What is the most valuable diamond color?

The color of a diamond is one of the four criteria of the 4C system for assessing its quality and value, adopted in international practice. This characteristic directly depends on the chemical composition of the mineral and does not change over time. Since a diamond has no color, it allows more light to pass through it than a colored stone. Due to the way diamonds are formed, only a few specimens are truly colorless. When grading, it is believed that the less color, the better the quality of the diamond.

What colors are diamonds?

• Colorless;
• With shades of different saturation;
• Dyed: yellow with shades of different saturation, brown with shades of different saturation;
• With a fantasy coloring.

International Diamond Color Grading System

Many jewelers use the GIA (Gemological Institute Of America) professional color chart. The color scale is divided into groups depending on how noticeable the color of the stone is. It starts with completely colorless stones and ends with yellow diamonds. Each group is designated by a letter of the Latin alphabet: from D (colorless stones) to Z (light yellow or with a visible brown tint). Each letter corresponds to a specific spectrum of colors.

Assessing the color of a diamond comes down to determining the color group. The coloring of yellow and brown stones with a color characteristic below Z is considered fancy. For stones with fancy colors, there are their own color groups; when describing such stones, the word “fancy” is used, then the color and its intensity are described.

To create a universal scale for grading diamonds by color, gemologists at the GIA Institute carefully selected a number of standard stones. To determine what color the diamonds being graded are, they are compared to reference stones.

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Russian assessment system

The national standard of the Russian Federation offers a similar approach, but numbers are used instead of letters for designation. The technical requirements used in the evaluation of diamonds are given in TU 117-4.2099-2002.

The classification includes groups from 1 – colorless diamonds to 9 – stones of the brown spectrum. Within groups 8 and 9 there are subgroups that describe the intensity of yellow and brown shades, respectively. Group 1 should also include diamonds of unique colors (pink, blue, emerald green, etc.).

What color are diamonds

Diamonds are almost 100% pure carbon, a completely colorless mineral. But sometimes the crystals acquire a distinct shade, which may be due to impurities in the composition or some other factors. In nature, there are yellow, brown, blue, gray, black, pink, red and green diamonds.

Yellow

Cause of color change: nitrogen impurities.

Deposits: yellow diamonds are mined in different places, but are most often found in Russia (Yakutia), Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone. Particularly valuable golden stones are found in African deposits.

Along with brown, yellow is the most common of fancy diamonds. They can be golden, creamy yellow, honey, amber. Saturation depends on the amount of impurities.

These gemstones pair beautifully with yellow gold frames. To further accentuate the color of the diamond, the jeweler can use a white gold setting for the decoration.

Brown

Reason: iron impurities.

Deposits: Australia (Argyle), Russia (Yakutia) and others.

The brown crystal can be of different shades – from champagne color to rich cognac. In Ancient Rome, rings with brown diamonds were worn by the nobility. Such precious stones were a symbol of power and wealth.

In jewelry, brown diamonds are combined with frames made of red or yellow gold. Jewelers can also create interesting compositions using white gold and brown crystals with a cool tint.

Blue

Reason: boron impurities.

Deposits: mainly found in South Africa (Cullinan kimberlite spring) and Australia (Argyle).

This is one of the rarest fancy diamond colors. Saturation can vary from soft blue to almost turquoise. In medieval Europe, blue crystals were extremely highly valued; they were used to decorate the interiors of royal palaces.

In jewelry, blue gemstones are perfectly complemented by white gold settings and colorless diamond scattering.

Grey

Reason: hydrogen impurities.

Deposits: found in many mines and quarries in Brazil, Russia, India, Africa and Australia. In the Australian Argyle deposit, particularly rare stones with a bluish-gray tint are found.

Gray diamonds can have different intensities – from cool silver to dark, gloomy tones. In jewelry they embody restraint and elegance, ideally combined with white gold and silver.

Black

Cause: inclusions of graphite, pyrite or hematite.

Deposits: most often found in South Africa, Brazil and Venezuela.

Although black always remains stylish and trendy, diamonds of this shade have long been underappreciated. Until the 20th century, they were considered insufficiently aesthetic and were used mainly for technical purposes. This may be due to the fact that many black stones are opaque.

Today, black diamonds are widely used in jewelry. They can be combined with different types of frames and combined with other gems.

Pink

Reason: changes in the crystal lattice.

Deposits: 90% of pink crystals are mined in Australia (Argyle).

Saturation varies from light pastel tones to deep, almost cherry tones. Pink diamonds are extremely rare in nature, and therefore each example deserves to be part of a museum collection. With the help of these fancy crystals, jewelers create authentic works of art.

Red

Reason: changes in the crystal lattice.

Deposits: Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, India. The most expressive samples are mined in the Argyle deposit in Australia.

Red diamonds are luxurious and incredibly valuable crystals that are rarer than others. They can be purple, reddish-brown, red-pink. Such minerals go perfectly with any frames that are in harmony with them in tone.

Green

Reason: prolonged exposure to natural radioactive radiation.

Deposits: Africa. Finds in other mining regions are rare.

Green crystals can be soft mint, dark and deep, bright and rich. In jewelry they are combined with white, red and yellow gold.

The best

The most expensive diamond is red, with a blue stone slightly inferior in price. These same colors are included in the ranking of the rarest diamonds. Due to the fact that they are extremely rare in nature, but jewelry with them is in demand, stones of such shades are preferred to be grown in artificial conditions.

The demand for fancy diamonds of all colors has been increasing over the past decades. Their uniqueness attracts collectors, and market stability and steady price growth attract investors.

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Diamond color

Diamond color Diamond color is one of the four criteria of the 4C system for assessing its quality and value, adopted in international practice. This characteristic directly depends on the chemical composition of the mineral and does not change over time. Since brilli.

