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Over the Rainbow
Colored diamonds are created the exact same way that colorless diamonds
are created—under high temperature and pressure. The difference
in the creation of the world’s most valuable commodity is
different for each color of the rainbow.
Yellow Diamonds
—aka “canaries.” Mother Nature’s addition
of nitrogen atoms sprinkled into the diamonds lattice (approximately
100 nitrogen atoms per 1,000,000 carbon atoms)can cause the yellow
color. That, combined with turning up the furnace to temperatures
of over 1400 degrees Celsius, agitates the nitrogen atoms in such
a way that they dance around the interior of the crystal forming
groups which alters the color from colorless to yellow. A top of
the line canary yellow diamond can easily run $30,000 per carat.
Pink Diamonds
—Pink diamonds have been around for hundreds of years dating
back before the 15th century. However, their presence seemed imperceptible
due to their scarcity. It wasn’t until the opening of the
Argyle Diamond Mine in Australia (1980’s) that there was a
sufficient supply to market them on a world-wide scale. The color
of a pink (and red) diamond is due to a microscopic imperfection
at the atomic level. No trace ingredient here, but rather an irregular
growth pattern at a sub-molecular level. Fancy pink diamonds typically
go for $100,000 per carat, with deep pinks easily running the gamut
to over $250,000 per carat.
Blue Diamonds
—The secret ingredient behind some of the world’s most
renowned diamonds, like the Hope Diamond in Washington D.C.’s
Smithsonian Institute, is boron. Just as nitrogen was stirred into
the mix of the canary, boron gas turns the white snow cone blue.
Blue diamonds are one of the rarest colors of the rainbow, fetching
prices from $100,000 per carat to $554,670 per carat, as was paid
for a 13.49 carat fancy deep blue at auction in April, 1995.
Green Diamonds
—As we continue to climb the scale of the world’s most
valuable colored diamonds, we find green coming in second place.
With prices that range from $500,000 per carat to $750,000 per carat,
green diamonds owe their beautiful color to high energy gamma or
neutron radiation, not alpha or beta. The “Ocean Dream,”
a 5.51 carat modified triangular brilliant by Cora Diamonds Corporation
is a classic example of the magnificence of Mother Nature on a good
day. Note: Green diamonds were used on a spectacular production
scale when the Dallas Stars hockey organization used them in their
NHL
Stanley Cup rings manufactured by Diamond Cutters International.
Red Diamonds
—Red diamonds are atop the food chain when it comes to the
world’s most expensive bauble. Ranging upwards to $1milllion
per carat, (“The Hancock Red” set a world’s record
of $926,316 per carat) these rocks aren’t for the light of
wallet or the impatient. Like the pinks, their atomic structure
is imperfect. But, thank goodness, if nature hadn’t gone amok,
we wouldn’t have the handful of samples available to study.
There are currently clients that have been waiting over 15 years
in line to get the next red when it hits the market.
Today, the biggest
sellers are the yellows—from light fancy to fancy vivid in
color. Pinks and blues are in hot pursuit with clients ranging from
rap
singers like P. Diddy to Jennifer Lopez. In this town, its one thing
to have the new pastel Louis Vuitton hand bag; it’s quite
another to have the matching
ring to go with it!
by Fred Cuellar, author of the best-selling
book "How to Buy a Diamond." More questions? Ask
the Diamond Guy®
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