The Basics of Diamond Colour
When speaking of diamonds there are four C’s associated with how you choose your diamond. You have colour, cut, clarity, and carat. To help you better understand certain aspects of how to choose your diamond, we will be looking at diamond colour in this article.
Hancocks Jewellers is a reputable fine jewellery Manchester location to purchase all of your diamond jewellery from. In an effort to help you understand the basics of diamond colour, we are going to look at a piece of jewellery they have for sale in their stores. The 2/634 platinum single stone ring set has one princess cut diamond in a four claw setting. The colour is rated G. Other fine jewellery at Hancocks Jewellers has been rated at colour D. There is a scale when it comes to diamond colour.
The term ‘colour’ in diamonds actually means how colourless the diamond is. All white diamonds are colourless. You do have a choice in pink, blue and other diamonds, but those are rarer. The white diamonds at Hancocks Jewellers like the one mentioned above will fit on the scale of D to Z. The letters will tell you where on the scale the diamond fits in the colour scheme. The closer a diamond gets to the D side of the scale the more colourless the diamond will be. If you have a diamond nearer to Z it will generally be more yellow, rather than colourless.
Now that you understand the scale of letters and how clear the diamond will appear in a setting, you should consider the expense of diamonds regarding colour. The rarer white diamonds are in the D to F range. It typically means they are completely colourless. The G to H range will be a little less expensive, but still on the fine jewellery side. I to J colour ranges for diamonds tend to be slightly coloured. In certain lights they may appear to have a tint. To tell the difference you normally need a looking glass as the colour is not seen by the naked eye. Once the diamond is in a setting it is even more difficult to see if it has a tint without a loop.
The diamonds further in the scale we have mentioned will have more of a light yellow to yellow colour. This is very noticeable and makes the diamonds less expensive. Hancocks Jewellers like many fine jewellery London stores do not provide a range above J.
There is just one more aspect of diamond colour you should know. Typically diamond fluorescence does not affect the colour grade, but it is something you want to understand. Diamond fluorescence can exist or not exist. You want a diamond that doesn’t have any diamond fluorescence or a fairly faint amount. A strong fluorescence may give the appearance of blue or milky white in the colour under certain lights. While this doesn’t detract from the colour grade you may find you don’t care for the change of colour, especially when you want a colourless diamond.
