Diamonds can occur in virtually all colours of the spectrum, including pink, blue and black. The two most commonly occurring colours, or hues, in diamonds are yellow and brown with yellow being by far the most prevalent. Some colours are very rare, the rarest and most highly prized colour of all being that of red diamonds.
For more information about specific diamond colours, follow the links below:
- Pink diamonds
- Champagne and Cognac diamonds
- Yellow diamonds
- Blue diamonds
- Black diamonds
Coloured diamonds are graded according to their properties of hue (spectral colour), tone (lightness or darkness) and saturation (intensity). In all cases, for any given hue, the greater the saturation, the higher the value.
The GIA, recognised as the foremost authority on the grading of coloured diamonds, currently grades colour in nine different categories ranging from Faintly Coloured to Fancy Vivid Colour.
Some natural coloured diamonds, including pink, blue and red, are very rare and hence quite expensive. There are a lot of coloured diamonds available that have been treated in a number of different ways, including heat treatment and irradiation. These are natural diamonds with an unnatural colour. The colour is stable in most cases and can offer a touch of colour to your jewellery at a fraction of the cost of natural colours. Treated diamonds can be very beautiful, and must always be declared as treated by the jeweller.
