Diamonds • Precious Gemstones • Jewelry • Gemology

Did you get that one? If not, you need to find out a lot more about Color .. or maybe I should work on my snappy opening lines.

Color can be one of the hardest factors to grade. Diamond labs have color master sets to do side-by-side comparisons under very controlled lighting .. and they still may grade one letter different than another lab will.

One of the results is that color grades are usually expressed as a group. A seller will normally say, "This is a GHI in color." If you want to be a wise guy, or throw the person off-stride, put on a serious face and ask, "Well, which is it .. G, H or I?"

Avoid diamonds with "creative" color descriptions like cognac and champagne. They are simply off-colored yellow and brown.

Color is one place you might edge away fom those perfect ranges (DEF). But when you look at the color of diamonds, do so in neutral light and against a gray background. Black velvet is a jeweler's tool to make a diamond look "whiter" than it really is.

Also, a diamond with a large culet will normally show less than its actual body color

For your color parameter, settle on a color that you think is acceptable .. then move one grade closer to white. Time has a way of educating our eyes.

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