When you hear the word ‘diamond’ you tend to think about a colourless stone that sparkles in the light. Thus, most people seek to find a diamond as transparent as possible.
However, fancy coloured diamonds have recently come back into fashion, with a lot of celebrities sporting this popular trend.
When rating the colour of a typical diamond, whether you’re looking for diamond earrings or 3-carat diamond rings, you will use the D to Z grading provided by the GIA Grading System.
Colourless diamonds receive a rating of D, E or F. Near colourless is represented by any letter from G to J. K, L or M are used for faint yellow diamonds. Very light yellow diamonds receive either the letter N, O, P, Q or R.
All of the remaining letters from S to Z are used to grade light yellow diamonds. However, this grading cannot be applied for coloured diamonds. So, what can you use instead?
Thankfully GIA has also provided a solution for those wondering how to determine the quality of coloured diamond jewellery.
Firstly, the stone’s basic hue is considered. Thus, this can be anything from blue, to yellow, to pink. Secondly, the intensity of the diamond is taken into account.
Table of Contents
This is graded on a scale of one to nine as follows;
1) faint,
2) very light,
3) light,
4) fancy light,
5) fancy,
6) fancy dark,
7) fancy intense,
8) fancy deep, and
9) fancy vivid.
The latter is widely considered the most desirable.
What types of fancy colored diamonds can you choose from?
Orange
Orange diamonds are very rare and consequently very expensive. The colour is usually created because of structural irregularities.
Yellow
Yellow diamonds are the most popular out of all the colours. The colour is created because of the presence of nitrogen. They aren’t very rare. In fact, they are the second most common diamond shade, yet this hasn’t hindered peoples’ love for them.
Blue
Blue diamonds are extremely rare and thus you will have to spend a lot of money to get your hands on one.
Brown
Brown is the most common coloured diamond mined worldwide. This consequently makes it the most affordable option to go for.
Pink
Pink, the colour of love, is an ideal choice for diamond rings. You will find it difficult to locate a vivid pink diamond, as softer shades are more common.
Black
Black diamonds are widely utilised although you will find it hard to discover a large natural black diamond. Many black diamonds are treated to improve durability.
Green
Green diamonds are extremely rare and therefore extremely valuable. The colour is generated from natural radiation.
Red
Finally, let’s end with the rarest coloured diamond, red. Red diamonds are understandably the most expensive as well. It is thought that the colour appears due to graining.
All in all, the days of being restricted to colourless diamonds are long gone. Let your personality shine through with a fancy coloured diamond instead!
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Sanya
- March 26, 2020
