What You Need to Know About Colored Diamonds

These days fancy, colored diamonds are very popular. Gemologists have actually discovered techniques to create colored diamonds that are affordable for people other than the incredibly wealthy who not so long ago were the only ones who could afford them. Gemologists treat diamonds that are not perfect with irradiation and then intense heat. This can turn diamonds that are naturally a brown or yellowish color into beautifully colored diamonds that because of their beginning are now more affordable. This process can produce beautiful colored diamonds in colors like green, blue, purple, red, and many other colors. While the new color is considered to be permanent, there is always the possibility that the color could change such as during repairs if high heat is used just as an example.

Treatments such as irradiation are making it possible for more people to own these beautiful colored diamonds. Diamonds that are naturally and vividly colored are not only quite rare, but tend to be very expensive. When you are shopping for colored diamonds, it is important to assume that any colored diamond that is affordable has probably been treated. It's important that you ask about where the stone came from, and to see a lab certificate to verify the diamond's authenticity.

Synthetic diamonds are another option to consider when you are looking at colored diamonds, especially if you know you cannot afford a naturally colored diamond. Synthetic diamonds are real diamonds, but instead of being created by nature, they are created in a lab.

Colored diamonds that are created in nature get their color from different trace elements that are present in the diamond. One of these trace elements is Nitrogen, and this element produces yellow diamonds. Naturally colored diamonds can also be affected by radiation in nature, one example of such a colored diamond would be a green diamond.

An additional way that a colored diamond can get its color is by its inclusions. These are actually flaws and are not considered desireable in colorless diamonds, but in a colored diamond they can give different tones and beautiful flashes of color. Keep in mind that any colored diamond that is labeled as a naturally colored diamond should come with a certificate from a respected grading lab. If it doesn't then it is probably either a irradiated or synthetic diamond.

Naturally colored diamonds are referred to as "fancy" diamonds because of their colored status. For natural diamonds, the colors can range from green, purple, violet, blue, pink, orange and almost every shade in between that you can think of. Fancy diamonds have color shades that can be anywhere from faint to intense, as well as everything in between.

All of the most famous diamonds that you've probably heard of are naturally colored or fancy diamonds. The Hope Diamond is a blue diamond, and the Tiffany Diamond is a yellow diamond. In the financial world, colored diamonds have a fantastic track record. Values on colored diamonds have never decreased on the wholesale level for over 30 years. Also, believe it or not, pink and blue diamonds have doubled every five years during times when the economy is strong. During the 1970's you couldn't purchase a high quality blue diamond for less than $50,000. Today the same stone is worth two to three billion.