Fancy Colored Diamonds

This chapter will focus on diamonds which are not white in color. This is a very superficial glance at a topic that huge volumes of material wouldn't begin to cover. Years ago, when I was a CPA, I was advised to approach every audit using a "kiss" philosophy. I was later advised that kiss was an acronym for "keep it simple, stupid." Accordingly, I’m going to approach this subject with a "kiss" to pique your interest but leave the door open for anyone who wants more contact than that.

Technically if a diamond is lower on the color scale than "Z" it is considered a "fancy" color. But even if a diamond is not technically lower than a "Z" in color it might have a beautiful yellow tint and, if mounted in a yellow setting that intensifies the color, it may "face up" like a vibrant canary yellow diamond and have considerable value. There are two basic types of colored diamonds, those that occur naturally in nature and those that are treated by man (by irradiation or some other technique) and made to change color. Diamonds which have been treated by man and, as a result, changed color are much less expensive than naturally occurring fancy-colored diamonds. As such, despite their beauty, they have no resale value. In that regard, I liken them to lab grown diamonds which also can be found in fancy colors by the way.

Below is a color wheel that allows you to see the huge variety of primary colors that diamonds come in, as well as some typical color modifiers. Natural yellow, green, orange and grey diamonds can be beautiful, unique, and inexpensive. Yellows are the most popular by far. Purples, blues and pinks and reds are extremely rare and extremely expensive. I have sold several blues and pinks well under 1 carat for $30,000-70,000 each, but in fine intense colors in bigger sizes these colors can sell for many millions of dollars. If you have a diamond with a rare color to sell. This market is still at its highest price levels in history. If you contact me, I can help. If you wish to buy one of these diamonds, it is best to begin shopping well in advance as they are difficult to locate and arranging transport and security is time-consuming. It might be advisable to try to arrange to buy one of these diamonds at an international trade show where there may be a bigger selection to choose from. Once again, I can help.

In addition to the exact hue, and purity of color (lack of color modifiers), the other important factor is the saturation of color. The saturation ranges from least to most is faint, fancy, fancy intense, and fancy vivid. Fancy deep and fancy dark are also saturation terms typically less desirable than fancy intense.

It should be noted that florescence can intensify the color in a fancy-colored diamond and therefore enhance its beauty, but it is rarer (and thus more valuable) to have the intense color occur without florescence.

One more point to know. There is more "forgiveness" and acceptance of a lower clarity grade in the rarer colors. Thus, an SI2 pink diamond can still be super valuable.