Diamonds come in all solid color ranges and mixture of colors except one color which is named “Emerald” green. So when a sales person mentions “colored diamonds” or a “diamond with color”, you really need to ask what they mean because “colored” diamonds (known as Fancy Color) exists and are sought after while some color is generally ignored.
The most common “colored” diamond is the “white diamond” that falls into Colorless and Near Colorless color range. When a Sales person mentions “fine color” or “top color” during their sales pitch, they are talking about diamonds that do not have color (Colorless).
Talking about Colorless and Near Colorless color ranges, “white” diamonds fall into 3 color ranges; colorless to yellow; colorless to brown and colorless to gray. Diamonds that fall into colorless range, or are colorless are rarer than diamonds that fall in Near Colorless. When a diamond falls into a deeper shade of yellow, brown or gray then they are known as fancy colored diamonds.
The one thing you need to know, colored diamonds, no matter how deep or how faint they are still diamonds and still are beautiful and rarer than colorless diamonds.
Causes of Color:
While there many factors to what causes but there are the same factors – chemistry and structure. When the chemical composition and crystal structure are close to perfect and pure the diamond will be completely colorless. However, when a diamonds chemical composition and crystal structure incorporate other atoms from surrounding elements the diamonds crystal becomes colored.
When pressures increase around the diamond, this causes slight distortions within the diamond which can create colors like brown, red and pink. When there is natural radiation around a diamond with this increase of pressure will cause a green diamond. But when the pressure is normal for a diamond to grow and you add nitrogen atoms to the diamond structure you get a yellow diamond. The same holds true with adding boron in the same type of conditions, but instead of a yellow tint, you get a blue tint.
While scientists are understand what elements create yellow, blue, red, pink, brown, green and gray diamonds, it still is unclear what trace elements cause other colors.
Evaluating Color:
To evaluate a diamond’s color, a master grader compares natural diamonds against “master stones” (master stones are usually colored CZ’s) under controlled conditions, time-of-day and lighting. The conditions should be a darkened room with accurate lighting to show off the diamonds color, a neutral colored background (mostly white), in good health and during the morning hours because the eye is more acute.
When it comes to grading, fancy colored diamonds are assessed face up because that is the only way to get the accurate color of the diamond, while normal colors are faced down to minimize reflections. As you have already learned, fancy colors are rare, master graders will assign them a grade as a normal diamond. Instead, they get terms like “faint”, “light”, “dark”, “deep”, “intense” along with a hue. Example: “Medium Light Purplish Pink”
Normal Diamond Range:
The GIA alpha-grading system is the most used and most trusted grading system in the US. While GIA system is a proven system, it is no way perfect and the GIA imperfections usually fall on to the sales person’s shoulders during the presentation. The problem is that the customer thinks the sales person is lying or that the diamonds are incorrectly graded. That isn’t so. The customer doesn’t understand or truly know the GIA grading system.
Here is the breakdown:
GIA alpha-grading system:
Colorless = D – E – F = “D” being the top.
Near Colorless = G – H – I – J = “G” being the top in this category.
Faint Yellow = K – L – M = “K” being the top in this category.
Very Light Yellow = N – O – P – Q – R = “N”
Light Yellow = S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z = “S” being the top in this category.
Side Note:
There is no such thing as an “A”, “B” or “C” rating because people would imply the “B” and “C” inferior to the “A”. It’s totally psychological, but the truth. So starting with “D” wouldn’t create this implication and all diamonds will get a fair judging.
(just incase your jeweler uses this system)AGS numeric-grading system:
0 = D
0.5 = E
1.0 = F
1.5 = G
2.0 = H
2.5 = I
3.0 = J
3.5 = K
4.0 = L
4.5 = M
5.0 = N
5.5 = O
6.0 = P
6.5 = Q
7.0 = R
7.5 = S
8.0 = T
8.5 = U
9.0 = V
9.5 = W
10.0 = X
Fun Fact:
Diamonds of all colors or lack of color can exhibit a “glowing” effect. This glowing effect, known as fluorescence, can only be seen by using a UV lamp and come in hues of white, blue, yellow and orange. A heavy fluorescent diamond can give a diamond either a blue overtone, make a pale yellow diamond look whiter and can make a diamond look cloudy and oily.
When it comes to a diamond getting a grade, the grade doesn’t mean one color. There are shades of color within a grade. So you can have two “H” colored diamonds but one could be lighter (or darker) than the other. Sometimes this shade could be questionable between Near Colorless and Colorless.
Some Quickies You Need to Know:
1- The “D” grade is absolutely colorless.
2- The “E” and “F” grades are essentially colorless but the differences between “D – E – F” are so slight only experts can see the differences in the unmounted state.
3- The “G”, “H” and “I” grades are near colorless but appear colorless in the unmounted state.
4- Diamonds darker than “Z” are fancy colors
Fancy Colors:
The colors of fancy colored diamonds are analyzed in using three components – hue, tone and saturation.
Hue – The basic category and can be solids or mixture of color. Example – red, blue, greenish blue, yellowish reddish brown.
Tone – The lightness or darkness of the Hue.
Saturation – The intensity and purity of the Hue.
When fancy colored diamonds are sold or labeled for sale they are usually sold as carat size and color. Hardly ever do they talk about cut quality and clarity are never mentioned because fancy colors are extremely rare and never the same. Because of the color rarity, fancy colored diamonds are romanced and not categorized like “white” diamonds.
Colorless diamonds must grow in or close to “ideal conditions”. Minute trace elements and distortions in the crystal structure will produce colored diamonds. Known trace elements are nitrogen creating yellow diamonds, boron creating blue diamonds, slight distortions creating brown to pink to red colored diamonds. These colors, because of the rarity will command astronomical prices in the retail/non-retail markets. Colored diamonds do not generally follow the same “cut scale” as colorless diamonds because the maintaining the color is the only priority. The more attractive and deeper the color, the higher in value it becomes.
The rarity of many fancy colors or the rarity of fancy color combinations will bring a higher price tag and can outweigh a “white” diamond by hundreds or thousands of dollars. Example – a red colored diamond is the rarest and will bring a higher retail price of all colors.
Color and rarity will increase with color saturation, but tone is just as important. If the color is too light or too dark the value of the fancy colored diamond will be less. If other colors are in a rare diamond, the color will also be less.
Fun Fact:
FTC Guide on Misuse of the term "blue white."
It is unfair or deceptive to use the term "blue white" or any representation of similar meaning to describe any diamond that under normal, north daylight or its equivalent shows any color or any trace of any color other than blue or bluish.
GIA Fancy Color Scale
Grade -> Tone -> Saturation:
Fancy deep -> Medium to dark -> Moderate to high
Fancy dark -> Dark-> Low to moderate
Fancy vivid -> Light to medium-> Very high
Fancy intense -> Light to medium-> High
Fancy -> Medium-> Low to moderate
Fancy light -> Medium light-> Low to moderately low
Light -> Very light-> Moderately low
Very light -> Very light-> Low
Faint -> Extremely light-> Low
Champagne Diamonds:
Champagne diamond color sequence is a series of pinkish brown to brown color. The color scale is C1 (light champagne) to C7 (deep cognac).
Quick Facts:
1- The larger the diamond, the more obvious the color will be.
2- Color is easier to see in some cutting styles than other styles.
3- Color tends to be over-looked in many ring styles but praised in pendants and earrings.
4- Yellow gold can mask traces of yellow and brown while enhancing these same colors. White gold, Platinum and sterling silver will enhance colorless diamonds but mask fancy colors making them look washed out.
5- The average male will be willing to purchase a diamond with more color while the average female will not.