Diamonds range from colorless, the rarest and most valuable, to yellowish, with a spectrum of shades in between. As these yellowish tones become more easily apparent, the rarity and cost decrease. The charts above represent these color variations and their respective GIA grades and traditional terms.

The most prized diamonds are colourless diamonds, because their beauty depends entirely upon their remarkable optical properties. In such diamonds, all the colors of the rainbow are reflected back to your eye. While the majority of gem diamonds appear to be colourless, others can contain increasing shades of yellow to brown, some of which are referred to as champagne diamonds. Other diamonds of exceptional color-- red, blue, green, pink, and amber -- are known as "Fancies".

The colour grading scale varies from totally colourless to light colour or tinted. The difference between one grade and its neighbour is very subtle. Experts never try to remember colour; they use master diamonds of known colour for comparison.

How Is Colour Graded?
If you’ve ever tried to match the colours on the rack in a store with something in your closet at home, you know how deceptive color can be. Distinguishing colour is not as easy as it seems at first glance. With diamonds, even small differences in colour can make a big difference.

A colourless diamond is graced with that glorious display of light and prismatic colours for which diamonds are so highly prized. The presence of colour then goes from barely discernible near colourless to light yellow or brown. Beyond a certain point, or with other colours such as green or red, a diamond is considered a fancy colour.

Come check us out -- you won't be disappointed.

Harden's Jewellers © Copyright 2005.
Site designed by Seregon