning he offered to pay you for the diamonds a value equal to their weight in gold.  Now if they were each 10 points or a tenth of a carat, he got diamonds that were worth a lot of money if they were fair-quality or higher.  

I hope this clarifies it a bit for you.  Thanks for asking and let me know if you need any more help!