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Historically, celebrities, royalty, and other aristocrats have worn these unique gemstones, but times are changing and these rare gifts from nature are rapidly gaining popularity among today’s jewelry lovers as well. Deep blues, rich reds, and glorious greens are just a few of the colors that make up the rainbow of what are often called “fancy colored diamonds.”

The increased popularity in colored diamonds can be illustrated by the surge of requests for grading of these gemstones at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the world’s foremost authority in gemology. GIA has experienced a 102 percent increase in demand for colored diamond services since 1999, according to Tom Moses, senior vice president of GIA Laboratory and Research.

“Although colored diamonds have been around for decades,” Moses said, “the dramatic increase in their place in the consumer market in the last two to three years is unprecedented.”

Celebrity fascination with fancy colors may account for the sudden spiral in popularity. Whoopi Goldberg wore yellow diamonds to the 1999 Academy awards, Heather Locklear wore pink diamonds to the 2000 Golden Globes, and, at last year’s Academy Awards, presenter Salma Hayek wore a 6.17-carat, fancy-intense pink diamond ring, while actress Julianne Moore wore a 7.52-carat, fancy-vivid yellow diamond.

In 1953, GIA created the International Diamond Grading System™, which is recognized today worldwide by virtually every professional jeweler in the industry. This system rates diamonds based on the 4Cs – color, clarity, cut, and carat weight. The GIA color scale ranges from D, which is absolutely colorless, all the way to Z, which includes diamonds that are light yellow and brown in color. Yellow and brown Diamonds that fall out of the D through Z color range, as well as diamonds of other colors, such as blue, pink or green, are categorized by GIA as colored diamonds or, as many people in the jewelry trade refer to them, “Fancy Colors.”

The grading of colored diamonds is conducted by a team of highly specialized GIA gemologists who examine the diamonds utilizing comparison masters. GIA’s nine-tiered rating system for color ranges from Faint to Fancy Vivid. Among the most famous colored diamonds are the Hope, a 45.52-carat blue diamond at the Smithsonian Institution – graded as Fancy Deep gray blue on the GIA scale – and the 41-carat Dresden Green Diamond, both fabled in their cultural history.

Naturally occurring colored diamonds, such as the Hope and Dresden, are very rare and therefore command top prices; diamonds that have been color-altered by laboratory treatment are less rare, and therefore less valuable. The “origin of color” of a colored diamond (that is, whether its color is natural or laboratory-treated) is disclosed on a GIA Grading Report.

Copyright ©2009 Gemological Institute of America.

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