Fancy Colored Loose Diamonds

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Fancy Colored Loose Diamonds Made More Affordable To Average People

While diamonds are popular and beautiful in their natural color, they are very expensive making it heavy on the pocket for the ordinary jewelry lovers. Fortunately, gemologists have found a way to create more attractive versions that are less costly by adding color to diamonds.

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These are called fancy colored loose diamonds which means that they are also natural diamonds only that they have color. Some of the most sought after colors are pink, blue, yellow, green, red, purple, orange, champagne and fancy cognac. The red diamonds, however, are the rarest of all the colored stones.

Fancy colored diamonds have become popular in their own right. Their shades vary in terms of the depth of color ranging from the intense ones to the very light stones. The more intense the color, the higher is the diamond’s value.

Treated stones

The chemical impurities or structural defects of a diamond cause the stone to develop a color. This is in contrast to the pure and perfect diamond that is transparent without any color. It is for this reason that a white diamond that shows a yellowish color is sold at a discounted price.

These fancy colored loose diamonds are actually the less desirable stones that undergo treatment with irradiation and then intense heat. The process eventually makes the brown or yellowish diamonds into the beautifully stones that are more affordable to the average people. Once treated, the colors become permanent unless they are subject to high heat again during repairs.

There are different ways by which diamonds get color. One is through the stone’s already existing element. The coloring of fancy loose diamonds comes from the various trace elements present in the stones. For instance, nitrogen in a diamond produces the yellow color.

Exposure to radiation during the diamond’s creation also produces color. An example is the green diamond.

Another way of coloring a diamond is by its inclusions or flaws in the stone. Although considered undesirable, these inclusions provide unique shades and brilliant flashes of color in a fancy colored diamond.

Color classification

Diamonds are normally classified into two main types (Type I and Type II) and several subtypes based on their impurities and how these impurities affect the stone’s ability to absorb light.

Type I diamonds have nitrogen atoms at 0.1 percent concentration. The presence of these nitrogen atoms is the stone’s main impurity. Few N atom pairs do not influence the color while a large number of N atoms results in a yellowish to brown color. N atoms that are dispersed throughout the diamond provide a more intense or occasionally brown hue.

Type II diamonds possess very few nitrogen impurities and have varying fluorescence characteristics. They are sub-categorized into Type IIa which gives a shade of pink, red or brown and Type IIb which gives a steel blue or gray color.

Grading system

Fancy colored loose diamonds have their own grading system, independent from that used for white diamonds. The system is used for colors that are not included in the normal color range of diamonds hence the name fancy color. While the colorless diamonds are graded using letter combinations, the grading system for the fancy colored diamonds uses descriptions. The system used for fancy diamonds is similar to the ones used for other colored gemstones such as sapphire, ruby and emerald.

The stones are graded by internationally recognized laboratories such as the Gemological Institute of American (GIA) which utilizes a list of 27 color hues. Upon determination of the diamonds’ tone and color saturation, the lab then gives a description of the stone based on nine descriptors. These are faint, very light, light, fancy light, fancy, fancy intense, fancy deep, fancy dark and fancy vivid.

Famous diamonds

Did you know that the most popular diamonds worldwide are the colored ones? Examples are the Tiffany diamond which is yellow in color and the Hope diamond with its blue shade. Of the two, the yellow diamonds are the most famous of the fancy colored precious stones.

One of the biggest diamonds of the world and one of the rarest is the pale pink colored Darya-I-Nur diamond. It weighs an estimated 182 carats and is mounted on a brooch setting for more than 130 years now. The diamond’s name is Persian for “sea of light.”

Diamonds with high intensity yellow color are very rare and expensive. If the color is more even, the more valuable it becomes. The richer its yellow hue, the higher is the diamond’s value. A yellow colored diamond is a real treasure because this type of stone is usually sought by collectors and specialist jewelers around the world. Its color ranges from light canary, canary, light marigold, marigold and amber yellow. It also has a variety of types and grades.

The value of fancy colored diamonds is also affected by fashion trends. For instance, pink diamonds fetched higher prices after Hollywood actress and singer Jennifer Lopez was photographed wearing a heart shaped pink diamond.

Fancy colored loose diamonds are handled and graded separately from the clear diamonds. They have established a stable financial record as well. Their value has, so far, not experienced any on the wholesale level in more than 30 years. In fact, the value of blue and pink diamonds has doubled every five years in a strong economy. If a high quality blue diamond was worth only $50,000 back in the 1970’s, its value today could now be between $2 million and $3 million.

Tips in buying

For those shopping for colored diamonds, it is recommended that you inquire about the origin of the stone and ask to see a lab certificate to check on the stone’s authenticity. Keep in mind that a natural fancy colored diamond should have a certificate from a reputable grading lab.

Another option is to buy synthetic colored diamonds which are cheaper compared to the natural ones. Although called synthetic, these are still genuine diamonds but are created in a laboratory.

If still unsure, it’s best to seek the advice of an impartial gemologist or appraiser. By getting the right information from the expert, you can rest assure that what you get is a beautiful diamond of high quality at a reasonable price.

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