The color of a diamond has the second biggest impact on its price, after carat weight.
Grading color in the normal range involves deciding how closely a stone's color approaches colorlessness. Most diamonds have at least a trace of yellow or brown color. With the exception of some natural colors, such as blue, pink, purple, or red, the colorless grade is the most valuable.
If a diamond does not have enough color to be called fancy, then it is graded in a scale of colors ranging from Colorless to Light Yellow, "D" through "Z". A diamond with a "D" color is considered to be colorless. If the color is more intense than "Z", it is considered fancy.
The Laboratories only grade diamonds which are unmounted, or "loose", and they do so under special light. Once a loose diamond is mounted on a ring, even the trained professional cannot always tell the difference between, say a "D" color and an "E" or "F" color diamond!
Color
Scale |
D
|
E
|
F
|
G
|
H
|
I
|
J
|
K
|
L
|
M
|
N
|
O
|
P
|
Q
|
R
|
S
|
T
|
U
|
V
|
W
|
X
|
Y
|
Z
|
|
Colorless
|
Near
Colorless
|
Faint
Yellow
|
Very Light
Yellow
|
Light Yellow
|
