EDUCATION
NATURAL COLOR DIAMONDS
A collection of natural rare exotic color diamonds from L.J. West Diamonds.
NATURAL COLOR DIAMONDS
Natural color diamonds are extremely rare, each diamond is over a billion years old and can be found in hidden corners across the earth.
The first diamond-grading system ever used dates back to India around in the sixth century. The scheme was based on the old class structure of the state. Members of different levels of rank, or castes, are permitted to own and wear only colored diamonds. As a result, diamonds served as a class badge. In many cultures certain colors have certain meanings such as purple as a sign of royalty, nobility, luxury, and ambition.
Since that time, diamond color grading systems have evolved a lot. There are now well-established methods for determining diamond color based on much more than a correlation with shells of conch, eyes of rabbits, and petals of flowers. And the only limits on the possession of various colors are based on availability and affordability.
Although historically fancy color diamonds have been a small part of the diamond industry, they have grown in popularity and availability over the past several decades. In the 1980s, Australia's Argyle mine started advertising its brown stones under trade names such as "Champagne" and "Cognac." Argyle achieved its goal of raising public awareness of fancy diamonds and dropping its promotional campaign.
Asia, South Africa, and Australia are the most well-known historic and current sources of fancy color diamonds. Many diamond mine sites, including Argentina, Venezuela, Guyana, and Indonesia, also manufacture fancy diamonds in color.
Diamonds are the hardest material on earth: 58 times harder than anything else in nature. Diamonds form only about 100 miles below the surface of the earth under high temperature and pressure conditions. The carbon atoms of Diamond are bound in all directions in exactly the same way. The rock, graphite, also contains only coal, but there are very different processes of formation and crystal structure. Graphite is soft you can use it to read, though diamond is so hard
NOTABLE FACTS
RARITY
“Only one in 10,000 diamonds has a fancy color.”
A collection of blue, orange, and pink diamonds from L.J. West Diamonds. (0.30 carats in size each)
The 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut Fancy Vivid Pink Internally Flawless diamond - Photo: courtesy of Sothebys
“In April 2017, the Pink Star diamond, 59.60 carats, became the most expensive gem ever auctioned.”
“The 45.52-carat Fancy Deep grayish blue Hope Diamond is the world’s most famous gem. ”
The Hope Diamond - Photo: Don Hurlbert Smithsonian
Diamonds are colorless through light yellow in the normal color range and are defined using the D-to-Z color grading scale of the industry. On the other side, fancy diamonds are yellow and brown diamonds displaying color beyond the Z scale, and diamonds displaying any other face-up color. These rare specimens come in all colors of the spectrum, mostly blue, red, circle.
For fancy-color diamonds, color far surpasses the other “Cs” (clarity, cut, and carat weight) when establishing value. therefore, it is critical to understand color appearances and how they affect color grades and descriptions. While everyone thinks they understand color, for most it is an intuitive response rather than a true knowledge of the ordering of color appearances.