Colored Diamonds
Diamonds are usually graded on a color scale between D-Z, where D is considered as white as possible, while Z shows a more yellow-brown tone. In addition to this, there are also colored diamonds which we call “Fancy Color Diamond” where the diamonds come in a variety of colors. These stones are precious and, above all, unusual. Colors can vary, and when it comes to diamonds, it’s the rarity that determines the price – the rarer the diamond, the higher the value. Diamonds with just a slight tone of a different color are considered more casual than the “regular” diamond. Diamonds considered extra rare and valuable are pink, blue, red and green.
Yellow, pink, blue or green diamonds that are perfect for a romantic gift that are sure to inspire awe, we guide you to rare colored diamonds in a variety of hues, tones and saturations.
At LV’57DIAMONDS we show you how colored diamonds come in a variety of shapes, including classic shapes like round, princess, and marquise, as well as a variety of unconventional shapes that maximize the natural color of the stone. Since color values are the most important factor in determining the prices of colored stones, our diamond guide will show the standardization of color parameters. These include measurements of hue (which represents the stone’s primary hue) (which measures light penetration) and saturation (which measures color intensity).
Colored diamonds are inspected by the most important gemological institutes in the world and come with a certificate that testifies to the origin and authenticity of each diamond
Yellow Diamond
Yellow fancy natural diamonds begin where the colorless DZ grading scale ends. Although some stones on the colorless scale may have a yellow tint, they are not considered fancy yellow. These stones are called “Cape” colors and are classified as follows: KM (faint yellow), NR (very light yellow) and SZ (light yellow). Once a stone demonstrates a yellow hue that extends beyond the Cape classification described here, it is considered a fancy yellow diamond.
Fancy yellow diamonds, otherwise known as canary diamonds, and fancy brown diamonds (also known as cognac or champagne colored diamonds) are the only color diamonds that start within the colorless grading scale. Canary yellow diamonds are recognized for their strong color and unusual features. Zimmi yellow diamonds, another name that is used for yellow diamonds, are so called when they come from Sierra Leone and exhibit a particularly beautiful yellow color.
The intensity of the yellow diamond
The fancy yellow diamond scale is not as simple as a straight line with different shades of color. Unshaded pure yellow diamonds are found in six different color grades and are all 100% completely natural. Shaded yellow diamonds can also appear with a Fancy Dark intensity. The amount of color saturation is measured on the following intensity scale:
Yellow diamonds and intensity grades starting from the Cape colors (4 stones on the left are from UV to XYZ) continuing to Fancy Light Yellow, Fancy Yellow, Fancy Intense Yellow, Fancy Vivid Yellow and Fancy Deep Yellow.
Fancy yellow diamonds are graded based on the shade of yellow in the stones. Generally, diamonds at the top of the scale contain the faintest shade of yellow and are known as light yellow diamonds. These stones are predominantly yellow, but with almost equal traces of white in all stones. At the other end of the scale, stones that contain the strongest yellow tones are known as Fancy Deep Yellow diamonds. Vivid Yellow diamonds have no white marks and, depending on saturation and color distribution, contain an extremely yellow color throughout.
Yellow diamond fluorescence
It is very common for natural fancy yellow diamonds to display fluorescence. In fact, about 25% of all yellow diamonds are fluorescent, with over 90% of blue diamonds fluorescent. The presence of fluorescence itself does not necessarily devalue a yellow diamond; it can even give it a greenish tinge that gives such a stone a cool undertone and makes it appear lemony and, to some, more desirable. Fluorescence also occurs in colors other than blue, including green, white, orange, and yellow. In the final analysis, the enhancement of a stone’s aesthetics that fluorescence provides is entirely subjective.
Yellow diamond clarity
Because yellow diamonds are more abundant than other fancy colors (such as turquoise, blue, green, etc.), clarity plays a much more important differentiating role than other colors. In the case of a pink or blue, a lower clarity may not make as much of a difference due to the overall rarity of the stone. In the case of yellows, greater clarity will be the dividing line between stones of similar intensity. Canary yellow diamonds tend to contain fewer inclusions than other colored diamonds. Almost 75% of all yellow diamonds achieve a clarity grade of VS or higher.
