Colored Diamonds
The 9 Intensities of Colored Diamonds
A fancy colored diamond is not much different from a typical diamond. Where typical diamonds are formed from 100% carbon, fancy colored diamonds get their color from other elements being present with the carbon during formation. It is estimated that only 1 in every 10,000 diamonds of all mined diamonds are fancy colored diamonds, which is exactly why they’re as valuable as they are. These intensities are as follows:
The 10 Colors of Fancy Colored Diamonds
Red
Colored by intense pressure and a malformation in structure, these diamonds hold the rarest – and most valuable – coloring amongst all fancy colored diamonds.
Orange
Blue and yellow light cling to specifically arranged nitrogen atoms, providing it with a unique orange hue.
Yellow
A common color that is caused by nitrogen atoms. Unlike orange, these atoms don’t need a specific arrangement, due in part to their similarity to carbon atoms.
Green
Unlike other diamond colors, Green diamonds get their coloring after formation from direct alpha, beta, and gamma particle radiation. The deeper the green, the rarer the diamond.
Blue
This beautiful color is caused when boron contaminates the structure of a diamond during formation.
Purple
While it’s not certain exactly how purple diamonds are formed, they are an extremely rare & valuable color of diamond.
Pink
Much like red diamonds, the coloring is caused by a deformity in the structure that refracts light and absorbs green light, shining a pink hue throughout the diamond.
Violet
A hard to find diamond color, when found, they tend to be small. While violet diamonds are a color of their own, their chemical composition is a combination between blue and purple.
Grey
High amounts of hydrogen in the diamond’s composition cause it to absorb each color of light equally, sort of how mixing each color of paint with a bit of white makes grey.
Brown
Along with yellow & orange diamonds, brown diamonds get their coloring from nitrogen, as well as defects in the crystal’s structure.
Your Guide to Quality & Value
Our fancy colored diamonds are graded on standards set by the GIA, based on the following factors:
Carat
Diamond Carat (ct.) weight is a measurement of how much a diamond weighs, not the diamond size.
Clarity
Almost all diamonds contain traces of non-crystalized carbon called inclusions and clarity is a measurement of the inclusions of a diamond. GIA has established 6 main clarity descriptions which are Flawless, Internally Flawless, VVS1/VVS2, VS1/VS2, SI1/SI2, and I1, I2 and I3 with only the I clarity inclusion capable of being seen by a naked eye.
Cut
GIA have defined 11 main cuts of which the oval, pear and cushion are the most popular.
Color
Colored diamonds are available in 12 different major colors of which 10 are considered to be the most popular. However, a great deal of color diamonds have two, three or four different blended colors, so the total variety of colored diamonds is in the hundreds. GIA have defined 9 different levels of color saturation of which only 6 have the distinction of being called Fancy.
Learn what makes fancy colored diamonds the perfect investment.
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