Colorless diamonds: Diamonds were formed more than 3 billion years ago, deep within the Earth’s crust under intense heat and pressure. These special conditions caused carbon atoms to crystallize, forming diamonds. The diamonds were brought to the surface by a very deep-seated and violent volcanic eruption that is thought to have occurred a very long time ago.
Fancy colour diamonds: Created in the same way as colourless diamonds, with the exception that colored diamonds undergo unique geological conditions where chemicals penetrate the diamond during formation. This makes these enchanting gems scarce and highly prized, commanding a higher market price. Each color depends on the different types of minerals and molecules that were present when the diamond was formed. There are three different ways in which natural fancy color diamonds are formed and categorized as Type l, Type ll and Type lll diamonds.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans believed the fascinating gemstone was a product of a falling star. Some were so amazed by its beauty that they were convinced diamonds were tears of gods. Other theories involved Cupid walking around on earth with an arrow dipped with diamonds. To counterpoint this, Hindus strongly believed that the gorgeous gemstone was formed after a lightning storm. One common factor was that everyone who came across a diamond’s beauty believed that the stone was something out of this world. But how exactly are these magnificent gemstones formed?
Colorless diamonds: The term “diamond color” for white diamonds means lack of color. White diamonds possess very subtle hints of hints of yellow or brown, which affect the value of the stone. The color of a diamond is measured on an alphabetical scale starting from D (colorless). Each letter grade has a defined range of color appearance that determines its value, and as you move down the scale, the color tint in the diamond increases. A pure and structurally perfect white diamond has no hue, like a drop of pure water, making it higher in value than a diamond with hints of yellow or brown.
Colored diamonds: When the color of the diamond falls outside of the normal color range (D-Z), it is called a fancy color diamond. There are thousands of different shades of fancy color diamonds. Yellow and brown are relatively common, while other colors can be much harder to come by. Fancy color diamonds can be divided into four main color groups, based on their prices.
Whilst all diamonds are rare, some are rarer than others. White diamonds can be found relatively easily in comparison, but colored diamonds are much harder to come by.
The rarest diamond is, without a doubt, the red diamond. It is so rare that even if the red color is the modifier, the secondary color, the price of the diamond spikes. No other color has such a dramatic effect as a modifier.
