Yellow Diamonds - A Girl's Best Friend?

Natural yellow diamonds are fairly common among fancy colored diamonds, although a lot rarer than white diamonds. There is a common false belief that anatural yellow diamond is less valuable than a clear diamonds. Whilst very light or slightly yellow diamonds are thought to be quite typical and not of great value, yellow diamonds for example intense and vivid are really quite valuable.



Yellow diamonds with secondary brown tones are worth less than pure yellow stones. However, secondary colors of green-yellow or orange-yellow can significantly boost the value of the stone due to the fact that these diamond colors are even scarcer than yellow diamonds.



Fancy color yellow diamonds are graded on the strength and intensity of color. The highest-quality grade is the Vivid Yellow, followed by the Intense Yellow diamond. The lowest quality of natural yellow diamond is the Light Yellow diamond, followed by the Fancy Yellow. Some shades of Vivid Yellow diamonds along with the more rare Intense Yellow diamonds are called Canary Diamonds. Canary yellow diamonds are the rarest amongst yellow diamonds and for that reason they are the most expensive and are desirable by both collectors and sophisticated customers. The canary diamond has a very specific shade of yellow, and even if you have never seen a Canary Yellow before, once you see it, you will “recognize” it immediately!



Yellow diamonds are normally set in yellow gold. When it comes to the diamond setting, yellow diamonds look magnificent if they are mixed with white ones, as the white diamonds create a strong color contrast. If you choose a yellow diamond to be the center stone for your 3 stone ring, then it is advisable to add white side stones and trapeze, triangle or oval shapes can make an ideal match.



Just as with other natural fancy color diamonds the color remains the main criterion that influences the value of the diamond, after this comes the size and clarity of the diamond. Clarity is also important in the evaluation of yellow stones, though this is much less than in traditional white diamonds.



Natural fancy color diamonds are most frequently found in the Radiant cut, as this is considered the ideal shape for increasing the color. Yellow diamonds, however, can also be found in Oval Cut an Cushion cut and in Heart and Pear shapes. The rarest are the Emerald, Square Emerald and the Brilliant cuts (round shape). The price for these shapes are substantially higher for all fancy diamonds and not just for yellow diamonds.



The cut quality of a colored diamond is very different to the traditional white diamond. The goal when cutting a color diamond is to emphasize the depth and saturation of color while managing to strike a balance between the carat weight and brilliance. It is vital that the stone is purchased with a grading report from a trustworthy laboratory such as GIA, HRD, IGI or EGL. The report should declare that the diamond color is "Natural". The report should also describe the intensity of color, and also the color distribution throughout the stone.



The Kimberley Octahedron is the largest naturally formed actohedral diamond in the world. It's owner, who is the mine owner prefers not to cut this diamond and wishes to leave it in its original conditiontherefore the color and distribution grades cannot be applied to this magnificent diamond.