Diamonds aren't just clear or blue; they come in a range of colors and shades. Clear, or "white," diamonds are the best-known, and the famous blue Hope Diamond is something most people have seen a picture of. Yet you can find diamonds in black, red, brown, yellow, and more colors at some jewelry stores like JEF Exquisite jewelry. Some colors are rare while others are kind of common, such as yellowish diamonds that fall toward the later letters of the D-to-Z color grading scale. And then there are "fancy color" diamonds that are literally in a class of their own. This includes naturally golden diamonds, which can be very valuable.
When Is a Diamond Golden and Not Just Yellow?
Yellow or yellowish diamonds are very common. The color grading scale used to determine diamond color looks at how clear or yellowish a "white" diamond is, with beautifully clear stones at one end (D) and yellowish stones at the other (Z). These Z-grade diamonds are still considered "white" but with a yellowish tone that makes them less valuable than a corresponding diamond at the D end of the scale.
However, sometimes you find yellow diamonds that are truly yellow and are saturated with so much color that they appear to be golden. These are fancy color diamonds, and they lie outside the color grading scale. Fancy color diamonds also come in red, blue, orange, and so on; the "fancy" indicates that the color is bright enough and prominent enough that the gem can safely be considered to be that color, and that the gem is not just a white diamond with a flawed appearance, color-wise.
How Do You Know if You've Got a Simulant?
Like most gems, golden diamonds can be other colors of diamonds that are heat-treated to change how they look, or they can be simulants, which are non-diamond materials that look like diamonds. It can be hard to tell if a diamond has been heat-treated; if the color looks so saturated that you think you're holding an entirely different gem (such as a deep-golden-brown topaz instead of a golden diamond), that's one clue. But you'd have to have the gem evaluated in a gemology laboratory to really tell.
Simulants like glass or cheaper heat-treated citrine could easily look like golden diamonds. An appraiser would be able to tell the difference right away, but in your case, you need to buy from a reputable seller who you can trust when they say it's a natural golden diamond. Truly golden diamonds are hard to find and are priced accordingly, and you want to be sure you get what you're paying for.
Share3 March 2022
Hi there, I’m Gillian Clancy. Welcome. I am here to talk to you about jewelry. I am enamored with all types of jewelry from plain gold rings to huge diamond pendants. I love to look at jewelry made from silver, gold or even bronze. I spend my free time looking over gems and rating their quality for fun. I want to help other people gain knowledge about jewelry and learn to love this amazing art form. I will talk about famous pieces of jewelry from history and discuss the way the art form will change in the future. Please come back again soon.
