Why are some diamonds colored?

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Pure diamond, pure carbon is going to be a colorless material. The colors are always due to some impurity or defect in the diamond's structure. It's the impurities that give rise to colors not only in most diamonds, but most gem materials. Interestingly, most green diamonds do not have a green body color.



Simply so, why are some diamonds different colors?

The slightest quirk creates a colored diamond: a bit of boron makes a blue diamond; nitrogen makes a yellow diamond; natural radiation form nearby rocks trap electrons to create a green surface color; pink or red shades are thought to be due to changes to the electron structure during the voyage to the surface.

Beside above, where do colored diamonds come from? Colored Diamonds Locations by Color
Diamond Color Countries
Pink Mainly Argyle Mine in Australia, Borneo, Brazil, Central Africa (rarely)
Purple Sybir, Argyle
Red Argyle, Brazil
Yellow Angola, Brazil, Borneo, Central Africa, Congo, Sierra Leone

Furthermore, are Coloured diamonds real?

Natural fancy color diamonds are completely authentic in every way. The colors were developed within the stones through nature and over millions of years formed into the rough stones found in the mines throughout the world.

Why are colored diamonds more expensive?

The price per carat base line is in the tens of thousands of dollars and any improvement in attributes such as bigger size or stronger color intensity (intense or vivid) and the pricing goes up exponentially. So yes, these colored diamonds are more expensive than white diamonds.

37 Related Question Answers Found

What is the rarest diamond color?

Red and pink diamonds are the rarest of any colored diamond. They're only found in mines in Africa, Australia, and Brazil.

What is the rarest gem on earth?

PAINITE // ONCE THE WORLD'S RAREST GEM
Painite was first discovered by British gemologist Arthur Charles Davy Pain in 1951 and recognized as a new mineral in 1957. For many years only one specimen of the dark red crystal was in existence, housed at the British Museum in London, making it the world's rarest gemstone.

How many colors does a diamond come in?

Natural Diamonds Come in All Different Colors
From red to purple and everything in between, the 27 color hues distinguish between specific colors like reddish-orange and orangish-red. Added to these rainbow colors are shades of white, gray, black, pink, and brown.

What is the best color for a diamond?

In general, the highest quality diamonds are totally colorless, whereas lower quality diamonds can often have a slight yellow tint. Diamond color is measured using a scale from the Gemological Institute of America, or GIA, which goes from D (colorless) all the way to Z (light yellow or brown in color).

What is M color in a diamond?


What is M Color? To the untrained eye, any diamond down to I color, sometimes even J color will appear colorless. Only in certain light conditions will a hint of yellow be visible. By the time we get to M color, there is a definite yellowish appearance to the stones.

What colors are diamonds naturally?

Diamond Colors. Diamonds occur in a variety of colors; steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink to purple, brown, and black. Colored diamonds contain interstitial impurities or structural defects that cause the coloration, whilst pure diamonds are perfectly transparent and colorless.

Can you change the color of a diamond?

Irradiation and heat:
Neutron irradiation in a reactor and high-energy electron irradiation in a particle accelerator are now the most common treatment methods. Heating irradiated diamonds to above 500o C will change most blue-to-green colors to brownish or orangy yellow to yellow, or, in rare cases, pink to red.

What is a green diamond called?

The Dresden Green Diamond, also known as "Dresden Green", is a 41 carats (8.2 g) natural green diamond, which probably originated in the Kollur mine in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.

How can you tell if a diamond is irradiated?

Irradiation & HPHT Process
Such uneven or zoned coloration is caused by the irradiation process and is most often seen as a band of dark blue, green or yellow color that parallels the outer faceted shape of a diamond or a band of color that forms a star-shaped pattern around the pointed culet of a diamond.

What color diamonds are the most expensive?


Even a one carat red diamond can be sold anywhere from $300,000 to $2 million dollars, depending on the quality of the diamond, easily making fancy red diamonds the most expensive diamond color in the world.

Are D color diamonds rare?

Did you know that colorless diamonds (D, E, F) are rare in nature and they only make up less than 1% of the world's supply of diamonds? In fact, D color diamonds are highly sought after because they are perceived as the “perfect” color for an engagement ring.

What colors do dogs see?

Neitz confirmed that dogs actually do see color, but many fewer colors than normal humans do. Instead of seeing the rainbow as violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow, orange, and red, dogs would see it as dark blue, light blue, gray, light yellow, darker yellow (sort of brown), and very dark gray.

How much is a purple diamond?

Purple Diamond's Rarity and Prices
Purple stones with a modifying color like pink are less expensive than a “pure” purple. For example, this 0.42 Carat Fancy Pink Purple Diamond Round Cut is priced at $15,210 and this 0.40 Carat Fancy Deep Pinkish Purple Cushion Cut is priced at $38,100.

Are colored diamonds man made?

Lab Created Colored Diamonds. Our lab created colored diamonds offer the high quality and brilliance of natural diamonds and require no mining, making them a beautiful and responsible choice.

What is the best diamond clarity?


Inclusions are noticeable at 10x magnification with SI diamonds, the best value diamonds. With SI1 diamonds, inclusions are sometimes visible to the keen eye without magnification. SI2 clarity grade diamond inclusions are usually visible from the pavilion, or cone-shaped lower portion, and from the top.

Is there such a thing as a purple diamond?

There are Natural Purple Diamonds, and there are enhanced Purple diamonds. The former are “real” and the latter are not, despite the fact that the enhancements are done to natural diamonds. “Real” here refers to the color, and purple color is only “real” in Natural Purple diamonds.

What are the 5 major colors of colored diamonds?

White, red, green, champagne, black, and yellow are a few of the most beautiful diamond color choices, but diamonds also come in colors like orange, blue, purple, and gray.