What is colored diamond? What is the difference between colored diamond and any other diamonds?

The hues of colored diamonds are the colors that cannot be naturally absorbed. Colored diamonds are rare. The biggest difference between colored diamond and white or transparent diamond is that they have very different colors scale and grading standards. Clarity and cutting are very important when choosing normal diamonds while for colored diamonds, it is more about hues, tones and saturation. Unlike other diamonds, the more intense of the hues, the higher the value.

  

The hues of colored diamonds

If the hue of the diamond comes in every colour of the rainbow spectrum, the diamond is highly valued and precious.

 

Due to its uniqueness and preciousness, colored diamond has been under the spotlight and reported by media. The price of colored diamond often breaks auction house’s record and some even considered to be rarer than any diamond rated D-to-Z grading spectrum.

 

Diamond requires billions of carbon atoms to bond, affected by natural radiation and other natural factors, colored diamond is formed. Every single colored diamond is unique in its colour. Only 1 in 10,000 diamonds is a colored diamond and only 1 in 25,000 diamonds can be categorized as fancy diamond. Among all colored diamonds, yellow and brown diamonds are relatively less precious while red, pink, green or blue diamonds are considered rare.

 

Under usual circumstance, there is another grading standard to grade colored diamonds and they usually have a higher value than white diamond. After years of research and verification, GIA has been able to formulate a reliable evaluation system to grade rare colored diamonds. The system has been widely used and followed by almost every auction house.  Below are the terms GIA use to grade colored diamonds:

Faint / Very Light / Light / Fancy Light / Fancy / Fancy Dark / Fancy Intense / Fancy Deep / Fancy Vivid

  

   

Factors to be considered when choosing colored diamonds

When choosing colored diamonds, it is more important to consider the hue and saturation of the color than its clarity and cutting. The richer its hue, the higher its value and rarity.

Second comes to the carat of the diamond. Even though it comes second however, carat still affect the value of the colored diamond. It is less likely to find big diamonds than small diamonds during the mining process. Big diamonds are rarer hence higher the value. And the price of a colored diamond could be doubled or tripled according to its carat weight.

The reason why clarity and cutting are not as important to colored diamond is that the color would cover the inclusion in the diamond. Therefore, the importance of clarity is reduced. Moreover, the cut of the diamond helps to reflect the fire and flicker of the diamond while colored diamond is all about the color. In some cases, natural colors may detract from its flicker and many colored diamonds are cut into unconventional shapes in order to enhance the color.

  

How to pick the color?

The best way to set the colored diamond is to choose a material that can help to enhance the natural colors of the diamond.

For example, gold is often used to set yellow diamonds while it looks best to use rose gold to set pink diamonds.

 

Yellow - People usually choose yellow diamond as their first colored diamond. The carbon atoms in the diamond are replaced by nitrogen atoms and hence the yellow is formed after absorbing the blue and purple during the formation process.

As nitrogen atoms are similar enough to carbon atoms that they easily take carbon’s place in the formation process and the yellow is formed after absorbing the blue and purple during the process. The proportion of nitrogen atoms in the diamond defines the richness of the yellow. While the hue of the yellow is outside the D-to-Z grading spectrum, it will be considered as colored diamond.

Since most of the white diamonds contain a slight yellow hue, the yellow diamonds come in a relatively large quantity and cheaper than other colored diamonds. However, the most beautiful and eye-catching yellow diamonds can be more precious than the transparent D-grade diamonds.

 

Pink - Charming pink diamonds. Pink gives an impression of romantic and charming and pink diamond is the rarest among all colored diamonds. Pink diamonds constitute less than 1% of the total quantity of diamonds so it is one of the most highly valued fancy color diamonds. Pink diamonds are mostly mined in western Australia and Brazil. The pink shades are formed due to the abnormal electron structure and deformation on the surface.

 

Blue - A fancy blue diamond can be highly valued as well. The boron in the carbon allows electricity to pass hence the formation of the beautiful blue. The hue of the natural blue diamond comes from the boron. The higher the boron concentration the stronger the hue of the blue. But the blue can be also caused by radiation or hydrogen. India used be the most important minefield of blue diamond but in the past few years people have found some very famous blue diamonds in Cullinan, South Africa.

 

Green - The elegant green diamonds, unlike other colored diamonds, are formed after million years of absorbing natural, harmless radiation. The green diamonds are precious because it takes million years to form. Green diamonds come in various hues, can be dark or light. when radiation enters the diamond, it knocks the carbon atoms out of their position in the crystal lattice, hence the change of color. This often happens when the mind field is near radioactive rocks and natural green diamonds are extremely rare.

 

Orange - Orange diamonds are very unique. Citrus and amber hue are not rarest among natural diamonds but pure orange diamond is extremely rare. The orange implies the diamonds contain a great amount of nitrogen.

 

Black - The Deep black diamonds. Most of the natural black diamonds are formed because they contain lots of inclusions for example graphite, pyrite or hematite. Of course, some diamonds might be full of black cracks and fractures or turned into black because of graphitization. What can be certain is that these inclusions are the reason behind the black colour. However, the actual colors of natural black diamonds come in a wide range from almost colorless to brown or olive green.

 

Red - Red diamonds is rarest among all colored diamonds. Until now it is still very rare to find any red diamonds weight more than 5 carat. From 1957 to 1987, GIA has never certified any red diamonds. The red shades are formed due to the abnormal electron structure and deformation on the surface.