What was costco thinking. Most expensive item i ever seen.

You know what's annoying? Clicking on any link here and not having it open up in another tab.

AW, you're looking at rings? 8O

I remember reading an article a few years ago which stated that bulk diamond purchasers (like Costco) are sometimes required by De Beers to buy grab bags of diamonds. If that was true, Costco might have been obligated to buy this large diamond, and rather than sell it to another jeweller or recut it, I guess they decided to set it and test the market.

All huge diamond purchasers buy bags of diamonds so they get a few bad with the good. They can't pick and choose. That's why there are so many different prices for the same size. Although I'm not positive, I doubt Costco cuts their own stones or designs their own jewelry. They probably buy it from a wholesaler.

All large retailers that I know of outsource their fine jewelry manufacturing, although they have very stringent contracts with their manufacturers (off the top of my head I know of Kays, JC Penny, Zales, Macys, Helzburg (sp) Sams Club, Walmart and Costco.)

Extremely large retailers like Walmart/Sams and Costco can purchase large stones at an incredible discount directly from wholesalers like BlueNile and RosyBlue. They can often get large stones at a price that is exponentially better than the average manufacturer due to their bulk orders. Often, those stores outsource their setting production and buy the stones themselves to have them set in-house, or they send the center stones to the manufacturers to have them set if its more complex (such as tension or bezel settings.)

I dont know of any large retailer who buys flutes of any decent large centerstones. Generally, flutes are only sold for stones under 1ct. Anything over 1ct can be sold in bulk at an average price, but they're all similar in cut and clarity as they must be IGI or GIA certified to be valuable on the market.

Also, Costco probably didn't buy this diamond. Most large retailers also carry goods on consignment, meaning they are basically carrying shelf stock for the manufacturers. As items are sold, they issue a PO to the manufacturers and cut a check. This means they dont actually own the stone, they're just listing it until (or, in case) it sells. This also ensures that the item is purchased from the manufacturer for the exact price including the incrementing factor based on that specific sales days gold lock, not on the day it was originally shelved.

That was probably more than you wanted to know