The Price of Diamonds

The Price of Diamonds

When I began researching the value of loose diamonds in the late 1700s and early 1800s, I was completely in the dark. I have never had a diamond ring. My engagement/wedding ring had a tiny emerald, but when it fell out of its setting and was lost, my husband replaced my ring with a gold band. Both were my preferences, but that means I knew only the basics of carats, cut, clarity, and color when I started writing Mr. Darcy’s Diamonds. I admit I still know little about diamonds, as this book did not require expertise, but I did learn a lot.

In 1927, Sydney H. Ball wrote an essay for Vol. 94, No. 26, of The Jewelers’ Circular detailing diamond prices since the first reference to a diamond’s value in 1150 A.D. (from Teifaschi, an “Arab mineralogist”). A brilliant-cut single-carat diamond in 1750 was valued at $39 in U.S. gold. If my sources and calculations are correct, that was about £10 in 1750. Ball writes that diamond prices were “remarkably stable from 1672 to 1880.” Inflation would have made that £10 diamond worth £15 in 1793 and £20 in 1811.

Keep in mind that in the early 1800s, an upper housemaid’s wages were about £15-£16 pounds—for an entire year. A housekeeper or footman made £25 per year and a butler twice that, according to Sarah and Samuel Adams’s 1825 book The Complete Servant.

Diamonds vary greatly in value, though, depending on their size and all the other factors. (Another one-carat diamond, cut unknown, was priced in 1772 at more than $87.) This gives me some leeway in my story for valuing the diamonds. The 1750 diamond worth $39 USD adjusted for inflation is about $2,000 in 2026. When I searched for today’s prices to buy loose diamonds, those of good, very good, and excellent quality in cut, polish, and symmetry (using round brilliant cut as in the 1750 example), prices are far more than $2,000 for a one-carat stone. A one-carat loose round brilliant-cut diamond today costs closer to $3,000-$6,000. That is £15-30 in 1750 and twice that in 1811.

Consider a single one-carat diamond costing £45 in 1793 and £60 in 1811. And what about a two-carat diamond? In today’s prices, the value jumps from $5,000 or $6,000 for one carat to $10,000 to $30,000 for two carats. For one loose diamond, no setting. A two-carat stone could be worth £75 in 1795.

What could you buy with £75 in 1811? Elizabeth Bennet’s annual dowry and part of Jane’s. A good riding horse or the wages for two or three or more servants.

The point is that diamonds are and were valuable.

Ball writes that stockpiling diamonds and other gems occurred “in the Middle Ages when stocks and bonds were not available…and when life and property were on the average perhaps less secure than at present.” In the late 1700s, diamonds were still considered an excellent choice for wealthy investors. They might buy cheaper uncut diamonds, loose cut diamonds, or even diamond jewelry to protect their wealth. Ball points out that diamonds are also an international currency that does not depreciate.

And what about storing and transporting the diamonds? It would have been far easier than storing heavy gold bars. Carat is a unit of weight, not size. One hundred carats of loose diamonds weighs a whopping 20 grams. That is less than 3/4 of an ounce.

Read Mr. Darcy’s Diamonds, available Sept. 17, to find out how this plays out in Elizabeth Bennet’s world.