Diamond ring sold online for $412K

When the internet business was in its infancy a bit over a decade ago most reasonable folk thought it impossible that someone would ever buy something online without having seen the item in the flesh first. That was pre-ebay, pre-amazon and pre-paypal, and now people buy diamond rings for presumably very intimate purposes – in this case a $412K, 10.50 carat square emerald cut diamond ring - despite never viewing them in person. How wrong we all were.

The sale announced by online diamond and jewelry retailer JamesAllen.com is the largest sale in the company's nine-year history. The ring featured a 10.50 carat square emerald cut diamond flanked on each side by a single emerald-cut diamond and mounted in a handmade platinum ring.

The growing acceptance of online purchases on this scale is in part enhanced by the ability of the technology to duplicate viewing an item in the flesh. In this case the company offer prospective buyers to view diamonds at a magnification of up to forty times the actual size and also provide 3D demonstrations showing what the ring will look like on the hand.

JamesAllen.com report a more than 55% growth in overall sales volume in the year to date, a trend mirrored by other online jewelry retailers like Amazon.com, BlueNile and eBay, which have all reportedly experienced a surge in sales since 2005 with overall dollar figures running into the billions.