Yellow diamond value
The color of yellow diamonds is one of the most common colors in the universe of fancy colored diamonds. About 60% of all fancy color diamonds fall somewhere in the yellow spectrum. That said, since only one in 10,000 carats produces a colored diamond, yellow is still quite rare in the field of all diamonds. Due to their striking color and relative affordability compared to much rarer colored stones such as pink or blue, canary yellow diamonds are very popular and represent excellent investment opportunities. When considering a yellow diamond as an investment, opt for stones with deeper color saturation, greater clarity, larger sizes (2.00carat plus) and less common shapes (such as round).
Natural yellow diamonds are much more common than most other fancy diamond colors. Because they are so stunning and alluring, while still remaining competitively affordable, the demand for yellow stones has grown aggressively and steadily over the past three decades.
The history of the yellow diamond
Yellow diamonds were first found in the Cape Province of South Africa in the 1860s, which is why faint yellow diamonds (those on the outer perimeter of the DZ colorless diamond scale) are called “Cape” colors. However, despite their provenance from the Kimberley and Dutoitspan mines in South Africa, historical documents note that yellow diamonds have been used since the 17th century, indicating a much earlier original discovery.
Pink Diamond
Pink diamonds are extremely rare and therefore highly valuable, prized by consumers and collectors alike. Since the first reported discoveries of pink diamonds centuries ago, they have been found around the world in places as far away as India and Brazil. Since the late 1980s, Argylemina has produced over 90% of the luxury pink diamonds sold on the market today and is the sole source of the rarest and most significant pinks available today. Of the more than 30 million carats of rough mined at Argyle each year, less than 10,000 carats are pink, and less than 1,000 carats weigh more than 0.20 ct in their rough form.
The GIA recently wrote “Of the millions of diamonds mined each year, only 0.001 percent can qualify as fancy colors, and only a handful can achieve top grades of intense and vivid.” Natural fancy color diamonds are already known as one of the most extreme rarities in the world today. In the family of colored diamonds, pink diamonds are the second rarest color found; so you can imagine how unique a high quality stone of this color really is.
Pink diamond color
All diamonds are graded on the same four main attributes of diamond quality; Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat. However, unlike colorless diamonds where the 4Cs are of equal importance, the color of a fancy color diamond is the most significant characteristic of all.
As a result of the increased pressure, it is extremely difficult to find a pink diamond with a high clarity grade. In fact, most natural pink diamonds often contain pink interior grain lines or surface grain lines in the stones atomic structure. Although this is a natural flaw found in most, but not all, pink diamonds, it can still slightly affect the clarity of the diamond, for example, taking it from a VVS1 to a VVS2.
The intensity of the pink diamond
Pink diamonds can be found in every intensity on the following GIA grading scale:
Intensity classes of pink diamonds – From left to right: Faint Pink, Very Light Pink, Light Pink, Light Pink, Fancy Pink, Fancy Intense Pink, Fancy Vivid Pink and Fancy Deep Pink.
Pink diamond fluorescence
It is very common for pink diamonds to display fluorescence. In fact, finding a true pink diamond without this quality is quite rare, so its presence does not usually have a negative impact on the price (even with strong blue fluorescence). According to the GIA, over 80% of all pink diamonds exhibit some degree of fluorescence. In the final analysis, the enhancement of a stone’s aesthetics that fluorescence provides is entirely subjective.
Pink diamond clarity
Fancy pink diamonds tend to be graded (I) in general, but because of their rarity, clarity plays a much smaller role in their evaluation than with yellow diamonds, for example. According to the GIA, less than 7% of all pink diamonds achieve a Flawless (F) or Internally Flawless (IF) clarity grade, while nearly half are either lightly included (SI) or included (I). As previously mentioned, color is a much greater determinant of a pink diamond’s overall value (and rarity) than clarity.
