The 4Cs of Diamonds : Color
Diamonds are generally considered colorless by most people. This isn't the case. In fact, very few diamonds are truely colorless and these command higher prices. Most diamonds have a yellowish tint to them caused by the amount of Nitrogen bonded with the Carbon when the diamond was formed. Using the chart below you can get an idea of how the color grading scale works.
Starting with the colorless range from D to F, then progressing into the more and more yellow as we head clear up to Z and the fancy yellow colors. Many people prefer the warmer colors of the G through K range and some wonderful bargains can be found in the I through K range that are very well cut.
Diamonds do come in colors other than colorless through yellow.
- Brown diamonds are formed through plastic deformation of the lattice structure of the diamond.
- Black diamonds are almost entirely filled with dark and opaque inclusions and are generally used as industrial grade components in tools but are being seen in jewelry more and more often.
- Blue diamonds that are caused by Boron bonding with the Carbon when the diamond is formed. Many blue diamonds are even slightly magnetic abd glow in the dark after exposure to direct sunlight due to the Boron in them.
- Green diamonds are formed by bombarding them with Alpha particle radiation.