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Fancy Coloured Diamonds

First off, lets start with the basics. Most of you probably already know that there is a scale of diamond colour from D to Z.  D, of course, is completely colourless while Z is heavily tinted with yellow.

But all along that scale from D to Z, the discussion is still about what are categorised as “white diamonds”.  A “Z” colour diamond is a heavily yellow tinted white diamond.

The world of diamonds, though, is not limited to this scale.  Diamonds falling off this scale are commonly called “Fancy Colour Diamonds” or “Fancy Diamonds.”

What Diamonds Are Considered “Fancy Colour Diamonds”?

Diamonds can either fall off this scale because they are tinted with a shade other than yellow, or because the yellow colour inside the diamond is so strong that the diamond is no longer considered a tinted white diamond, but rather a full fledged yellow diamond.

Diamonds can come in a variety of colours. Each of the major colours has a different level of rareness (and of course the price level reflects that rarity).

Natural Fancy Colour Diamonds vs. Treated Colour Diamonds

An important distinction must be made here before we continue with our introduction of “fancy colour diamonds”.  When shopping for fancy colour diamonds, it is crucial that you buy from a reputable dealer and verify that the diamond you are interested in is a natural fancy colour diamond.

One of the most common lab treatments performed on diamonds is taking cheap brown-coloured diamonds and treating them with high pressure and high temperature in order to change their colour to a wide variety of copies of natural fancy diamond colours.

If you do buy these diamonds, know that they are much cheaper than natural fancy colours precisely because they are created from the cheapest of the cheap diamonds.

Telling the Difference Between Natural and Treated Fancy Colour Diamonds

It’s fairly easy to tell the difference between a natural fancy colour diamond and a treated coloured diamond.  The saturation of colour in the treated diamond is so strong that most of them look like semi-precious coloured gems.

Also, a fancy coloured diamond may have it’s own “birth certificate”.