Most references to diamond color are regarding traditional white diamonds. The D to Z diamond color scale is the normal way to grade these diamonds, with D representing a perfectly colorless, high quality diamond, while Z represents a heavily yellow tinted white diamond. While this scale is great for ensuring accurate grading on subtle differences between diamonds, it doesn’t work for grading all diamonds. Fancy Colored Diamonds are the notable exception.
What is considered a Fancy Color Diamond?
Diamonds that aren’t on the traditional white to yellow-tinted color scale are fancy colored. This includes diamonds that are tinted with a shade other than yellow (such as green, pink, etc.) or have such a strong yellow color that they’re not able to be considered “yellow-tinted” opposed to a completely yellow diamond.
Unlike regular diamonds which derive their value from a combination of the four C’s, fancy colored diamonds are valued mostly based upon the quality of the diamond’s color. Bringing out the radiance of a diamond’s color requires different cuts, which is why you see more nontraditional cuts in the fancy colored market.
Potential Diamond Colors
Diamonds can come in a wide variety of colors. The more rare the color, the more expensive you should expect a diamond to be. Colors are graded along three axes; hue, tone, and saturation. These axes describe how strong and how bright a color is. The following graph is from Forever Brilliant: The Aurora Collection of Colored Diamonds, and is often used to showcase the complete range of diamond coloration:
Image courtesy of “Forever Brilliant: The Aurora Collection of Colored Diamonds”
Natural versus Treated
It is very important to distinguish between natural and treated diamonds. Just as is the case with natural versus synthetic diamonds, naturally occurring fancy colors in diamonds have much more value.
Fancy Color Diamond Value
Many factors go into determining the true value of a fancy colored diamond. Natural fancy color diamonds are a lot more rare, which gives them great value. A GIA report will determine the quality of a diamond and distinguish if it is natural or treated.
For help finding fancy color diamonds of great value in your area, contact Rob Bockstruck today. With extensive experience and great customer service, RH Bockstruck is the perfect diamond concierge service to help your diamond search go as smoothly as possible.