Known in the trade as fancy colour diamonds, these are the rarest and most valuable of diamonds. As with all gemstones, the 4 C’s come into play when assessing and valuing coloured diamonds; here’s a brief explanation of how it all works.
Colour
In diamonds, rarity equals value. With coloured diamonds – the ones outside the normal colour range for clear, or ‘white’ diamonds – the rarest and most valuable colours are saturated pinks, blues, and greens.
Diamonds with red or reddish colours are extremely rare and therefore highly valued. Pure pinks are popular for obvious reasons (oh, who wouldn’t…?!) and celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey and Victoria Beckham have demonstrated their fondness for the shade.
Blue diamonds are extremely rare. They generally have a slight hint of grey and therefore are rarely as deeply blue as blue sapphires.
Green diamonds get their colour when radiation displaces carbon atoms from their normal positions in the crystal structure. This can happen naturally when diamond deposits lie near radioactive rocks, or artificially as a result of treatment by irradiation. Naturally coloured green diamonds are extremely rare. Because of their rarity there is always a possibility that they have been treated to enhance their colour and examined carefully in gemological laboratories before any certification of colour can be produced. Even then, testing can’t always determine colour origin in green diamonds.
Brown is the most common fancy diamond colour and also the earliest to be used in jewelry. Romans in the second century set brown diamonds in rings. In modern times, however, they took some time to become popular and this was due to a clever marketing campaign from the owners of the Argyle mines in Australia who, in the 1980’s gave the brown stones abundant in their mines names like ‘cognac’ and ‘champagne.’
After brown, the most common colour for coloured diamonds is yellow, which you will often see marketed as ‘canary.’ Another celebrity favourite, we’ve seen some cracking examples of late, with Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj, Heidi Klum and Kelly Clarkson all flashing fabulous canary diamond rings (usually with a smug smile, but then, wouldn’t you?!
More recently, a demand for black diamonds has developed. They can look fabulous in pave style jewellery, especially when mixed with white diamonds.
Clarity
Unlike with white diamonds, with coloured diamonds the colour is the key driver for value. Even diamonds with numerous inclusions that result in a low clarity grade are prized by connoisseurs if they display attractive, rare colour. Of course, inclusions that threaten the gemstone’s durability can lower a fancy colour diamond’s value quite significantly.
Cut
The size and shape of the diamond will influence the diamond colour, and are therefore of great importance. The larger a diamond is the further light can travel into it, which will often result in a richer, more intense colour.
Carat weight
This is rather a no brainer! As with white diamonds, large coloured diamonds are rarer and more valuable than small ones – see above!
If you have a desire to own a fabulous coloured diamond of your own, give us a call to arrange to meet Christopher, who will take you through the options available to you for sourcing and purchasing your own gemstone, before using it to create a piece of beautiful and unique jewellery just for you.
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