A Hedonic Index for Collectables Arising from Modelling Diamond Prices

Abstract

This article describes a case study concerned with modelling the price of wholesale diamonds, as part of a project to develop an online diamond auction platform. The work was extended to exploring how to develop an index that could be used to track market trends of wholesale diamond prices. The approach we used is readily generalised to defining market indices for so-called Collectables, and can provide the basis for construction of derivatives. With the burgeoning interest in new markets of collectables such as those generated by the concept of a Non-Fungible Token, it is reasonable to suppose that there will be concomitant increasing interest in developing derivatives for these markets.