Understanding the diamond colors chart

Everyone interested in buying diamond jewelry is always advised to consider the 4C’s of carat, cut, color and clarity. Most of us also know that the best, most expensive and rare diamonds are the colorless ones. Not many of us though can really make out the different colors of diamonds except the near yellow ones. You may not know this but black, yellow, green, blue, and even pink naturally-colored diamonds also exist. Well, let’s get some knowledge about the diamond colors chart and examine its relationship to the other three C’s, and of course the stone’s value.

You may have heard of the phrase "fire of a diamond" but are yet to understand what it entails. Diamonds split light just as prisms do. The resultant spectrum displays colorful flashes and these flashes are what are referred to as the fire of that diamond. The most fire comes from the most colorless diamond stone. Such a stone has a very high grade according to the diamond colors chart and thus you should expect to fork out a fortune for that stone. Further on, the color chart gives various descriptions to help one understand the different grades of colorlessness of a diamond.
Most people follow the diamond colors chart from either the GIA - Gemological Institute of America or the AGS - American Gem Society. Both charts grade diamonds from the colorless to the yellowish or brownish ones. The AGS’s scale is graduated from 0 to 10 (colorless to fancy yellow) while the GIA’s is D to Z (colorless to light yellow).

The color of a diamond is also affected by a factor known as florescence i.e. the effects of exposure to ultraviolet rays. Being present in the sun’s rays, ultraviolet light affects diamonds both negatively and positively. It adds an unsightly milky white shade to colorless stones (thus lowering their value) and gives a whiter bright shade to lower color diamonds (thus adding value). Ultraviolet light effects can also be unnoticeable in some diamonds.

However high or low a stone is on the diamond colors chart, the diamond’s setting has a major influence on the color. The common suggestion thus is that for yellowish diamonds a white gold or platinum setting is advised, while colorless diamonds should not have yellow settings as they will give the stone a yellow shade. The type of setting you prefer will have an effect on the stone’s final color and thus considering the other C’s can help you end up with just the right color. In choosing fancy colored diamonds, the rarity of the color, richness of the color, and purity of the color, are the aspects used to determine the colored diamond’s value.

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