Diamond Color

According to Blue Nile , diamond color is the 2nd most important characteristic of diamond quality. In fact, they claim that “When looking at a diamond, the human eye notices the diamond’s cut first and its diamond color second.”

The truth is, this statement is ridiculous.  As I have mentioned time and again, you cannot trust the person trying to sell you a product to provide you with an objective opinion about that very product.

I believe James Allen says it much better in their article about Diamond Color.  According to them, “Most people find it very difficult (if not impossible) to tell the difference from one color grade to another.  The difference in price, however, can be significant.”

Lets try to understand why Blue Nile’s claim is not true.  First of all, it’s simply preposterous to suggest that your eye first notices one of the 4 C’s, and then moves on to the other, as if somehow the light that is bouncing off the diamond and into your eye first bounces off the cut, and then bounces off the diamond’s color.  A diamond is an organic whole.  What your eye perceives is a balance of many factors and characteristics, including, but most definitely not limited to, the 4 C’s.

If you’re thinking, “well, it’s just a matter of semantics – what they probably mean is that when balancing out all the factors and characteristics that describe the diamond, Diamond Color, after Diamond Cut, has the most influence in the beauty of the diamond.”  But even that’s not true.

To get into the subject a little deeper, we need to differentiate between the different diamond shapes.  The different facet arrangements of the different shapes can greatly affect how much light is captured inside the diamond.  If I had to rank the importance of diamond color on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the least important, and 10 being the most important) for the most common shapes, this is what I would come up with:

• Rounds – 3
• Princess – 5
• Emerald & Asscher – 6
• Oval, Marquise, Pear, Heart – 7
• Radiant, Cushion – 8

So for most of you (Round buyers) The Truth about Diamond Color is that if you showed just about anybody, excluding people who look at diamonds all day, an I or even a J colored diamond they would think that it is colorless.  And that’s only talking about loose diamonds.  If you’re going to set the diamond in a yellow gold setting, you could easily go down a few notched to a K, L, or even M color, and the diamond would still look fantastic. Even white gold or platinum engagement ring settings mask the diamond’s color somewhat.

To see a clear example of this, have a look at Zoara’s Diamond Color Tool.  This is a great demonstration of just how slight the variations are between the color grades between D and J on a Round Brilliant diamond.

Especially for Rounds, but also for other shapes, Diamond Color is primarily a relative characteristic.  What I mean by this is that an I-colored diamond really only looks like an I-color when it’s placed next to a higher-colored diamond for comparison.  In fact, this is how even expert diamond dealers and gemologists grade color — they place the diamond to be graded on a white folded card next to a master diamond to compare it to.  Nobody can reliably assess a diamond’s color simply by looking at the diamond in question.  So unless your bride to be plans on walking around with a set of GIA Diamond Color Samples in her pocket to take out and constantly compare to her ring, then you have nothing to worry about.  This will become relevant, though, if you’re purchasing an engagement ring with side diamonds, or perhaps a Three Stone Ring.  It is recommended that side (or accent) diamonds always either match the color of the center stone, or be slightly darker to accent the higher color of the center stone.

If you’re buying just a classic solitaire engagement ring setting with no accent diamonds, then don’t waste your money on a feature you will never be able to derive benefit from!

Another aspect to consider is Diamond Fluorescence and how it interacts with color.  Strong or Medium Blue Fluorescence will generally dull the brilliance of a colorless diamond (D-F, and even G, better to stay away from Strong Fluorescence), but will often make a diamond with a lower color appear whiter. So if you were really looking for great bang for your buck, look for a J or K color with Strong Blue fluorescence.