Colored Diamonds: Rare in Nature, Precious in Jewelry

Diamonds are formed under great pressure 120 miles below ground level. It can take millions of years to form these bits of carbon into the almost indestructible diamonds they become. They lie there deep inside the earth until something brings them to the surface in one giant leap.Volcanoes bring the stones to the surface, where they’re mixed with sand and gravel. The process of being brought to the surface by volcanoes preserves the diamond’s crystal lattice structure. Diamond miners scoop large quantities of this valuable gravel out of hillsides and start the sorting process. Alluvial diamonds have washed out of the hillsides naturally and found their way to riverbeds and coastlines.

Colored stones are incredibly rare. For instance, one mine produces 35 million carats of rough diamonds a year, and only four or five stones of the rarest colors are produced from that harvest. A two-carat pink diamond could be worth up to a million dollars in today’s market, so diamond miners and diamond stone polishers are always on the lookout for those masterpieces.

There are three main ways colored diamonds are created in nature. When a foreign element is introduced into the carbon chain, unusual colors can result. For instance, nitrogen causes yellow, brown, and sometimes pink hues. Boron causes blue or grey blue hues to form in the final diamond color. Hydrogen produces grey, green, olive, violet, red, and sometimes blue diamonds.

Several very large yellow or brown diamonds have been discovered. The “Incomparable,” a 407-carat brown-yellow diamond, was discovered in the 1980s, and is one of the world’s largest cut diamonds. Its color is deep amber, highly unusual in a diamond so large.

Red, pink and purple diamonds are created by unusually high pressure during the compression stages. Red is especially rare, with only six naturally red diamonds known in the marketplace. Higher than normal temperatures during the crystal forming stage can also affect the final color of the cut diamond. A perfect quality pink, blue or yellow diamond is the most expensive, and costs up to $100,000 a carat.

Radiation naturally occurring in the earth makes diamonds blue or green. Different parts of the world have different naturally occurring radiation backgrounds, making some mines more likely to turn up blue or green diamonds.

Sometimes manufacturers will irradiate a naturally white diamond to produce colored stones. The irradiation causes the positions of the atoms in the diamond to change, thus changing its color. This is often done with white diamonds which are not purely white, in order to make them more attractive.

Pure, or nearly pure, white diamonds contain few if any trace elements that would color them, and are considered transparent. The faceting of the diamonds gives them the appearance of being white.

Champagne colored diamonds are becoming more and more popular. These are not yellow-hued, but rather brown-hued, and take on the shades of champagne. They look especially beautiful when surrounded by a ring of white diamonds, which makes their champagne color stand out even more.

Pink diamonds are the most popular color among diamond buyers. These sweet gems range in color from light pink to purple pink, with pure pink diamonds being the rarest and most sought after. The closer to red the final color is, the more rare the diamond.

Naturally black diamonds have been traditionally associated with bad luck, for obvious reasons. This superstition is slowly melting away as black diamonds become more desirable, especially among men. These diamonds have the heart and fire of white diamonds, made more mysterious by their deep, fully black appearance. Naturally black diamonds aren’t truly black, but the way the light shines through them makes them appear black.

The largest black diamond ever cut is known as the Spirit of de Grisogono, and it weighs an astounding 312 carats. It’s impressive in its ring setting, surrounded by 702 individual white diamonds, which set off its deep black hue to perfection.

There’s some evidence that black diamonds may not be naturally occurring on the earth, but rather formed in outer space. Astronomers know that carbon chains just like diamonds form in supernovas, and black diamonds aren’t found in conventional mining operations. It could be that black diamonds rained down on the earth from asteroids and meteorites billions of years ago!

Synthetic diamonds are grown in laboratories, and are actually quite easy to color. Blue is the most common synthetic color, and scientists grow 3 and 4 carat blue diamonds regularly.

If you’re interested in the purchasing genuine naturally colored diamonds, make sure you ask your diamond dealer if the stone is synthetic, and be prepared to pay premium prices. Colored stones direct from Mother Earth are incredibly precious and expensive. It’s estimated that there is only one colored stone for every 10,000 white diamonds mined.

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• Pink and Yellow Gaining in Popularity for Engagement Rings
• The Value of Colored Diamonds