Colourless or 'white' diamonds have reigned supreme among jewellery lovers for centuries and yet recently fancy coloured diamonds, even more rare than colourless stones, are fast becoming the main attraction for connoisseurs and celebrities alike.
The man in the street may not even know that coloured diamonds exist - so rare are these miracles of nature - but the truth is that diamonds can be found in just about any colour of the rainbow.
Vibrant, unique and beautiful, coloured diamonds can indeed be found in just about any colour - the rarest of which are reds, followed by pinks, blues, greens and oranges. More accessible natural coloured diamonds are yellows and browns in every possible shade from light straw to dark gold, or rum to chocolate.
The popularity of coloured diamonds has experienced a massive incline in the last decade and there’s every indication that this trend will continue in the future.
Famous auctioneer, Christie’s, had a high demand for coloured gems at their December 10 auction, and recorded other record sales such as in Geneva in May of this year when a 13.39-carat fancy intense blue diamond went for $8.9 million. The demand for luxury goods may have waned in the past year due to the global economic crisis, but there is always a market for exceptional stones.
One of the reasons for their sudden popularity is that the rich and famous appear to have discovered and fallen in love with these rarities of nature. J Lo’s much talked about pink diamond engagement ring, given to her by Ben Affleck, set a trend and garnered huge public awareness for these unique stones. Since then Hollywood celebrity Eddie Murphy proposed to his then girlfriend, Tracey Edmonds, with a yellow diamond engagement ring; Jennifer Aniston was seen sporting a $500 000 canary yellow diamond ring, and Oprah (along with every other famous superstar) dripped in coloured diamonds on the red carpet this year - this groundswell has done much to fire the trend for buying Fancies. Recent sales figures prove that this hot new ‘celeb’ and ‘catwalk’ trend has inspired regular consumers to follow in the footsteps of their beloved style icons.
Fancies, as coloured diamonds are known in the jewellery world, are indeed extremely rare – Australia’s Argyle mine, which produces 95 % of the world’s pink diamonds, produced only 5 000 carats of pink diamonds this year as compared with 35 to 40 million carats in colourless diamonds.
How are Coloured Diamonds formed?
Diamonds derive their colour from nitrogen (yellow), boron or hydrogen (blue), natural radiation (green), and crystal irregularities (pink, brown and red). Each and every stone is unique and naturally formed with different saturations of diamond colour and tones. A diamond is graded as a coloured stone when the colour grade is beyond a ‘Z’ rating.
