The Four C's

These factors determine the value of a diamond are called the 4 C's
The 4 C's include:
Cut, Clarity, Color and Carat.

Color
Color is another important factor in evaluating a diamond. Since there are as many as 200 shades of white diamonds, grading for color is very difficult. The finest diamond “color” is totally without color except for the rainbow released as light enters the stone and separates into the spectrum.

The term “blue white” has been a popular phrase over the years to indicate “the best”. This term actually refers to the capacity of some stones to fluoresce under certain light conditions.

Diamonds occur in almost every color. There are even shades of pink, orange, green, blue and so on. These diamonds are called “fancies” and are valuable for their rarity.

Totally colorless diamonds are very rare indeed. The various color gradations, as
illustrated, are barely perceptible to the naked eye but can make a vast difference in
the value of the stone.

Interesting Facts About a Diamond's Color
* Diamonds of many colors come out of the ground. Subtle color differences can make major differences in a diamond's price.
* It is almost impossible to recall color by memory. Professional diamond buyers know that they must compare diamonds to those of known color, so they carry master color diamonds when they buy.
* A woman's eyes are more attuned to seeing slight shades of color difference than a man's eyes. Some of this comes from training and experience, but some of it is inborn. Very few women are born color-blind compared to the number of men with this condition .
* The brilliant flashes of color, seen when a diamond is rotated in sunlight, are not the color a professional talks about when discussing diamond's body color. This is called dispersion or scintillation.
* Fancy colors in some diamonds are attributed to trace amounts of chemicals other than carbon. A trace amount of nitrogen, for example, causes yellow or a warm body tone.
* Color enhanced green and blue diamonds are rare and hard to identify and grade because the color is only caused by radiation. King's Jewelry is one of the only jewelers in this area that carries this type of color-enhanced diamond.
* The difficulty in grading comes because the grader may not be able to tell if the radiation occurred by natural causes or was bought about through artificial means.
* Pink and red are the most rare body colors found in diamonds. In 1985 a .95 carat red diamond came up for auction at a famous auction house. The gem was so highly prized that it sold for $1 million a carat.

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