Diamonds: Fancy Color

They come in a rainbow of colors, but everybody says you want the white ones. What's the story behind the color of diamonds? 

A lot of people don't realize it, but diamonds come in just about every color of the rainbow. Rare and very expensive colored or "fancy" diamonds nonetheless continue to grow in popularity as new supplies come become available, or come in and jewelers implement them into their designs. The most commonly seen color is yellow, usually very small and used in clusters.

Various ways of "treating" a diamond, such as heating it, can bring out or enhance colors in a diamond, though these treated stones are worth far less per carat than their natural counterparts. It can sometimes be  tricky for labs to verify whether a polished diamond has been treated or not. For example, any green diamond has been irradiated--either by nature or in a lab--so it is difficult to determine treatment in some cases.

Naming the colors is also difficult. There are not enough colored diamonds to create master sets and so labs have to use charts much like the ones you use to choose housepaint. And names matter--would you rather own a "brownish yellow," or a "burnt orange"? In some cases, either could apply to the same stone, but people will always pay more for orange than yellow.

Chameleon diamonds can even change color when hot, or under different lighting conditions.

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