Today's rage it seems to be are the
Fancy colored diamonds. Gemologists
have developed new ways to create versions
that are affordable for the average person - by
treating less desirable diamonds. These
less desirable diamonds are treated with
irradiation followed by intense heat. This
turns brown and yellowish diamonds into
beautifully colored diamonds that you can
afford. This produces stunning greens,
blues, yellows, reds, purples and other
colors. These colors are considered
permanent, but there is a possibility
they could change during repairs if a high
heat is used.
Treatments like irradiation make it possible
for more people to own these vividly colored
diamonds. Most natural colored diamonds
are rare and also extremely expensive. When
shopping for colored diamonds you need to
assume that any affordable fancy color
diamond has been treated. Ask about the
stones origin and request to view a lab
certificate to verify authenticity.
Synthetic colored diamonds are another
option if owning a colored diamond is
something you desire but cannot quite afford.
They are real diamonds, but they are created
in a lab.
Natural fancy color diamonds get their
coloring from different trace elements present
in the stones, such as nitrogen, which
produces a yellow diamond. Diamonds can
be colored by exposure to radiation during its
creation. An example of a diamond affected
by radiation is a Green diamond.
Another way that a natural colored diamond
gets color is by its inclusions. Regarded as
flaws and undesirable in a colorless diamond,
inclusions give unique tones and brilliant
flashes of color in a fancy color diamond.
Remember that Natural fancy colored
diamonds are very expensive, any colored
diamond labeled to be sold as natural should
be accompanied by a certificate from a
respected grading lab.
A "fancy" diamond is a natural diamond that
has color. These colors vary from red, green,
purple, violet, orange, blue and pink - and
most shades between. Fancy color shades
vary from faint to intense.
An "E" rated diamond (colorless) is much more
valuable than a "Y" rated diamond
(light yellow or brown). This is due to two
effects: high-color diamonds are rarer,
limiting supply; and the bright white
appearance of high-color diamonds is more
desired by consumers, increasing demand.
Poor color is usually not enough to eliminate
the use of diamond as a gemstone: if other
gemological characteristics of a stone are
good, a low-color diamond can remain
more valuable as a gem diamond than an
industrial-use diamond.
The most famous diamonds in the world are
Color diamonds. The Tiffany Diamond,
which is yellow and the Hope Diamond which
is blue are colored diamonds. Color
diamonds have an amazing financial track
record. The value has never decreased on
wholesale level in more than 30 years. Blue
and pink diamonds have doubled every 5
years of a strong economy. In the 1970's
you could have bought a very high quality
blue diamond for about 50K and today the
very same stone would be worth between
2 and 3 million.
