SINCE 1931
Named for the Building. Built for the Century.
Empire Diamond opened in the Empire State Building the year it was finished, and spent the next ninety-four years there. This is the story of what we learned.
VISIT OR CONTACT US
Empire Diamond, New York
23 West 47th Street, Suite 412, New York, NY 10036
By appointment, Tuesday through Saturday.
Our Origin
In 1931, a new tower rose over Midtown and became the tallest building in the world. That same year, in an office inside it, Empire Diamond opened its doors. We took our name from the building that housed us, and we stayed for ninety-four years.
For nearly a century, from a floor high above Fifth Avenue, we did one thing: we learned jewelry. What holds value and what only shines. What is signed and what merely claims to be. What a stone is truly worth, in any market, in any decade. You do not learn that in a year, or ten. We have had ninety-four.
What a Century teaches you
A diamond house that opened last year can quote you the same grading scale we use. What it cannot do is recognize, at a glance, a piece from an era it has never seen pass across the counter. We have handled the jewelry of three generations of New York families. We have bought and sold through every market the century produced, the booms and the crashes, the eras when whole styles fell out of fashion and the decades later when collectors wanted them again.
That long memory is the difference between a number and a fair price. It is why families bring us pieces to understand, not only to sell. And it is why the trade, other jewelers who know exactly what they are looking at, have trusted us as a partner for decades.
Two sides of the same expertise
From the beginning, we have done two things at once, and done them with equal care.
We sell. Rare estate pieces curated over a lifetime, engagement rings made for one person, custom work set by hand. Every diamond we offer is certified by the Gemological Institute of America, because a piece worth buying is a piece worth documenting.
And we buy. From families, collectors, and the trade, privately and fairly, with the same trained eye whether a piece arrives in person or by insured mail. The expertise that lets us sell well is the same expertise that lets us buy honestly. You cannot do one without the other. We have always done both.