Do engagement diamond rings have to be white?

The colour of a diamond can detract from or enhance its value, in fact many white diamonds bearing a hint of yellow are discounted, while those showing hints of pink or blue are prized. Red diamonds are the rarest on earth.

A white diamond is actually transparent with no colour visible, it is not white.

Possible colours

Diamonds present themselves naturally in a vast array of colour such as gray, white, blue, yellow, red, orange, green, pink, purple, brown or black because they contain interstitial impurities or structural defects. Diamonds are classified into two main types which are dictated by the nature of its impurities and how they absorb light.

The impurities found in the Type I diamond is nitrogen atoms resulting in yellow and sometimes brown stones. The famous Canary diamonds below in this group.

Type II diamonds contain no measureable nitrogen impurities. They include colours such as pink and red, blue and gray. It is interesting to note that green diamonds don’t below to either Type I or Type II as they get their colour from exposure to radiation.

Diamonds are valued according to clarity and colour where D and E grades are regarded as colourless and are considered more valuable than diamonds carrying a grade of R or Y. These diamonds are yellow or brownish in colour.

Highly coloured diamonds are rare. However there are a set of diamonds which ar out of scale in the grading system and they are called ‘fancy colour’ diamonds, for instance this diamond wont get a grading such as G or K, but rather their grading will refer to them as a Faint Blue grade. These stones are probably amongst the most sought after stones in the world, the deep blue Hope diamond being an example.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 3:50 am.

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