Pink Diamond Shape
Because round cuts tend to produce less color saturation, pink diamonds, like other colors, are generally cut into fancy shapes such as cushion, emerald, princess cuts, etc. it gives them their sparkle. For pink diamonds, a round cut can make the pink color appear weaker, while a fancy shape, which reflects less white light, will maximize color saturation. Also consider uneven color distributions (these will be noted on your GIA certificate) as they can certainly affect a diamond’s appearance and value.
Pink Diamond Value
Pink is one of the rarest colors in the universe of fancy colored diamonds. Unlike yellow diamonds, which comprise over 60% of all fancy colored diamonds produced, natural pinks are in the same category as blues and reds for their extreme rarity. Because of their striking color and supply constraints (the Argyle mine, which currently produces over 90% of the world’s pinks, is scheduled to close in 2018/2019), pink diamonds represent excellent investment opportunities.
The price of pink diamonds has been rising steadily for years. When considering a rare pink diamond as an investment, go for stones with deeper color saturation and as large a size as fits your budget. In the case of pinks, the strongest determinants of rarity and therefore value are color, size, shape, and clarity, in that order. Pink diamond prices vary depending on these qualities. So obviously if you come across a round diamond (an extremely rare shape for a color diamond as we discussed previously) Fancy Vivid Pink diamond but it happens to be only 0.30ct and little included, it can indeed be an exceptionally rare and valuable specimen.
Pink Diamond History
Pink diamonds have been obtained in very limited supply from mines around the world. In the 17th and 18th centuries, rich discoveries of pink were made in the Golconda region of India and the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. Since the late 1980s, more than 90% of the world’s supply of pink diamonds has come from Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in northwestern Australia.
Being one of the rarest diamond colors on earth, a number of these diamonds have made quite a splash in the biggest and most famous auction houses; Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Some of the most famous pink diamonds sold at auction were:
The Graff Pink: A new world record for a gem sold at auction was set when an exquisite and extremely rare 24.78ct pink diamond was sold at Sotheby’s auction house in Geneva on November 16. Fancy Intense Pink emerald-cut stone sold for $46.16 million!
The Prince Diamond: A relatively new record has been set for the most expensive diamond ever sold at Christie’s auction house! The 36.65 carat Fancy Intense Pink Princie Diamond is now the second most expensive diamond sold at auction, just behind The Graff Pink. It sold for a fantastic $39,323,750 ($1,135,000 per carat). Steinmetz Pink: 59.60 carat, oval-shaped diamond of a phenomenal Fancy Vivid Pink color with an Internally Flawless (IF) clarity grade. The pink Steinmetz is one of the best pink diamonds in the world today! It sold for $25 million.
Agra: A beautiful 28.15 carat Fancy Light Pink stone. This cushion cut diamond has a VS2 grade of clarity and a magnificent brilliance. It was bought at auction in 1990 for $4,070,000.
Natural fancy blue diamonds rank near the top because they are some of the rarest colored diamonds. To underline the true extent of the rarity of blue diamonds, to date they represent less than 0.1% of the total diamond yield accumulated at South Africa’s Premier mine, which is responsible for producing the largest amount of blue diamonds for market. . Further underscoring its rarity, blue diamonds experience a very rare and inconsistent output from the mine in any given year.
The color is most often associated with royalty, wisdom and prestige. Fancy blue diamonds are quite valuable and often considered to be extreme rarities, even among other fancy colors. Blue colored diamonds are often sought after by some of the richest and most famous.
Most fancy diamonds, including natural blue stones, were originally found in India. The Argyle Mine in Australia is also famous for some of the magnificent blue and purple colors that often contain a gray undertone.
Blue Diamond Color
Most natural blue diamonds that are mined are identified as type IIb. Unlike type I diamonds, type II diamonds are not composed of a large amount of nitrogen. Type IIb blue diamonds, in particular, contain a measure of boron that gives these diamonds their distinctive blue color. The higher the amount of boron in a fancy blue diamond, the deeper the blue color will appear.
Compared to other fancy colors, blue diamonds show less variety in color appearance for the same color grade because their range of saturation possibilities is much more limited. The saturation of a colored diamond is determined by its intensity. Differences in color appearance are therefore attributed to tone, which is the particular point at which a diamond falls on the spectrum from light to dark.
