Diamonds Antwerp - Color of diamond

From the faintest yellow or brown to the very rare pinks, blues, greens and other colors (known as "fancies" in the trade) it is still no color at all that takes the cake when it comes to diamonds. A completely colorless diamond allows white light to pass through it effortlessly - dispersing it again as rainbows of color.

Note:(In 1987 Sotheby's auctioned an approximately .95 ct. pink to purplish natural fancy color diamond and received $800,000 plus. Because of rarity.)

In Diamonds that are seen in the trade, most are near colorless to light yellowish. There are only about 25 impurity elements that effect diamond. In fact, 99.95% of all diamond is pure carbon. Some elements, that affect Diamond color, are:

nitrogen ... yellow
boron ... blue
crystal irregularities ... pinks, browns and reds
natural radiation ... green

Some diamonds are "fluorescent". Some even glow. This fluorescence is caused by the reaction between the light's energy and the diamond's atoms. Diamonds that fluoresce usually do so in blue.
Fluorescence should be disclosed and explained when a diamond is being viewed. Remember slight to moderate fluorescence could be a means of identification.

To grade color, Gemologists
use master stones
(stones graded and recorded
at the gem certification lab),
white light and proper procedures.
The graph on the right illustrates color grading from colorless to yellow with corresponding Color grades.