Color:

Theory teaches us that diamonds are allotrope of Carbon and hence diamonds composed of pure carbon are colorless. However such stones are extremely rare. Rather, most of the diamonds found in nature have slight shades of yellow or brown. The color in diamond is attributed to the presence of small traces of other elements such as Hydrogen, Boron or Nitrogen, all of which are known to impart color. The shades of yellow or brown are in particular attributed to the presence of Nitrogen.

Scale to Grade Color of a Diamond:

To grade the color of diamond, the entire diamond industry now uses the color grading scale introduced by GIA in 1950. This scale goes from D to Z, where D stands for colorless diamonds, while Z implies the presence of light yellow color.

• D (Colorless) – This is the highest color grade your diamond can be. D stands for colorless which means that the diamond is absolutely white. This color emits unequaled brilliance, and is extremely rare.
• E (Colorless) – This color grade suggests that diamond contains some minute traces of color. E-colored diamonds too emit unsurpassed brilliance and are very rare.
• F (Colorless) - Diamonds falling under F-grade of color have minute traces of color which can only be detected by a trained gemologist. F-color diamonds qualify as a high-quality color grade diamonds.
• G, H (Near Colorless) – Diamonds under G and H color fall under noticeable color category. The color is prominent only when the diamonds are compared to higher color grades diamonds. To the untrained eyes the diamonds still appear to be colorless.
• I, J (Near Colorless) – Color grade I and J imply that the diamond has a slightly detectable color. But these diamonds are great value for money as they appear colorless to the naked eye yet doesn’t cost as much as higher color grade diamonds.
• K, L, M (Faint Yellow) – Diamonds falling under K,L and M category have noticeable color. Despite the presence of color, these diamonds can still be brilliant and emit fire.

Though colorless diamonds are deemed expensive, there is a whole range of fancy colored diamonds which are just as rare as exquisite. A color more intense than the “Z” grade on the color scale stands for a yellow colored diamond and falls under the class of fancy colored diamonds. There are other rare colors such as blue, pink, purple, or red which tend to be very expensive and just as beautiful!

Quick Fact: Compared to other shapes, brilliant round-cut diamonds, regardless of color, look brighter because of their ability for greater light dispersion.