Diamond Color- The 2nd C of Diamond
The whiter the diamond is, the more expensive and desirable it is considered to be. That is not to say that a little less than super white is less beautiful and therefore should be less desirable. The quality of a diamond depends upon the combination of all 4 Cs together and not just the color. More over, a less than white diamond may be just appealing to you for with the appearance and color with radiance that you are looking for.
Remember, the diamond grading information given here is about the scientific scale that has been developed to assess the color of a diamond. It should not be construed as the only measure to buy your diamond. Don't forget, diamonds, gemstones and jewelry is a perceived value that very competitive. What you like and what best price you can get from a reliable source should matter the most.
Download Diamond Color Chart below
Remember, the diamond grading information given here is about the scientific scale that has been developed to assess the color of a diamond. It should not be construed as the only measure to buy your diamond. Don't forget, diamonds, gemstones and jewelry is a perceived value that very competitive. What you like and what best price you can get from a reliable source should matter the most.
Download Diamond Color Chart below
| diamond_color_chart.pdf |
What Affects Diamond's Color?
Factors affecting the colors of diamonds include fluorescence and color enhancements such as high pressure, high temperature treatment and irradiation. The process called Irradiation is used to change the colors of diamonds, these are called the treated stones. Synthetic colored diamonds are not natural as they are created in a lab. Synthetic stones are much cheaper than natural colored diamonds making them easily affordable to everyone.
The rarest colors are red and purple, and combination's of those two colors. Yellow and brown are the most common color of diamond, but colorless is the most popular as far as jewelry is concerned. (Colored diamonds are very gradually appearing in more and more jewelry stores as they become more well-known.) Blues and greens are very rare, especially naturally colored stones. Some lightly colored diamonds (light light pink, light blue, etc.) are irradiated to make their color more intense. This means that low fields of radiation are beamed into the cut and polished stone, darkening the outer part of the stone all the way around. The process is permanent and professionally accepted in the diamond industry. Probably the largest irradiated diamond is the Deepdene, a 104.88-carat golden yellow cushion shaped stone.
Fancy Diamond Colors
OK. Now we know that the most white diamond or the colorless diamond is most desirable. But what about other colors? Are these diamond not desirable? On the contrary, some not-white diamonds or as they are commonly named - Fancy Color diamonds in fact are very desirable and sought after. They are also very expensive because they are rare.
Diamonds of known color are used as comparison stones for color grading. Grading is done by comparing the diamond to be graded against these "master stones" under either artificial or natural north daylight ( in the Northern Hemisphere). A machine called the "Colorimeter" can be used for color grading but there is no substitute for the trained human eye. Diamonds were formed under intense heat and pressure, and traces of other elements may have been incorporated into their atomic structure accounting for the variances in color. Diamond color grades start at D and continue through the alphabet. Truly colorless stones, graded D, are extremely rare and very valuable. They naturally are at the top of the Diamond Quality Pyramid. The closer a diamond is to being colorless, the rarer and more valuable it is. A single change in color grade can significantly affect a diamond's value. Beyond "Z" is the range where the diamond's color is vivid and rich, called "fancy colors". Although the presence of color makes a diamond less rare and valuable, some diamonds come out of the ground in vivid "fancy" colors (well-defined reds, blues, pinks, greens, and bright yellows). These are highly prized and extremely rare.
The color of a diamond has a significant impact on its value. The color scale ranges from D to Z, from colorless to light yellow, respectively.
Factors affecting the colors of diamonds include fluorescence and color enhancements such as high pressure, high temperature treatment and irradiation. The process called Irradiation is used to change the colors of diamonds, these are called the treated stones. Synthetic colored diamonds are not natural as they are created in a lab. Synthetic stones are much cheaper than natural colored diamonds making them easily affordable to everyone.
The rarest colors are red and purple, and combination's of those two colors. Yellow and brown are the most common color of diamond, but colorless is the most popular as far as jewelry is concerned. (Colored diamonds are very gradually appearing in more and more jewelry stores as they become more well-known.) Blues and greens are very rare, especially naturally colored stones. Some lightly colored diamonds (light light pink, light blue, etc.) are irradiated to make their color more intense. This means that low fields of radiation are beamed into the cut and polished stone, darkening the outer part of the stone all the way around. The process is permanent and professionally accepted in the diamond industry. Probably the largest irradiated diamond is the Deepdene, a 104.88-carat golden yellow cushion shaped stone.
Fancy Diamond Colors
OK. Now we know that the most white diamond or the colorless diamond is most desirable. But what about other colors? Are these diamond not desirable? On the contrary, some not-white diamonds or as they are commonly named - Fancy Color diamonds in fact are very desirable and sought after. They are also very expensive because they are rare.
Diamonds of known color are used as comparison stones for color grading. Grading is done by comparing the diamond to be graded against these "master stones" under either artificial or natural north daylight ( in the Northern Hemisphere). A machine called the "Colorimeter" can be used for color grading but there is no substitute for the trained human eye. Diamonds were formed under intense heat and pressure, and traces of other elements may have been incorporated into their atomic structure accounting for the variances in color. Diamond color grades start at D and continue through the alphabet. Truly colorless stones, graded D, are extremely rare and very valuable. They naturally are at the top of the Diamond Quality Pyramid. The closer a diamond is to being colorless, the rarer and more valuable it is. A single change in color grade can significantly affect a diamond's value. Beyond "Z" is the range where the diamond's color is vivid and rich, called "fancy colors". Although the presence of color makes a diamond less rare and valuable, some diamonds come out of the ground in vivid "fancy" colors (well-defined reds, blues, pinks, greens, and bright yellows). These are highly prized and extremely rare.
The color of a diamond has a significant impact on its value. The color scale ranges from D to Z, from colorless to light yellow, respectively.
