What Are Melee Diamonds?
Melee diamonds is a term used to describe small diamonds. The diamond weight for melee diamonds range from as low as 0.001 carats (1000th/carat) to 0.18 carats. Melee diamonds are commonly referred to by customers as “Diamond Chips”. It is a term that is not used by jewelers. The term “Diamond Chips” is considered to be derogatory. The diamond and jewelry industry is very particular in using certain terms (e.g. of diamond clarity classification of I1-I2-I3 changed from Imperfect to Included). Moreover, the word diamond chip seems like a diamond has cracks and is chipped. It feels like someone took a hammer and hit the diamond, crushing it into hundreds of smaller ‘diamond chips’.
Majority of the diamonds mined, cut and produced in the world are melee. The diamonds in melee sizes are usually sold in parcels and lots. They can be bought in parcels of 1.00 carat to 100’s of carats. Melee diamonds change hands on a regular basis. Just like how a $1 bill is the most produced and used denomination in the USA. In wholesale diamond bourses throughout the world a single parcel of melee diamonds will sometimes be sold and resold 3-4 times in a day. They are basically flipped at nominal profits! However, due to the size of the parcels, the final amounts are enormous. To put things in perspective, say 0.01 carat melee black diamonds cost around $ 25/carat. Individually, that is not a significant amount. Now multiply that $25/carat with a parcel of 1000 carats. Suddenly you are looking at a final price of $ 25,000. It completely changes the scenario.
Melee diamonds change several hands on a daily basis. This is primarily facilitated by diamond brokers. Diamond brokers are freelance commissioned individuals who know what is going on the market, who’s got what, who is desperate to sell, who is desperate to buy, etc. They are the road runners and jobbers of the diamond industry. They have inside information about a lot of diamond dealers, wholesalers and cuttings houses. Diamond brokers earn anywhere from 0.25% to 1.5% of the final sales value. The figure doesn’t sound a lot for something that seems to require a lot of energy, knowledge and insight. Let’s take the example of the previous $25/carat x 1000 carats .01 carat black diamond parcel. At a nominal rate of 0.75% commission, the broker makes $ 187.50 from one single transaction. On a good day, a diamond broker would do as much as ten transactions. In most cases, the effort involved from the broker’s side is knowing the seller and the buyer. Mind you, a lot of times throughout the entire negotiating process, the buyer and seller will not meet, talk face to face or even know each other! It is the diamond broker who is convincing the seller to sell and the buyer to buy.
Sorting and grading of melee diamonds is another art form. They are usually sorted by using a diamond sieve. It is just like a normal sieve. A round stainless steel metal sheet with holes of different sizes in it. Sorting melee diamonds in different sizes is a very noisy process. You pour the diamond parcel on the top of the diamond sieve and shake it. Once shaken, you have to use a pair of tweezers to bang the edges to ensure that the borderline diamonds sieve through. Once that is done, the diamonds that are stuck in the sieve have to be pushed through with the tweezers. It is more of fun visually then verbally. I will be putting up a video of diamond sieving hopefully in a short period of time for you to see how it works.
Once these melee diamonds are sieved and sorted in similar sizes, they need to be graded. Grading melee diamonds is not a job for the faint-hearted. Melee diamonds need to be sorted, graded, matched and paired together in groups. A regular gemologists who is trained for larger diamonds usually falls flat when grading and sorting melee diamonds. They find it hard to hold them. Without experience, these small diamonds will be “pinging” out of the tweezers throughout the room. Good luck trying to find a 0.01 carat diamond in a carpet. Moreover, melee diamonds are not graded in the same manner as regular larger sized diamonds. It is simply not possible to give them a cut grade based on the GIA standards. There are technological advancements in this field but none come close to an experienced eye. Only an experienced diamond grader can sort through melee diamonds, put them in individual groups based on clarity, color, cut and then calibrated based on measurements with the use of basic and rudimentary tools. It requires skill, a steady hand and tremendous amount of patience to sort through a 25 carat parcel of 0.01 carat diamonds. I know it since that’s how I started in the diamond industry. Sorting 20-30 carats of melee diamonds in a day.
Melee diamonds are used by jewelers and customers for various purposes. One of the common use of melee diamonds is in custom work, repairs and replacing lost diamonds. Custom work requires diamonds of all shapes and sizes. Making custom jewelry usually requires a various number of melee diamonds in different sizes. This is where the expertise of a skilled Gemologist and Diamond Grader is useful. It is important to ensure that the diamonds you plan to put into a precious diamond engagement ring has to be chosen with great diligence and skill.
Setting of melee diamonds is also tricky. Just like grading melee diamonds require experience and skill, setting them requires an even steadier hand. A master jeweler and master craftsman is required to do a good job. Every diamond when set in a piece of jewelry is put through pressure. This ensures that it does not pop out with ease. The amount of pressure required on a melee diamond is relatively the same but it’s chances of breaking in the process of setting is more. Every jeweler has a reserve of melee diamonds while setting them just incase they break or chip. It is a very common for them to break due to their size and pressure. Everytime, I get a custom piece of jewelry made, I give my master jewelers a bit of leniency when setting melee diamonds. Once again, technology has made progress with more efficient tools for the jeweler but nothing comes close to a steady and experience hand of a master jeweler.
You will find a lot of articles on melee diamonds on the web BUT you will NOT find an article that describes the intricate working of the melee diamond market. Hope this was helpful for all!!!
This list will define an approximate MM diameter size and its relation to weight.
- 0.001 carat – 0.78 mm – 0.99 mm
- 0.005 carat – 1.00 mm – 1.15 mm
- 0.0075 carat = 1.16 mm – 1.23 mm
- 0.01 carat = 1.24 mm – 1.40 mm
- 0.02 carat = 1.56 mm – 1.80 mm
- 0.025 carat = 1.81 mm – 1.88 mm
- 0.03 carat = 1.89 mm – 2.10 mm
- 0.04 carat = 2.10 mm – 2.33 mm
- 0.05 carat = 2.24 mm – 2.43 mm
- 0.06 carat = 2.44 mm – 2.50 mm
- 0.07 carat = 2.51 mm – 2.73 mm
- 0.08 carat = 2.74 mm – 2.80 mm
- 0.10 carat = 2.81 mm – 3.10 mm
- 0.12 carat = 3.11 mm – 3.23 mm
- 0.15 carat = 3.23 mm – 3.54 mm
- 0.18 carat = 3.55 mm – 3.83 mm
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