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The Diamond Grading Four C's, "Color"
A practical guide you can actually use!
  • Cut of a diamond
  • Color of a diamond
  • Clarity of a diamond
  • Carat of a diamond
  • Cost of a diamond?
  • Now, color is a very subtile thing in diamonds, but it is something which your eye can detect in very subtile and very fine differences. In platinum many will tell you that color of the diamond is the most critical thing, and while it is true that against a white background a diamond with significant diamond body color will tend to display that color more dramatically the colors "D-E-F" while the most desireable for total impact are fine, but do not rule out too fast the "G-H and yes even I" colors in a very well cut diamond. You will see color faster than clarity in a very finely cut diamond generally speaking, so past a common sense place in clarity spend yer dollars on a higher color, for you will appreciate that more than a higher clarity that you cannot appreciate save under a microscope...

    The "Tee-Shirt Test"
    No, this has nothing to do with "Hooters".. {Grin} Ever had a situation where you grabbed the new package of Tee-Shirts and laid one down next to yer old Tee-shirt and noticed that "what seemed white now seems rather grey and not white by comparison?? Fact is that your eye can detect very subtile changes in color quite well, and in that respect I suggest that a higher color be considered rather than a increase in clarity, given a reasonable floor for clarity that is... Color in a diamond sort of drives the show, and you can see that faster than you might think, given two or three color grades apart... A single color grade is hard for a professional to distinguish, so when you search be sure and search a range that makes sense, not just a single color...

    The "D" color is the best on planet in diamonds, and is deemed perfection, it's almost a bleached out blue-white in a very finely cut diamond, the range of traditional colors that most finer stores and manufactures recommend for platinum and a super white effect are the "D-E-F" range, for maximum impact... The difference between a "F" color and a "D" color can be vast in price, but the difference in color with the diamonds side by side is so subtile as to suggest that in this range lives the "perfect look" and that "F" color does it for less... "Significantly less"

    Your "G-H-I" color set are wonderful places to get that perfect look and still have a diamond that shows no significant body color at all, in fact the diamonds stand on their own as super fine white and look just wonderful in platinum too, side by side with a "D" color diamond the "H" color will seem to be just a bit more "light grey" rather than colored, that does not start until significantly down the color food chain in reality... Where color starts to be significant and noticable is in the "J-K" ranges and lower. These still produce a very wonderful diamond in truth, the warmer tones and slight drawing of color can be quite delightful, and the cost for this color range makes this a wonderful place to shop for that impressive larger diamond, for if the cut is great and the diamond is beauty then color is less significant...