Natural colored diamonds exist in a rainbow of colors and intensities. Less than one percent of the thousands of diamonds graded by the GIA annually qualify as ‘natural fancy colors’ or fancy colored diamonds. With colored diamonds the criteria to establish value must be re-aligned. Unlike white diamonds, which are valued for their absence of color, fancy colored diamonds are desired precisely because they have color
White diamonds are classified on a D to Z color scale, with D being whitest and Z denoting a yellow hue. Once the color grade goes beyond Z and the hue turns to fancy yellow, also called canary yellow, diamonds become more rare and valuable.
The color in Fancy color diamonds is built from three parameters:
A Collection Fancy Pink Diamonds
The main color, and if there is a secondary color, together define the color tone however the strength of color is defined by the intensity level. The intensity level can be anywhere from a very soft shade to a very strong shade, and the stronger the shade the more valuable the diamond is.
GIA developed an intensity grading scale in order to categorize the intensity levels in the diamond. The nine grades in the scale are :
For example, the following image depicts the full scale of color intensity in Pink, Blue, and Green color Diamonds. It is clearly shown that the intensity scale begins with very soft colors and progressively displays a richer color stone.
![]() From left to right: Fancy Orange, Fancy Intense Orange, Fancy Vivid Orange, Fancy Deep Orange |
The GIA also defines how well the color and intensity is distributed throughout the stone. A diamond certificate will specify 'even' or 'uneven' according to the percentage of the color distribution.
The intensity of the color has a direct affect on the value of the stone. For example a Blue diamond or a Pink diamond, which are of the rarest in the fancy colored diamond family, are quite costly and difficult to find. However, there is a significant difference between a Fancy Light Blue and a Fancy Vivid Blue or a Fancy Light Pink and a Fancy Intense Pink.
Since there is such a wide range of colored diamonds, even stones of the same intensity can look quite different from one another. At Audrey's, the intensity of each diamond is graded on a scale of 1-10. The 1-10 scale breaks down different stones of the same intensity grade between a weaker or stronger color.
The image above depicts four diamonds all graded by GIA as 'Fancy Intense Pink' with different strengths of the same intensity grade (and color tone) between the stones. |