Since you’re here wondering what the differences are between colored and clear diamonds, chances are you already know how the worth of diamonds is determined; in other words, the 4 Cs.
The 4 Cs are called Color, Clarity, Carat, and Cut.
Although, in the last few years, experienced jewelers have come up with new ways to measure the rarity of the diamonds, such as how it performs in the light. But that is for a clear diamond. For a colored diamond, the criteria might be completely different.
Their clarity and colorless appearance determine the worth of white diamonds. Whereas for colored diamonds, the depth of color is measured.
This article will discuss various aspects of colored and clear diamonds. So continue reading to find out what we have in store!
Everything You Need to Know About Colored and Clear Diamonds
What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think about a diamond? For us, we usually picture a transparent gemstone that is sparkly.
This type of diamond is the most common among jewelry enthusiasts and is known as a clear diamond.
Many people believe that clear diamonds are the most precious and expensive diamonds. But they don’t know that colored diamonds are just as precious, even rarer than clear diamonds.
Fancy-colored diamonds aren’t available in massive quantities. The highest quality colored diamonds take years and years’ worth of time to develop. As a result, only a minor percentage of the world’s diamonds are considered gemstone-quality colored diamonds.
We are mentioning some important talking points below about colored and colorless diamonds.
Clear Diamonds
Clear diamonds are also known as white diamonds. But they aren’t white now, are they? White diamonds don’t have any color and are labeled as colorless, just like water. But even these diamonds have a bit of an orange tinge and aren’t entirely colorless.
Genuine colorless diamonds are rare and hardly found. However, this can be measured conveniently on the color grading scale from D to Z, where D is denoted as being colorless and Z is denoted as having a slightly yellow tinge.
White diamonds with a yellowish tint don’t count as rare diamonds. This is because their value doesn’t look triumphant during the color grading as it does with colorless or utterly transparent diamonds. But keeping this in perspective, you should also know that there are other ways to determine a diamond’s worth.
Such as, if a yellowish diamond has the most delicate cut and clarity, its value will be higher than the rest. However, a transparent diamond with high-color grading, the most delicate cut, and absolute clarity is still valued higher than a yellowish diamond with excellent cut and clarity.
Most high-end jewelers look for transparent diamonds because they are valued more among the customers and make for the finest wedding day jewelry.
Colored Diamonds
Moving on to colored diamonds, these gemstones are available in a limited color palette. From the standard browns and yellows to rare reds, pinks, and purples, you can say that they are usually available in rainbow colors.
But their rarity makes them even more valuable than colorless diamonds—the common fancy diamonds like yellows and browns that are more expensive than the rest. Brown color diamonds weren’t even considered gemstone quality diamonds until very recently. They were primarily used for industrial purposes and not for diamond trinkets.
But today, a few diamond jewelry designers have renamed brown diamonds “Chocolate Diamonds,” and now they have a consumer market of their own.
The fact is, it takes hundreds of years for fancy diamonds to claim their color. It depends on natural minerals that react with the integrity of the diamonds and their color is formed.
This is why fancy-colored diamonds are more expensive than colorless diamonds.
But of course, there are other measures as well that determine the cost of the diamond, such as clarity, cut, and carat. But even after determining those measures, a fancy-colored diamond will remain more expensive than a colorless diamond.
Causes of Colored Diamonds
One question that most people ask very often is what causes colored diamonds. How does their color come into being?
A diamond retains its color when it reacts with other minerals dumped below the earth’s surface. Diamonds are buried thousands of miles deep in the earth. When these crystals react with other tiny particles deep below, their color is formed.
These elements are known as trace elements which cannot be seen by the naked eye, let alone by a magnifying glass. For instance, when a diamond crystal absorbs boron, it will turn blue, whereas if it absorbs nitrogen, it will become yellow.
Pink diamonds don’t have any trace elements and are turned during extreme stress in the earth’s layers. At the same time, natural radiations cause a diamond to turn green. Furthermore, many scientists can also treat diamonds and enhance their colors in laboratories.
If you have heard about lab-grown diamonds, you will be thrilled to know that fancy-colored diamonds can also be created in labs nowadays. But it does take a lot of time and effort to do so.
What is the Rarest Color of a Diamond?
Red is the rarest color among fancy-colored diamonds. Yet, as a rest, it is also the most expensive diamond in the world.
As you have mentioned, a diamond’s value comes from its rarity, and the most expensive diamonds are usually scarce, just like a red-colored diamond. But, surprisingly, there are very few red-colored diamonds available in the world.
Other rare diamond colors include purpose, blue, pink, orange, and green.
Final Verdict
So this is everything we could gather regarding the difference between colored and clear diamonds.
As you have read, colored diamonds come into being after reacting with another mineral which can be anything deep below the earth’s surface.
Clear diamonds don’t react with anything. An instance like this is infrequent, which is why colored diamonds are far more expensive than transparent diamonds.
Hopefully, this answers many of your questions.
However, do leave us with your feedback below.
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