Blue Diamond Intensity
Luxury blue diamonds are graded based on color intensity or a combination of saturation and tone. The following scale describes blue diamond intensities:
Blue Diamond Intensities – From left to right: Light Blue, Fancy Light Blue, Fancy Blue, Deep Fancy Blue, Vivid Fancy Blue, Deep Fancy Blue, Dark Fancy Blue.
The further along this spectrum you go, the richer and more intense the blue in the diamond. The more intense the color saturation of a diamond, the more it will be worth. For example, a Fancy Intense Blue diamond will be worth more than a Fancy Blue. That said, aside from highly saturated pure blue, split-grade stones that contain an equally rare color of highest saturation, such as Fancy Vivid Green Blue, are among the most desirable and valuable types of diamonds. natural blue.
Blue Diamond Fluorescence
Blue diamonds do not tend to fluoresce under UV light. On those rare occasions when it does fluoresce, the resulting color is faint and usually dusty blue to green. In the final analysis, the enhancement of a stone’s aesthetics that fluorescence provides is entirely subjective.
Blue Diamond Clarity
Unlike the vast majority of colored diamonds, fancy blue diamonds often have high clarity. The tendency towards superior clarity is usually the result of the flawless composition of the diamond in its rough state. However, as with other fancy colored diamonds, due to the rarity and recognized value of blue diamonds, the clarity of a blue diamond is much less important than the actual color and intensity.
Blue Diamond Shape
Because round cuts tend to produce less color saturation, blue diamonds, like other colors, are generally cut into fancy shapes such as cushion, emerald, princess cuts, etc. Round cuts cause color desaturation because they reflect white light best. For blue diamonds, a round cut can make the blue color appear weaker, while a fancy shape, which reflects less white light, will maximize color saturation. Also consider uneven color distributions (these will be noted on your GIA certificate) as they can certainly affect a diamond’s appearance and value.
Blue Diamond Value
Natural blue diamonds enjoy a perch at the top of the rarity hierarchy. Historically, these have been some of the rarest and rarest colored diamonds to hit the market. The De Beers mine in South Africa has seen only one particularly large blue diamond each year, only highlighting the real lack of available blue diamonds.
The exceptional rarity of blue diamonds thus makes them extremely valuable. Needless to say, natural blue diamonds are excellent investment opportunities. The best investment choices for natural blue diamonds will be those that have a deeper color saturation and the largest size that your budget can accommodate. Color, size (carat weight) and clarity are the biggest factors that determine the price of a blue diamond.
Blue Diamond History
Blue diamonds first originated from the Hyderabad region of India during the 17th century. India was responsible for the mining of nearly all gem diamonds during this prolific period. Four hundred years later, the Indian mines have experienced a drastic slowdown. The greater majority of the world’s blue diamonds now come from the Premier mine in South Africa.
The absolutely alluring look of a fancy blue diamond is quite accepted by many. In fact, just considering the year 2011, a number of fancy blues were auctioned at significantly high prices.
As such an attractive and magnificent color, some fancy blue diamonds have managed to gain extreme popularity. Probably one of the most famous blue stones is the “Diamond of Hope”. The Hope Diamond was originally 132.00 carats when it was bought in India and sold to the French King Louis XIV.
It has been polished to a Fancy Deep Grayish Blue 45.52 carat VS1 diamond. The Hope Diamond, sold for a record $1,321,590 and is estimated today to be worth $200 – $250 million.
Another very famous blue diamond is the Wittelsbach-Graff. It was an exquisite diamond with an unusual pattern of 82 facets, with a Fancy Deep Grayish Blue color and a VS2 grade of clarity. Its total weight was 35.56 carats, making it very large, especially for such a rare diamond.
In 2008, Laurence Graff, a famous jeweler, bought the Wittelsbach diamond at Christie’s auction for $23.4 million. Laurence Graff recut the diamond, losing 4.45 carats, down to 31.06 carats. He removed some “damage” and managed to bring out the color of the stone. The diamond, now renamed Wittelsbach-Graff, is now a Fancy Deep Blue IF (Internally Flawless) stone.