Colored diamonds are fun!
Do you want a purple habitancy eater diamond or a diamond from Mars? What about an Orange Crush, a Cotton Candy Pink or a Heart with the Blues? These aren't legal names from the Gia, but colored diamonds are so distinct than mainstream diamonds and each other, they deserve names. They have personality and pizzazz and those who own them typically do, too.
Diamond
I want a canary
Canary is a bird. In the trade, no one calls yellow diamonds canaries. Although if you were to call up and ask for one, we'd know what you're talking about. Since you will be a undoubtedly super sophisticated colored diamond shopper after reading this helpful guide, you'll have to drop the pedestrian term, "canary". That diamond adjective is now officially "beneath" you. They are Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds. A yellow is Natural Fancy Yellow Diamond. You may repeat your new vocabulary words while I pause right here.
In the trade there are gradations of color like Y-Z Yellow or Vivid Yellow. Occasionally, I am moved to name one just because they are flat out fun to look at, play with and own. And they inspire me to break out of the mold and do a jig, sigh or just say "Holy Cow Batman." Oh, we do use the Canary phrase on the website since that's what consumers know.
What's so distinct about buying colored diamonds?
A whole lot. If you plan buying a white diamond was complicated, the water gets even murkier with the colored diamonds. Not that we want murky colored diamonds. But that's what this guide will help you sort out. It won't make you an expert overnight but it will help you shop for and find a colored diamond you can love and one that fits your pocketbook. We will refer to yellows most of the time since they are what more habitancy are customary with.
Cut is KingAs in colorless diamonds, a great cut is primary to the appearance, and value of a Natural Fancy Colored diamond. Cut does not mean shape. It's the faceting, it's the whole doing of taking the rough and creating a done diamond.
Cut is a very important factor in buying both natural colored and white/colorless diamonds. It is paramount. What you see on top is typically due to faceting on the bottom. It can hide flaws, make a white look whiter. It amplifies the body color of a colored diamond. Cut can make a diamonds more interesting, more dramatic or more aged looking. It can mean the contrast in the middle of a diamond that sparkles like a constellation and one that is as lifeless a lump on a log.
What is the Best instrument for determining a good cut. Your eyes. There are no meters or scopes that will reliably tell you what seeing at a colored diamond will tell you. It either speaks to you, or it doesn't. If you don't feel you can't select a good cut due to the fact that you can't undoubtedly find that many of them, rely on a good dealer. A colored diamond dealer has seen thousands. This is the man who can find a killer cut.
Those who cut colored rough are typically the best in the business. A vivid is rare. It's even rarer to find a vivid that is poorly cut. No owner of a cutting business is going to let his/her precious vivid rough be slashed about by some novice who has no appreciation for art and precision.
With Colored Diamonds, Clarity is not as important as Saturation of Color
In fact, there are Gia Reports for colored diamonds that don't even mention the clarity. There are vivid yellow diamonds that are I1 by our estimated grade that cost more than your car. And they aren't even 3 carats! Many inclusions are thoroughly enveloped into the colored flashes. In other words, it's harder to make out an inclusion in a colored diamond than it is in a colorless one, particularly with the naked eye.
Yellow Diamond Grading Scale
The prices of colored diamonds depend on the saturation of color. Yellow diamonds are graded face up. White diamonds are graded face down. The Gia assigns a grade and pricing depends on the color, the cut, the clarity and the carat weight.
The wide variations on this theoretical guide are due to the range of colors within each of these grades (I told you it was more complicated)- and the diamond's cut amplifies the natural body color. There are also comments on a Gia that can knock the price down like a grade of "uneven color". Sometimes this is obvious, sometimes it's not. The unobvious ones are going to be a good buy.
There are also "qualifiers" and they are not even part of the scale on our website, but do make the pricing even more complicated. Qualifiers like brownish yellow, yellowish brown or fancy orange-brown yellow for instance. The word "fancy" on a Gia report equals selected pricing, by the way. The split grades (W-X, Y-Z) are more affordable but still distinctly yellow, particularly once set. Many prefer the lighter yellows and think they sparkle more.
Finding a Good Dealer
Most of the dealers who sell diamonds also sell mountings and setting services. It's approximately all the time best to buy all 3 from the same source because it eliminates the possibility of finger pointing at the end. Piece meal the job out and you could negate a money back warrant and a trade up procedure down the road. I would undoubtedly consist of this on the list of requirements for an standard dealer.
Summary of Red Flags for internet diamond dealers
o What a dealer is selling is Much economy than anywhere else. For instance, the 1ct round is offered for thousands less.
o They have the same photo for each round but it does not say it's "representative"
o On ebay: bad feedback, one penny auctions, hidden auctions
o They say a Gia gemologist graded diamond (not the same as a Gia report)
o They are selling lots of diamonds graded by a lab other than Gia or Ags
o They have a shady repayment procedure (exchange only) and no trade up policy
What you may not know about some online dealers
Many online dealers list a large account of Virtual Diamonds that are supplied to them by assorted diamond manufacturers. Many other Internet Websites have access to these same lists. In other words, their diamonds are not at their place of business and they've never undoubtedly seen the diamond. They are in a safe in Mars or Peoria or something. I don't know where they are but they aren't at that dealer's business. They are drop shippers. Might work for buying a Tv but I can tell you, no two diamonds are exactly alike.
I can tell you that selecting a diamond from paper and numbers is a dicey deal, particularly with fancy shapes and most undoubtedly with colored diamonds. If we or man else passes on a yellow diamond, it's relegated to the "virtual diamond lists".
The mission, should you determine to accept it, is to find an Internet Dealer that can undoubtedly call in a diamond for you and do a work-up that includes photos so that you know what you're buying before you undoubtedly buy it.
It includes seeing a dealer that has the diamond in his/her possession so he can look at it when he talks to you. It means disclosing the carbon spots, the glitches the tints and all the other stuff. It also means feeling a sense of trust with the dealer.
Buying a Natural Yellow solitaire or Natural Colored solitaire
