Diamond Color

Diamonds naturally come in every color of the rainbow. But what most people are concerned with is the diamonds that appear in the range of white or transparent. The best color for a diamond is no color at all or what one cannot see. They are valued by their nearness towards transparency or colorlessness – the lesser the color, higher goes their value (an exception to this case is the fancy-color diamonds, such as pinks, blues, and even some yellow ones that are highly prized and lie outside this color range). An absolutely colorless diamond allows light to pass through it quite easily, resulting in the dispersion of light as the color of a rainbow. Colors are graded from entirely colorless to light yellow. Differences from one grade of a diamond to another is quite faint, hence grading is done under restricted lighting and it takes a skilled eye many years of practice for color grading diamonds.

GIA’s (Gemological Institute of America's) color-grading scale for diamonds is marked as industry standard guide. The scale begins with the letter D, which signifies the whitest of diamonds or the most transparent ones and continues with escalating presence of color ranging from (light yellow to brown) to grade Z. Each letter grade has a evidently defined range of color appearance. Diamonds of recognized color are used as evaluation stones for grading. Grading is done by comparing the diamond to be graded against these "master stones" under either mock or natural light. A machine called the “Colorimeter” is also used at times for color grading but there is no substitute for a skilled human eye. Additionally, natural diamonds also found in shades of blue, green, yellow-orange, pink, red, and even black. Commonly known as 'colored fancies', these stones are exceptionally rare and precious and thus are graded according to the intensity of their color and are classified into a separate segment known as ‘Z+.

Diamonds are formed in the bosom of Earth and are actually pure form of carbon composed under high temperature and pressure. This purest form of carbon when gets influenced by other chemical impurities during its formation the resultant diamonds instead of being immaculate and bright, gets tinted. Depending on the percentage of chemical impurities present in the diamond the color of diamond takes a yellowish or brownish hue which reduces the worth of the diamond. The most expensive diamonds are regarded to be colorless or transparent and depending on the color inherited by diamond due to the presence of impurity, diamonds are broadly classified in type I and type II. Basically, the type I diamonds comprise of nearly .1% nitrogen atoms as impurity and when nitrogen atoms are in pairs they do not contribute any color and are sub headed as type Ia diamonds. Whereas, the unpaired nitrogen present causes a slight yellowish or occasionally brownish tint which are categorized as type Ib diamonds. In type II diamonds, inexact amount of nitrogen atoms are present, thus giving a slightly visible hue. Type IIa diamonds can be given pink, red or brown color with the help of plastic deformation while type IIb diamonds contain a subtle blue shade. If one is looking for very bright diamond engagement rings, then pick a supreme quality diamond with great scintillation. Apart from the natural transparent or non color diamonds, fancy diamonds are also available which are very rare and extremely valuable may be due to their scarce availability. Yellow gold stud earrings with fancy diamonds undoubtedly looks marvelous and hence are extremely desired among females. Mainly colors like yellow, brown, red, pink, blue, subtle green and other slightly subtle hues are also found that enhances the beauty of any jewelry when embedded with such unique splendor.