Diamond Color Chart
If you will ask your friends what the color of a diamond is, most people would say it is white.
The fact is that the rarest and best diamonds are colorless. If you ask what kind of stones are known as colored stones, most people will probably say that only precious stones or gemstones such as Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby, Topaz and so on are known as colored stones.
They would be right, but not completely. There are colored diamonds, but they are in a category of their own, called fancy colored diamonds.
Diamond Color Scale
The scale that is used to grade the color of diamonds is based on the A, B, C alphabet, but it starts with the letter D.
D color is the highest color for a diamond, it is very rare in nature and for this reason it is the most expensive diamond.
The difference in color between D to E and to F is not much, and an unprofessional person will not be able to notice it, unless he has all types of stones ones next to the other to make a comparison.
The diamond color scale was invented many years ago by the GIA – Gemological Institute of America, and it was decided to begin the scale from the letter D (and not A) purposely, in order to be sure that this scale is different from the scales which were used at the time.
How does it work?
D-F Colored Diamonds
As mentioned before, diamonds of D, E and F colors are called colorless stones
This means they don’t have even a slight yellow shade.
The diamonds in this group are the most expensive stones, yet even among them there are vast differences in prices.
For example – 1 carat clean diamond, of D color is priced at USD 15,900, E color at USD 11,300, while an F color diamond would cost USD 9,600.
As you can see, if you want to set a diamond of this group in your white gold or platinum engagement ring, the difference in the color will not be noticed if you set an F colored stone instead of a D colored one, and you can save USD 6,300.
G-H-I-J Color Diamonds
This group of diamonds is called near colorless.
In this group too, most people will not notice the color difference among the stones unless they are compared to one another.
This group can be divided into 2 sub-groups; G- H and I – J
The fact is that there is a slight difference between H to I, and of course to J – in which it is obvious to notice a very slight yellow tint.
If you plan to set your diamond in a classic white gold or platinum ring, I would recommend you not to go below the H color, and if you can afford it – buy a G colored stone – it will be much nicer.
Just bear in mind that a 1 carat, good clarity H colored stone would cost USD 5,000 and a G colored stone would cost USD 5,500 – not much of a difference.
If the engagement ring you want to buy is of yellow gold, you can choose an I or J colored stone since the jewelry is of a yellow color.
In this case, also, if you can afford it – pay little bit more and go for the I colored stone.
K-L-M Colored diamonds
This group is of diamonds that have a slight yellow tint, which can be easily observed with the naked eyes. Since these stones are commonly found and widely available in stores, their prices are significantly lower than the previous groups.
Please be aware that many jewelry shops do not hold this group of diamonds in their inventories.
If your mind is set on a yellow gold ring, you might find it worth your while to have a lower budget for bigger a diamond.
N-O-P-Q-R Colored diamonds
This is a rather large group of low colored diamonds.
There is very little demand to diamonds of this group, and their prices are the lowest in the market.
Most of the Far East customers, especially from the Philippines, are people looking for high clarity stones while having a low budget, and are interested in these group of diamonds, since the price they willing to pay is extremely low.
S-T and U-V to Y-Z Colored diamonds
This group of diamonds are called light yellow colored diamonds, and they are in more of a demanded in the market.
One of the reasons for this is that with a little change in the stone proportions by re-polishing it, it is possible to improve the color of the stone and it can become a fancy colored diamond.
Fancy colored diamonds have extremely higher prices those of the light colored stones.
Fluorescence stones
About one third of the Decorative diamonds in the world give back a tint of blue light when they are under a florescent / ultra-violet light.
These stones are called fluorescence stones, and are graded starting with feint blue, all the way up to very strong blue. Stones that do not give back any blue light are called none fluorescence stones.
So, How can the color chart be used to save you money?
The color of a diamond is one of the 4C’s that can be used to get an estimation of the diamond’s price.
As mentioned, the rarest diamond is of D color (colorless), and if you follow the diamond color chart, you will find that the price gets lower for the same size and clarity of the diamond.
An E colored diamond will be cheaper than a D colored one, and an F colored diamond will be cheaper than an E colored one, and so on…
Please look at the chart below to see how the diamond’s price changes according to its color:
The prices and colors are for a 1 carat diamond of VS1 clarity, an excellent cut and none fluorescence.
By looking at the chart you can see that a 1 carat D colored diamond would cost USD 12,100, while an F colored diamond – a diamond of the same colorless diamonds group, which no one will see the difference in the color once the stone is set in a ring – would cost USD 9,800.
You just saved… USD 2,300 !
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