Diamond Color - What's Its Grade?
By
Gail Leino
Diamond color is one of the four grades used in determining the
value of a diamond. The stones will occur naturally in a range
of colors, but the most common one are the pure colorless
diamonds.
Colored diamonds have color because of structural defects
that cause the stone to absorb all but one color of the rainbow
or in the case of black diamonds all the colors are absorbed.
Because colored diamonds are rare and pretty they actually cost
more than the clear diamonds, sometimes in excess of thousands
of dollars for the same carat size.
Diamond colors are, colorless, white, yellow, steel, blue,
orange, green, pink, brown, and black. Any diamond with a color
is referred to as a colored diamond, but if the color is very
chromatic it will be classified as a fancy colored diamond. The
most common of the colored diamonds is yellow.
The commercial classification of colored diamonds uses an
alphabet system. The range of colorless to white can be
identified as a letter ranging from 'D' through 'I'. A near
colorless diamond may be identified as 'J' through 'L'. A faint
yellow diamond will be an 'M.' A light yellow diamond can be
classified as one of the letters 'N' through 'R' and the yellow
diamonds in a range from 'S' to 'Z'. The other colors will all
be classified as colored diamonds, for example a blue diamond is
call a 'colored blue diamond' or if it's very blue, 'fancy
colored blue diamond.'
On a side note a diamond can be colored on purpose with
irradiation followed by heat treatment. There is a risk involved
with being exposed to irradiated objects so it's not a
recommended process. Also the color may change over time. It is
required that color treated diamonds are sold as colored treated
and sellers can't mislead the buyer.
Mrs. Party... Gail Leino is the internet's leading authority
on selecting the best possible
party
supplies, using proper etiquette and manners while also
teaching organizational skills and fun facts. Anniversary Rock
has a huge selection of
Diamond
Jewelry.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gail_Leino
|
