LAB GROWN DIAMONDS

NATURAL FANCY COLORED DIAMONDS

In the world of diamonds rarity undoubtedly equals value. Therefore with only one in 10,000 diamonds having a fancy color, it can be seen why with their rarity, dazzling brilliance, and unique exquisite colors, many experts consider Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds to be the most highly prized gems.

Colorless Diamonds only contain different shades graded in GIA’s D-to-Z range and they are valued upon their absence of color, with totally colorless diamonds being the rarest and most valuable. Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds, also referred to as ‘Fancies’, are the complete opposite. They are yellow and brown diamonds that exhibit color beyond the Z range, or diamonds that exhibit any other color face-up. Their value usually increases in relation to the color, so the deeper the color the higher the value, and stones outside of the normal color range are considered the rarest.

Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds present in a veritable rainbow of colors with 12 different color variations, over 90 secondary hues, 9 intensity levels, and more than 230 combinations of color.

Their colors are muted rather than strong and pure as they are often blended with other colors and muted by greyish or brownish tones. This means that the value of a Natural Fancy Colored Diamond generally increases with the purity and strength of its color i.e. large vivid colored stones are considered to be extremely valuable as they are a very rare find.

The rarest, and therefore the most valuable, colors of Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds are said to be red, green, purple and orange diamonds with medium to dark tones and moderate saturations, followed by blue and pink. The most common colors are browns and yellows. The colors of black, grey, and fancy white are also found in Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds. Perhaps the most famous Natural Fancy Colored Diamond is the 67.50 carat cushion-cut black diamond the ‘Black Orlov’ alternatively known as ‘The Eye of Brahma’.

HOW ARE NATURAL FANCY COLORED DIAMONDS VALUED

As with Colorless Diamonds, the value of Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds is gauged according to the 4Cs - Diamond Color, Diamond Clarity, Diamond Cut, and Diamond Carat Weight. However due to the uniqueness and rarity of Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds, the color of the stone is ranked as the most important attribute for defining the diamond’s value.
In contrast to Colorless Diamonds, a Natural Fancy Colored Diamond with numerous inclusions which would result in a low clarity grade will be highly valued by a connoisseur of Fancy diamonds if the face up color that the diamond displays is very attractive. However, as with Colorless Diamonds, inclusions that will impact upon the durability of the gem can significantly lower a Fancy color diamond’s value. Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds can of course exhibit color graining which is considered an inclusion.

FEATURES AND GRADING OF NATURAL FANCY COLORED DIAMONDS

Within the international jewelery trade there is a consensus of opinion that Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds should display certain features which classify them as true ‘Fancies’. These features are the presence of either a yellow or brown color (with a higher color than a Z master stone), or a color other than yellow or brown.
Grading Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds is a very specialised and complex task. This is due to the fact that Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds come in so many shades which means that there are simply too many variations to make a complete set of master stones. Therefore when the highly trained diamond graders at the GIA Laboratory grade Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds, to assist them in identifying the color of the diamond or its characteristic color, they use a combination of comparison stones and printed standard colors.

The GIA system for grading the color of Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds has been designed to take into account the fact that not all colored diamonds have the same depth of color. For example, yellow diamonds are more widely found while blue diamonds are rarer.

Once the diamond's characteristic color has been determined it will be assigned a color grade which consists of a characteristic color modified by one of these grade terms:

• Faint 
• Very Light
• Light
• Fancy Light
• Fancy
• Fancy Intense
• Fancy Vivid
• Fancy Dark
• Fancy Deep

Faint, very light and light are applied to all colors excluding yellow. Any diamond that shows a natural yellow color which is stronger than the Z master stone will be termed ‘fancy light yellow’.