Some peole are a little confused about coloured diamonds; some think that the more colourless they are, the more valuable they are. On the other hand, some of the coloured diamonds are worth more then the cololess ones. You just need to understand about diamonds and how the colored ones are worth more then the colourless ones.



It is true that fine colorless diamonds are generally more valuable than colored diamonds. However there are exceptions. The pink, blue and canary yellow diamonds, they can be more valuable when they occur naturally in nature and are not artificially colored. As for determining the authenticity of your stone I would suggest that you take it to your nearest trusted jeweler for indentification.

There are some people out there that have a hard time to understand What a Window in a Gemstone looks like. Many of the photos I've seen of sapphires, tourmaline, amethethyst cut in a round shape appear to have deep color on the outside rim of the Crown but much paler color looking into the top center of the crown. The term window used in the context of colored stones and even diamonds refers to a flaw in the cut of the stone. All crystals of gem materials have a refractive index which is how the stone bends light for reflection and refraction.

If the stone is cut properly the light should be reflected back out of the top of the stone so all you see is sparkle and light reflected. If you look down the center of the stone and you can see right through it, read through, you can read a paper without distortion then you have a 'window' you can see through. Properly cut gems should not have a 'window' in the middle.

Diamonds are usually the best cut and most of the time you cannot see through a diamond from the back since all the light is reflected back out through the table. Colored stones rarely are cut as well diamonds and they have much lower refractives indices so have to be cut much differently. Most cutters of colored stones try to get the color in the bottom of the pavilion so it will reflect evenly throughout the stone.

The concntration of color on the girdle is because it is the thickest part of the stone usually. Paler color is usualy due to the color zoning in the crystal and sometimes the cut can help but not always. Anyways the window in colored stones has nothing to do with color but mainly with the cut.

Black diamonds are one of the few stones that alot of people would like to have. But i have heard that black diamonds are going to diminish, I am not really sure about the market for black diamonds. I rarely see any one use them. I have had this question asked many times when it comes to colored stones," Do the colored stones come out of the ground already colored?"

The answer is yes, they are that color out of the ground. Mostly the white stones are more valuable. However some of the large rare colors if they are very clean can demand high prices. It depends on the size and clarity and how pretty the color is and how rare it is. Usually diamond producing areas are quite vast and a number of different variations of colorless to pale yellow and brown or gray colors of diamonds can be found in a certain mine.

There are exceptions. The diamond mineds in Australia have high concentrations of unusually fancy colored diamonds. You can always go on the internet and see what you can find out some mineds that produc only some kinds of colored stones that you are looking for or you can ask your local jeweler about were he gets his and see what he has to say.

I prefer colored gems because there is an infinite variety, and it really uses my skills as a gemologist/mineralogist to identify the stones. Some of the most fortunate people are the ones from Rio de Janeiro, because they live in one of the richest gem producing areas of the world! Brazil is not only on the forefront of mining and fashioning gems but also the sophisticated ways in which colored stones are treated to improve their color and transparency.

Gems can be treated with heat, radiation, oils and polymers to improve their appearance. It is necessary for a gemologist to be able to identify these treatments and pass that information along to the owners or future buyers of these stones.

Diamonds, on the other hand, are a very controlled market. For the most part, their pricing, production and distribution are controlled by one of the biggest monopolies in the world: DeBeer's Consolidated Mines. Internet sources like Blue Nile have really changed the market in favor of the consumer. Internet diamond dealers have taken much of the mystery out of diamond pricing and grading, and they have forced many retailers to be more honest and transparent with their diamond transactions. This is excellent and good for the buying public.