Diamond Color? What the heck does that mean? You're looking at Natures Aurora Borealis in a cube. A subtle beam of sunlight or a seductive halogen stream can produce a spectral sensation of brilliant color that tickles the senses. However that's not the color we're talking about, that's "fire" or "dispersion" and "scintillation" (not as defined in Masters & Johnson's).

Color with reference to diamond grading refers to subtle differences in the body color or hue. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA.) introduced their color grading scale in the late 1950's and today it's the most internationally accepted color scale in the diamond industry. The GIA color scale begins at "D" colorless and goes to light yellow "Z". The distinctions between color grades within the normal range are quite subtle and virtually undetectable to the untrained eye. Similarly five different brands of "white" paper will appear the same when viewed separately, but if laid upon each other a definite separation of color would be detectable. A quality photo paper will be visibly whiter than standard copy paper although both types of paper are considered to be "white".

Another way to visualize the subtle difference between the color grades is to take a clear glass of water and add a few drops of yellow food color. Each drop of color will result in a subtle warming of the waters body tone. In diamonds, such subtle differences in color can make the difference of hundreds or thousands of dollars in price per carat.

< Prev		Next >