About Color

A colored diamond is not just a matter of visual appeal. The Diamond Color plays a crucial role in determining the worth of a diamond. Selection of a diamond though depends on the individual taste and preferences, it is always important to have a better understanding of color facts along with other major characteristics of a diamond. Simply do not compromise on quality at the cost of your fascination for a particular color!

Natural diamonds are by and large colorless or white. Diamonds which possess natural colors like pink and yellow are also available in the nature but in limited quantities. Usually, a large number of colored diamonds are produced with the help of various high-end processing technologies. One of such processing technologies is the High Pressure and High Temperature method (HPHT). The HPHT is used to transform natural yellow diamonds into different fancy colored diamonds. That’s not all! HPHT is also an effective technique that creates expensive colorless diamonds from the most ordinary brownish diamonds. This kind of transition of color is permanent and as gorgeous as any natural diamond. According to the GIA’s grading reports on diamond coloration, these types of irradiated diamonds conform to the prescribed international quality standards and are reasonably priced to suit your budget as well. In addition, it is observed that they cost less than natural diamonds of similar quality specifications.

These fancy colored Diamonds are available in different vibrant hues and shades including pink, purple, yellow, blue, green, and even red. Sometimes, fancy diamonds undergo secondary coloration treatments that enhance their brilliance and sparkle to a significant extent. It is often seen that the color of a diamond changes when exposed to UV radiation. This characteristic, popularly known as ‘fluorescence’ is also taken into consideration while evaluating the quality of a diamond.

The color of a diamond also depends on the type of mounting or setting. A colorless diamond may appear faintly colored to the naked eyes when placed on white-gold, yellow gold or platinum.

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has formulated a set of guiding principles to assess color grades of diamonds. Colorless diamonds and diamonds with yellow or yellowish tints are categorized into 5 groups namely

• D-E-F for Colorless diamonds
• G-H-I-J for Nearly colorless diamonds
• K-L-M for faintly tinted, usually yellow diamonds
• N-O-P-Q-R for Lightly tinted, usually yellow diamonds
• S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z for tinted, usually yellow to brownish diamonds.

However, this color grading standard is not applicable to fancy colored diamonds.