Colour
Colour describes the colour of a diamond.
Most of us can recognise a classic white diamond but a diamond may have many different shades and colours.
The two most established grade systems to determine the value of a diamond in Europe and the US are GIA, short for The Gemmological Institute of America and Scan D. N, an abbreviation of Skandinavisk Diamant Nomenklatur.
In these two systems, the white, classical diamond has its own colour scale.
In addition, you’ll find diamonds in fascinating colours like steelgrey, blue, orange, red, green, pink, purple and black. Natural coloured diamonds contain small impurities and structural flaws that create the colour and previously coloured diamonds haven’t been regarded as valuable as colourless, white diamonds. However, in recent years there’s been a great shift in opinion and today naturally coloured diamonds are among the most popular and expensive diamonds.
Fancy colour diamonds
Natural coloured diamonds are sometimes of a quality called fancy colour diamond. Gem diamonds, e.g. in the GIA D-to-Z range traditionally decrease in value as the colour becomes more obvious. However, just the opposite happens with fancy colour diamonds: Their value generally increases with the strength and purity of the colour. Large, vivid fancy colour diamonds are extremely rare and very valuable.