Everything you want to know about the colour of a diamond – the 4 Cs (Part 3 of 4)
Always wondered why diamonds vary in price? Don’t understand what jewellers are talking about when they talk about the cut, carat, colour and clarity of a diamond. Known as the 4 Cs, these criteria are how they quality and value of a diamond is determined within the jewellery industry. Following cut and carat, the colour of the diamond is the next most important and the one that many don’t understand.
Colour
Diamond colour has a significant impact on its value. Colour refers to the purity and transparency of the stone. When jewellers speak of a diamond’s colour, they are usually referring to the presence or absence of colour in white diamonds. Colour is a result of the composition of the diamond, and it never changes over time. A truly colourless diamond is extremely rare!
Most diamonds possess varying degrees of colour creating substantial differences in value. Diamond colours are graded on a scale of D through to Z, with D being colourless and Z light colouring. All D-Z diamonds are considered white, even though they contain varying degrees of colour. An ‘icy white’ diamond is typically D, E or F and while there are differences in colour between D, E, and F diamonds, they can be detected only by a gemologist in side by side comparisons, and rarely by the untrained eye. While containing traces of colour, G-J diamonds are near colourless and are considered to be the best value, as traces of colour cannot be detected by the untrained eye. On the other hand, some people like the ‘warmth’ of a I, J or K colour and because I-K diamonds are more common than the higher grades, they tend to be a great value.