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Color Grading Scale
Checking your diamond's report card.
Diamonds come in virtually all colors of the
rainbow, from the "beautiful violet" of the Hope diamond
to shades of blue, brown, gray, orange, etc. But colored diamonds
are very rare and precious. Chances are, all the diamonds you'll
see in your diamond shopping will be white or yellow, and the whiter
the better.
The yellow color
in diamonds comes from nitrogen, and as a rule, the more yellow
the stone, the less value it has. There's a good reason for this.
The yellower the stone, the less sharp and sparkly it appears. A
whiter stone lets more light pass through it, making it sparkle
and shine.
The exception to
the rule is the canary diamond, which is a beautiful bright yellow
and very expensive. Some people are more sensitive to the color
of diamonds. What may appear slightly yellow to you may look clear
to another person, so it will take a higher color grade to satisfy
you.
The best way to
judge the color of a diamond are to use either a Gran Fall Spectrum
Colorimeter by Gem Instruments or compare it to a master set..
FRED'S
ADVICE: Go for grades H or I. Once mounted they'll look
just as good to the average person as the higher grades, without
costing a bundle. The average diamond purchased in the U.S. is
color
grade M or N, but the customer is usually told it's higher.
HERE'S
THE GIA COLOR GRADING SCALE:
D, E, F: Colorless
G, H, I: Nearly colorless
J, K, L: Slightly yellow
M, N, O: Light yellow
P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X: Darker yellow
Z: Fancy colors
Even though there are several grades in each category,
there are slight differences between the letter grades. D is the
clearest and most valuable, X is a dingy yellow and least expensive.
Z grade-colored diamonds are the rarest and most expensive. A diamond
so saturated with nitrogen that it becomes a deep, rich yellow is
as rare as a colorless diamond.
MORE
ABOUT COLOR:
FLUORESCENCE
Fluorescence is
a diamond's reaction to ultraviolet (UV) light. Some diamonds glow
in different colors under UV light, and the general rule is to avoid
them. If you put a diamond under UV light and it glows strong blue,
the diamond may look dull in the sunlight. Diamonds with strong
fluorescence may be worth up to 20% less than diamonds which do
not fluoresce. Faint fluorescence which doesn't fog the diamond
is OK.
CORRESPONDING
GRADING
Corresponding grading
means matching clarity grades with color grades. For every clarity
grade, there's a color grade that corresponds, or makes the best
match in determining value. Diamonds that have corresponding grading
sell for higher prices originally, and they also appreciate in value
more than diamonds that don't, and therefore have higher resale
value. Buying a diamond with non-corresponding clarity and color
grades is like buying a pink Porsche: it's okay as long as you don't
try to resell it. The market for pink Porsches just isn't as good
as the market for, say, red Porsches.
Here's a list of
clarity grades and their corresponding color grades. Notice that
for each clarity grade there's a perfect match, and a high and low
color that also works well.
CLARITY
GRADE--COLOR GRADE--
ANNUAL INCREASE IN $ VALUE
FLAWLESS
AND INTERNALLY FLAWLESS:
D (Perfect) — 10.00%
E (Low)
VVS1,
VVS2:
D (High)
E (Perfect) — 9.25%
F (Low)
VS1,
VS2:
F (High)
G (Perfect) — 8.50%
H (Low)
SI1,
SI2:
H (High)
I (Perfect) — 6.50%
J (Low)
Lower:
No corresponding color grades
The value of a stone
is always based on the lowest clarity or color grade and its highest
corresponding grade. For example: Let's say you purchased a stone
with a clarity grade of SI1 and a color grade of G. You can see
above that G is not a corresponding color for an SI1 stone. The
SI1-G diamond will cost you more than the SI1-H, but will appreciate
no more over time than the SI1-H.
When you don't correspond
the grades — say you buy high clarity and low color, or high
color and low clarity — you'll never get your money back for
the higher grade. For example, an SI1-F would resell no higher than
the value of an SI1-H, and a VS1-I would resell no higher than the
value of an SI1-I. A diamond that is not correspondingly-graded
could be expected to appreciate 2% to 4% per year.
by Fred Cuellar,
author of the best-selling book "How to Buy a Diamond." More questions?
Ask the Diamond Guy®
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