1. CHAMPAGNE COLORED DIAMONDS
The natural fancy colors are quite expensive in most colors, with the exception being the brown colors.
These can range from fancy champagne down to an unattractive brownish color.
The lower quality brown diamonds are often used in cheaper promotional quality jewelry items, such as
those sold by Wal-Mart, Sears and discount stores. These diamonds are very cheap and are why these
stores can sell 1.00 ct diamond tennis bracelets for $299.00 or less. (To make these diamonds more
appealing, a new term TLB, or Top Light Brown, is used). And while the browns can look beautiful in the
fancy colors, most promotional quality jewelry uses off color browns which are much less attractive.
The champagne color diamond is the most common fancy color. It is actually a diamond that shows
various intensities of brown. Since the GIA grading scale covers tints of yellow and not brown, a new
system - the "C" scale - was developed to accommodate champagne. This was primarily due to the
opening of Australia's Argyle Diamond Mine that produces so many beautiful brown/champagne colored
diamonds.
In spite of the significant marketing efforts of the Argyle Mines, demand for the brown diamonds is not
great and they generally command relatively low prices.