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Colored Diamond Information
This is straight from the newly published Diamond Council of America's "Diamontology" course book!
Fancy Colors:
The colors of fancy diamonds are analyzed in terms of three components: hue, tone and saturation.
Hue is the color's basic category - red, yellow, green, blue and so on. hues include mixtures of reddish-orange and blueish-green.
Tone is the color's lightness or darkness.
And Saturation is the color's strength and purity. Low saturation colors often appear brownish or grayish.
Other information:
Intense yellow diamonds have long been called "canaries" after the brightly colored songbirds. Similarly, brown diamonds have been described as "coffee" or "cinnamon" colored.
Australia's Argyle Mine is one of today's leading diamond producers. The mine's output includes a variety of fancy colors. The rarest are pinks and reds, prized by collectors and connoisseurs around the world. However, this mine produces more of what is called "champagne" colored diamonds which are nothing more than a series of pinkish brown to brown diamonds.
When picking a fancy colored diamond:
The other four c's (Color, Cut, Clarity and Carat Weight) aren't as important. It says that an intense pink diamond at 3 carats is exceptional and if one were to own a 1/2 carat red diamond it would qualify as WORLD CLASS!
The Hope Diamond:
One of the World's most famous gems, and it's most striking characteristic is its dark blue color.
It's early history is somewhat speculative. most authorities believe it was mined in India and came to Europe in the mid 1600s. At that time it weighed about 110 carats and had an irregular shape.
Louis the 14th purchased the diamond around 1670 and had ir recut to a more symmetrical form, reducing the weight to 69 carats. It became known as the French Blue Diamond. In 1792, during the French Revolution, the diamond was stolen along with most of the French Crown Jewels and vanished from historical records.
Early 1800s, a remarkable blue cushion-cut diamond weighing 45.52 carats appeared in London. Henry Philip Hope bought it in 1830 and named it for himself. After his death, the diamond passed on to heirs and other owners. Around 1910, Cartier of Paris purchased it and sold it to Evelyn Walsh McLean, a prominant American socialite. To conjure a little dark romance, Pierre Cartier may have also invented the ledgend of the curse. After McLean died in 1947, renowned diamond dealer Harry Winston purchased the Hope from her estate and donated it in 1958 to the Smithsonian. It is now there on exhibit.
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Diamonds containing isolated atoms of nitrogen dispersed throughout the crystal structure will most likely produce a "canary-yellow" color.
Instead of nitrogen, extreamly rare diamonds contain traces of boron which can impart a blue color if they're present in large enough amounts.
Last edited by Hootie; 11-21-2002 at 03:59 AM.
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I wouldn't mind getting a diamond ring like that.
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