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The exhilarating element of colour is Nature’s inherent way of injecting personality and excitement in an otherwise monotonous life routine. The most and appealing materials in life are those that exhibit colour — bright orange and red leaves in Autumn, crystal blue oceans in the Caribbean, vivid and pink sweeping sunsets, and swirling stars on the midnight blue sky, among others. Fancy coloured diamonds are a phenomenon of nature where the diamond exhibits a natural colour as its most prominent feature. While all diamonds elicit a similar sense of heart fluttering magnificence, the emotions that are elicited when you gaze at fancy coloured diamond are unmatched in any other aesthetic experience.

In colourless diamonds, the absence of colour is what makes the diamonds so precious and valuable. However, in fancy coloured diamonds it is the very presence of colour and its intensity that increase their and value.

. While it is indeed naturally possible to find coloured diamonds in a single colour, it is significantly more common to find them with a secondary, and even a third or fourth colour present in the colour of the stone composition of the stone. Many times, these added elements bring about a special and complex impression and result in an added facet of beauty. However, the most valuable stones are those that exhibit only a single colour, as this phenomenon is rarer in the world of fancy coloured diamonds.

Diamond Grading
    The colourless diamond grading scale measures the absence of colour that is present in the stone, on a scale of D—Z, and is divided into six categories. With the presence of colour comes the appearance of yellow or brown in the stone. Actually, the end of the colourless diamond scale is where the colour scale for coloured diamonds begins! The final two categories in the scale are referred to as Cape Diamonds, which are also known as Faint Yellow or light yellow or Faint Champagne diamonds.

     Although The categories seem to overlap, in actuality coloured diamonds are graded on an entirely different scale. Not only are they indicated by the actual colours that are present in the stone, They are also assessed by the vibrancy of their colour.

Diamond Colours
     There are twelve different colours in which fancy coloured diamonds appear. They will either display purely one colour, or will be combined with overtones of one, two or even three additional colours. The secondary tones occur logically based on the colour wheel of nature, meaning that a red diamond can have overtones of purple or brown, but will not exhibit any green, for example.

     Diamond professionals use systematic methods to identify the exact colours that are present in the stones. The three attributes that are used when assessing a diamond's colour are the hue, the tone, and the saturation. Together, these characteristics are all measured and quontified in order to identify the stones as a specific grade on the colour scale.

   The hue is the tint of colour that is present in the stone.

   The Tone is the lightness or darkness of the colour.

   The saturation is the strength or purity of the colours.

Diamond intensity
   The intensity of the colour is the strength of the colour that is shown in the diamond. The intensity level can be anywhere from a very soft presence to a very strong presence, and the stronger the shade, The higher the value of the diamond. The GIA developed on intensity scale to uniformly define The intensity level of the diamond.

   The nine grades in the scale are: Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy lntense and Fancy Vivid/ Fancy Deep/ or Fancy Dark.

   For example, the following depiction represents the full scale of colour intensity in Pink, Blue, and Green colour Diamonds. The intensity scale clearly begins with very soft colours and progressively demonstrates a richer colour stone. However, iT is imporTdnT To undersTdnd Thoir

However, it is important to understand that not every diamond colour appears in all of the above intensity levels. For example, Orange diamonds cannot be found in Faint, Very Light, or Light intensities. Only Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy lntense, Fancy Vivid, and Fancy Deep Orange colours can be found. Black diamonds and white diamonds appear in only one colour intensity — Fancy Black and Fancy White.

Diamond Cut
The exact colour intensity of a diamond cannot be determined from the rough stone. However,as it would intuitively be understood , The greater The colour intensity of the rough, the greter the colour intensity of the rough, the greater the intensity of the polished diamond will be. However, the intensity of the colour is also significantly affected by the cut and shape of the diamond. Also, The cut of fancy coloured (Modified cut) differs from that of colourless (brillianf cut).

The origin of the diamond also affects the colour intensity. Different diamond mines produce different shades or tones, oherwise known as ‘material' of due to the presence of the colour-causing where the diamond was materialized. For The majority of the time a Pink diamond in India or South Africa does not compare to a diamond found from the Argyle diamond mine in Obviously, There are always diamonds in the rough.

     History of Colour Grading
    The Fancy coloured diamond grading scale was developed by the GIA in the mid—1970s. With the grownth in populariiy of fancy colours. The |ndustry grownth in popularity of fancy colours. the industry required some sort of a standardization in order to better define the stones and universalize the fancy coloured diamond trade. Unlike The colourless diamond scale, the decision was made to grade natural fancy diamonds with a description as opposed to a letter because of the multitude colour combinations available.

    Colourless diamonds remain graded on an alphabetic scale. Many years ago, people used various grading systems including Roman and Western numeric to grade their diamonds. OThers used an ‘A, B, and C’ scale where ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ would have been given to higher grade stones, similar to other precious assets like bonds. ln 1953, a man from the Gemological lnstitute of America named Richard T Liddicoat developed a standardized grading scale that measured colourless stones from ‘D-Z.’ The letter ‘D’ was chosen as an appropriate start for the scale not To confuse it was with the first letter in the word ‘diamond' it seemed to first letter in the word 'diamond'. It seemed to fit its position.

The greatest thing about natural diamond colour is that it never fades or dissipates. A diamond can be stored or displayed for years, and other than simply wiping the diamond clean it will sparkle as much as did the day it was first polished. Thus, coloured diamonds Truly are a gift? forever. — Courtesy of Leibish & Co, www.fancydiamonds.net