Colored diamonds saw a small price increase in 2016, driven by increases in blue and pink diamonds. 2016 was called the year of the colored diamond as colored diamonds set world record prices at auctions. Colored diamonds get their color from impurities in their structure during formation under extreme heat and pressure deep in the earth. Rarer colors like blue are extremely rare and valuable due to their scarcity in nature. The market for colored diamonds is predicted to continue growing in 2017.

1. COLORED
DIA MONDS
T H E D E A L W I T H

2. 2016
T H E Y E A R O F
C O L O R E D
D I A M O N D S
Last week, Diamond World reported that
the prices for colored diamonds saw a
small but significant increase. The
website reports, “The Fancy Color
Diamond Index rose by 0.4 percent for
2016, driven by price increases for blue
and pink diamonds of 5.5 percent and
1.4 percent, respectively, and offset by a
4.0 percent decline in prices of yellow
diamonds.” In late 2016, CNN ran a report
discussing how 2016 was the year of the
colored diamond, calling them one of
the greatest luxuries. It reported,
“Sotheby's claimed world record prices
for six different colored diamonds
varying in hue from Fancy Light Blue ($2
million) to Fancy Vivid Pink ($31 million.)”

3. So what’s the deal with colored
diamonds? Are they made naturally or in
a lab? How many colors of diamonds are
there? The science is a little
complicated, but the history and
chemistry behind these beautiful rare
gems are rather fascinating.
Pure, clear diamonds are made of
nothing but pressurized, crystallized
carbon heated up to 2200 degrees
Fahrenheit and subjected to pressure of
725,000 pounds per square inch for
years on end. This “recipe,” per se,
arranges the carbon into very precise
chemical structures that give diamonds
their highly sought-after sparkle and
hardness.
RECIPE
T H E D I A M O N D

4. COLOR
I M P U R I T I E S I N
Impurities in structure or the addition of
extraneous elements will cause the color to
become slightly tinged with color, most
commonly yellow, but sometimes other
colors. The scale for the gradation of
diamond colors places pure white
diamonds at the highest grades (letters A
through D), and all descending letters
indicate lesser and lesser degrees of
purities. Generally, the whiter the diamond,
the more valuable, although some tricks of
the trade have been utilized to make
impure diamonds look better. One classic
example is laying yellower diamonds in
gold rather than silver to make the
diamond appear whiter.
When the diamonds have slight
discolorations, they’re considered of lower
value, but when the discolorations are of
high intensity, they suddenly become much
more valuable. Bright blues, reds, pinks, and
purples gross large amounts of money on
the market due to their rarity in nature.

5. COLORED GEMS
An excess of nitrogen present while the diamond is being formed will
cause the gem to turn out especially yellow. Levels of natural radiation will
cause a diamond to become green. Boron’s lack of available electrons
compared to carbon causes structural changes that make diamonds
become blue, perhaps the rarest of the colored diamonds. According to
smithsonian, “Maybe, at most, one out of 200,000 diamonds found in the
world has any hint of a blue color to it, and typically it’s a very pale blue.”
Stress induced by the diamond’s rise to the surface of the earth’s crust
causes diamonds to take on a pale to dark pink hue.
The rarity and personality of these gems makes them especially sought
after, and 2017 is looking good for the colored diamond market.

6. THA NKS!
From Mark Bronner