Not just diamonds, colored diamonds are a girl`s best friend

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But if you are the colourful sort of girl, why restrict yourself plain, old white diamonds. Because other than all the shapes and sizes that diamonds come in, diamonds also occur in various colors. Some of the most popular colours include hues of red, pink, blue and yellow. In fact, yellow diamonds are some of the most popular choice for engagement rings.

As you might be aware, the GIA has a specific color grade for all diamonds. While at first glance, a regular shopper may describe a regular, colorless diamond as white or transparent, there is more to color than meets the eye.

Fancy Colored Diamonds

Fancy colored diamonds as they are called are basically yellow, red, pink and blue colored diamonds - that belong to a separate group. The color scale used for grading them is also different.
Their terminology also differs from that of white diamonds. That is, a red or pink colored diamonds will have three different color variants: Fancy Red, Fancy Deep Pink and Vivid Red. Or a blue diamond’s nuances will have many differences from Faint, Very Light and  Light Blue as well as Fanch, Fancy LIght, Fancy Dark, Fancy Intense, Fancy Deep, Fancy Vivid.

How do diamonds get their natural color?

The most common cause of color in diamonds is the presence of trace elements inside the diamond’s chemical structure.

For example, the presence of nitrogen in diamonds gives it a yellow tint. And because nitrogen is so abundant in the environment - approximately 70% of air is nitrogen, it is not surprising that a large number of diamonds have a tinge of yellow.

Whereas, boron results in a bluish looking diamond that is extremely rare and therefore highly valuable.

Why colored diamonds are a girl’s best friend?

Not only do they look stunning, colored diamonds are increasingly being selected for their high returns and investment potential.

All colored diamonds are rare and therefore highly valuable but you need to split them into their pricing brackets as follows to understand your investment appetite:

1. The more common colors: Brows, Greys, Fancy Yellows

2. Mid-level colors: Intense and vivid yellows along with some combinations of orange diamonds

3. High priced and extremely rare colored diamonds: pure oranges, greens, purples, pinks and blues.

4. Most expensive and rare: Red colored diamonds - a category of their own

It is important to note that we may have categorised brown diamonds as common, there is nothing cheap or common about a 10 carat brown diamond with VS clarity.
The classification provided above is a generic one. And there are hundreds of colored diamond colors that result as a combination of the base colors and the value and rarity varies.
Your goal as an investor should be to find a diamond within your budget that is easily available and known so that there is a potential resale value for it.

Basic guidelines for investing in colored diamonds

You may have a favorite color and you can of course invest in a yellow diamond if yellow is your lucky color. However, there are certain technical specifications that you need to look at when selecting your colored diamond of choice.

1. Certification
Ensure that your diamonds are certified from an institute of high reputation, preferably GIA or equivalent. This is the only assurance you have of the quality and will help you when you resell it.

2. Clarity
While clarity is not the most important factor, it is certainly a criterion. This is because low clarity diamonds are so much harder to sell. Low clarity diamonds certainly have their place and clientele in the market, just not from an investment perspective.

3. Diamond Cut - Diamond make
Don’t confuse cut with shape. Cut is what we refer to when we talk about the quality of its polish (the precision with which it was cut). The shine, its brilliance and the fire within. This is a very important factor to check.

4. Diamond shape
As far as diamond shape is concerned, some are more sought after than the others and will give the diamond a better resale value. All the classic shapes - round, princess, cushion cut, oval, radiant and pear shaped are always a safer buy.

5. Diamond size
If you are buying the lower end colored diamonds like fancy yellows and browns then opt for higher carat weight - preferably above 1.00 carat.

To afford the more higher-end ones like greens, blues, pinks, purples and  reds - people go down in weight up to 0.15 ct or less. Even a 0.15ct diamond in a coveted color would fetch a premium rate of up to tens of thousands of dollars.
So if your heart is set on a colored diamond, be sure to choose wisely and make an investment that stands true in years to come.