The color scale actually shows the absence of color. In other words, a diamond that is colorless or has a subtle tint of color is considered higher quality than one that has a visible tint of color.

The exception is fancy colored diamonds. Below is the gradation of colors in the international GIA system and the correspondence of GIA with Russian TU 117-4.2009-2002.

Classification to Russian TU 117-4.2009-2002

The Russian color classification divides diamonds into 3 groups:

Rice. Approximate correspondence between GIA and Russian specifications for assessing the color of a diamond.

Color gradation for diamonds Kr-17

They are now found infrequently, usually in inexpensive Chinese jewelry.

Color gradation for diamonds less than 0.30 carats

For Kr-57 cut diamonds and other fancy non-round cuts, but weighing less than 0.30 carats, the color scale consists of 7 groups.

1 – colorless,

2 – with a slight tint,

3 – with a slight yellowish, aquamarine, green, violet, gray and with a slight brown tint,

4 – with a clearly visible yellow, lemon, green, aquamarine or gray tint,

5 – yellow – with yellow, green, lemon color throughout the diamond,

6 – with a slight brown tint,

But as a rule, under normal lighting, or already in jewelry, diamonds with colors 1, 2, 3 will be colorless, only starting from 4 you can notice a slight yellowish tint.

Color gradation for diamonds over 0.30 carats

For Kr-57 cut diamonds and other fancy non-round cuts, but weighing more than 0.30 carats, the color scale consists of 17 groups.

1 – colorless higher ones, as well as with a tint of blue

2 – colorless

3 – with a subtle tint

4 – with a slight tint of yellowness

5 – with a slight yellowish, greenish, aquamarine, violet and gray tint, as well as a slight brown color

6, 6-1 – with visible yellow, green, aquamarine, gray and a slight brown tint

7 – with clearly visible yellow, green, lemon, aquamarine and gray tints

8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 8-4, 8-5 – yellow – with yellow, green, lemon color throughout the diamond,

9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4 – brown or yellow-brown

Rice. Example of diamonds with different shades of yellowness relative to color 3

Under normal lighting, diamonds with colors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 will have no tint, 6, 6-1, 7 will have a barely noticeable yellow tint, so gemologists, when evaluating diamonds, use special gemological lighting and place diamonds on a completely white background.

Rice. Example of diamonds in different brown shades relative to color 5.

Classification according to the GIA system

Rice. Diamond color gradation according to the GIA international system

A real mystery of nature, the color of a diamond has a special magnetism that attracts a person’s gaze.

The natural color palette of diamonds is varied. You can find either a completely colorless stone or one with a yellow or dark brown color. Yakut diamonds are considered the whitest in the world, representing crystals with ideal transparency. Indeed, most of the diamonds in Yakutia are colorless or have a faint smoky tint. Less common are black-violet and greenish-yellow stones, even less common are light aquamarine, bottle green, as well as brown and lilac-cherry.

Rice. A 1 carat performance 6/7 diamond next to a 1.2 carat black diamond

Diamonds can come in a wide variety of colors. Pink, black, blue, red, green, brown and yellow – these gemstones come in almost every possible color and shade. The rarest are red, pink, as well as blue, green, and purple diamonds. A colored diamond is the result of the masterful work of a jeweler-cutter, who is able to reveal and bring to perfection this masterpiece from nature itself.

Fancy diamonds play with light in the same way as colorless diamonds, but at the same time they have their own special charm. These are not just beautiful stones. Such diamonds have uniqueness and the ability to capture people’s hearts once and for all.

What determines the color of a diamond?

Here everything is decided by the nature and amount of impurities. The method of inclusion is also important. The color of most diamonds comes from the presence of nitrogen atoms concentrated locally. Such stones are painted in a color range from no color at all to brownish-yellow (this includes pale yellowish, greenish-yellow and other shades). If the diamond has a blue color, then we can talk about the presence of boron atoms. Impurities of radioactive elements (uranium and thorium) give the stones a green color.

The rarest of natural colors is pink. It, as well as its shades turning into brownish tones, arise as a result of high temperatures. Black diamonds are also quite common. Due to the presence of many inclusions, such stones are difficult material to cut. A high concentration of dark-colored inclusions almost completely deprives the diamond of its transparency. In return, the stone receives a surface shine similar to the shine of metal.

Black diamonds have long remained undervalued. And only recently the uniqueness of these stones has proven that they rightfully occupy their place among other diamonds.

Diamonds that have a subtle or strong shade of yellow are much more common in nature than stones with intense colors. The commercial classification of flowers classifies them as the “Cape series”. This is a conditional group that includes not only diamonds with a yellow tint, but also colorless stones.

The color scale adopted in our country assigns a specific color to each number, where colorless is considered to be one, and brown is considered to be nine. All stones are divided into groups. Colorless diamonds open the scale, followed by a smooth transition with increasing intensity of yellow color. The last group includes intense yellow diamonds. The Russian classification also takes into account the number of faces and weight of stones.

The fact that Brilliant.RU supplies champion diamonds that become winners of international jewelry presentations and exhibitions is not surprising. This is quite expected, because our diamonds have a unique shine. This quality is achieved not only thanks to excellent cutting and the use of high technologies in stone processing, but also thanks to the high-quality initial characteristics of natural diamonds from Yakutia.

The stones that are most often found in Yakutia have no color. They are famous for their amazing play of light reflections, as they have the ability to transmit and refract a greater number of light rays. The famous expression “diamonds of pure water” in this case is completely true: anyone, even the most sophisticated connoisseur, will not be able to pass by the wonderful, iridescent perfection of the facets of these stones.