How to Choose Best Metal & Setting? Yellow, White, Rose Gold or Platinum?
Blog Article, Jan 7, 2024
Fancy Color Yellow Diamond Buying Guide
Perhaps the most popular of 19 yellow gems, yellow diamonds are the most sought-after by celebrities. These gems contain secondary hues of orange or green, and with the durability and sparkle of a white diamond. Yellow diamonds are more common than other fancy diamond colors due to its affordability, but the price can change dramatically dependent on saturation than most fancy colored diamonds. Buying a yellow diamond can be difficult – there are huge variations in the price and it can be difficult to understand why. Before you consider buying a yellow diamond, learn everything about them.
Fancy Colored Yellow Diamond Four Cs
In this article you’ll learn:
Color
While cut and clarity are the most important factors for white diamonds, color is the most important aspect for evaluating fancy-colored diamonds dependent on hue, tone, and saturation. The presence of secondary green or orange hues yellow diamonds, and make its prices go up. Orange hues are preferred for a bright appearance, while green hues are more commonly found and give dull look to the stone.
What makes yellow diamonds yellow?
We all know about colorless diamonds and have heard of the GIA 4Cs color scale for grading white diamonds. Appraiser use GIA'S scale to determine the amount of yellow tint in a colorless diamond’s body color - and a stone with more yellow than a Z is called fancy. Jewelry experts grade fancy colored diamonds based on their face-up color. The GIA grades stones as Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Dark, Fancy Deep, Fancy Intense, or Fancy Vivid. These scales result from assessing both the gem’s tone and saturation. The GIA’s colored diamond color reference chart shows examples of diamonds that fall in each of these categories.
Canary diamonds refers to fancy intense and fancy vivid stones on GIA's grading scale. With an yellow engagement ring, more photos look alike, you want to make sure to look stones in both natural and artificial light.
Named after the Cape of Good Hope, where most diamonds show a faint yellow hue or very light-yellow diamonds.
YELLOW DIAMOND DESIGNATIONS
Colorless or white diamonds are graded on a color scale of D to Z, with D being a colorless diamond and Z having a distinct yellow or brown tint. If the scale were to continue past Z—all the way to a rich, yellow color—you’d have a Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond. In other words, yellow diamonds are highly saturated with yellow.
The GIA color designation scale for yellow diamonds is:
Faint
Very Light
Light
Fancy Light
Fancy
Fancy Intense
Fancy Vivid, Fancy Deep or Fancy Dark
Engagement Ring Metal Settings
With yellow diamonds, the color of the metal you choose can change the stone appearance. While yellow gold can give warmth to the diamond’s color, white gold and platinum can make the stone appear lighter.
Nitrogen Types: Ia and Ib
The difference is that a higher level of nitrogen was present when the yellow diamond was formed, which gave yellow diamonds their color. In fact, nitrogen is also present in most white diamonds, which results in the increased level of ‘warmth’ for white diamonds as you progress along the diamond color-scale, from D to Z. The more nitrogen present in a diamond, the more yellow it is.
Lab-Created Yellow Diamonds
Laboratories can create yellow diamonds. Some consumers prefer lab-made yellow diamonds for ethical reasons, and they’re often available at a lower price.