Ultimate Guide to Colored Diamonds: Everything You Need to Know

Le guide white/colorless is not the only color of diamond, hard to believe but nevertheless true: in nature diamonds can appear naturally in an infinite number of colors. Of natural origin, the diamond can be pink, blue, purple, red, green…

These diamonds can be an alternative when you want something out of the ordinary. There are a total of 27 shades of Fancy Diamond.

Colored diamonds: a shimmering rarity

The diamond is not always colorless. It is sometimes adorned with a myriad of colors, captivating the eye and the imagination. A colored diamond is a diamond whose shade, other than white, is visible to the naked eye when viewed through its table, the upper part of the stone.

Among the most common colors are black, brown and yellow. Pink, blue, red and purple are extremely rare treasures. It is estimated that out of more than 100 diamonds, only a tiny portion displays one of these exceptional colors.

The color of a colored diamond is not static. It comes in different intensities, classified according to a precise system: Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Dark, Fancy Deep, Fancy Intense and Fancy Vivid. This last category, the most intense, is also the most coveted and the most expensive.

Why are these diamonds colored? 

Boron gives the diamond a blue tint and nitrogen a yellowish tint.

These elements help to understand why a blue diamond is rarer than a yellowish to brown diamond. This is because boron is a rare element while nitrogen is a very abundant element.

Finally, another cause would be due to deformation defects in the crystal structure and color zone in the crystal lattice. In fact, if a network is deformed this allows the diamond to absorb certain wavelengths of light which can give it other colors.

A precious heritage

The Argyle mine in Australia was one of the main sources of colored diamonds. It produced the majority of brown diamonds on the market and was also the only one to mine red and pink diamonds. Unfortunately, the mine is now exhausted.

History will also remember the Golconda mine in India, which gave birth to the most beautiful colored diamonds of the past, such as the famous Hope diamond, a blue gem on display today at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. This mine, too, is now exhausted.

Yellow diamond / fancy diamond? 

The vast majority of so-called “white” diamonds tend to have a slight yellowish or even brown tint. It is the presence of nitrogen atoms that causes this color.

These diamonds are also the most popular (60% of fancy diamonds are yellow). Even though the last grades of the standard white diamond color scale appear yellow. These diamonds are not considered fancy diamonds. Indeed, colored diamonds have a strong color. This diamond remains affordable because it is a common diamond

Colored diamonds, through their rarity and shimmering beauty, occupy a special place in the world of jewelry. Each stone is a unique creation of nature, a true treasure that tells a story and arouses wonder.