DIAMOND COLOR

WELCOME TO OUR TUTORIAL ON DIAMOND COLOR!

"Color" in a diamond refers to the relative body color of the gem material which is graded on a scale. The scale is based on the alphabet; it starts with the letter D and graduates all the way to the letter Z. The scale is broken up into 5 categories depicted in the slider graphic below. The saturation of tint increases as we move further down the color scale. The color a diamond most often graduates to is yellow, followed by brown, then gray. These tonal differences can impact value.

The yellow tone is caused by the presence of nitrogen in the earth at the time the carbon is crystallizing. The lack of nitrogen in the earth causes the diamond to be more colorless. The more nitrogen is present in the diamond the more yellow it will be. The brown tone is caused by the presence of nickel and the gray tone is caused by the presence of hydrogen.

If you're looking for "white" diamond you'll want to look within the D-J color range. If you don't mind a faint tint you can consider K-M. After the M color the tint becomes more obvious. Refer to our videos on diamond color here.

Courtesy of GIA.com

The subject of diamond color, while easy to grasp is often misunderstood or not seen and presented accurately when you go to view diamonds in a local jewelry store. Sometimes learning about what something isn't, helps us to better understand what it actually is.
Below is our video "Understanding Diamond Color: Part 1: What Diamond Color Isn't" will show you this aspect of diamond color in detail.

In this next video, "Understanding GIA Diamond Color Part 2: What Diamond Color Is", were going to take you into the laboratory with us and examine diamond colors D-O, both in the face up and down positions against a flat white background in GIA's DiamondDock™ lighting box.

In this last video, "Understanding GIA Diamond Color Part 3: Aspects that will make diamonds appear whiter" we explore the factors that can make a diamond appear more white than it is!

Now that you have an understanding about diamond color, lets look at Colorless Diamonds.