When investing in your treasured diamond earring or diamond necklace, colour plays a prominent part in what will be your ultimate decision.

The majority of people who buy diamonds assume that they are colourless. This is due to the fact that retailers mainly sell the most common colours which are colourless,, near colourless, and vaguely yellow. A large number of websites usually document these common colours and refrain from providing information on other types of diamond.

Diamonds are actually available in a multitude of different colours including purple, brown, pink, violet, red, yellow, blue, green, grey, orange and black. Brown and yellow represent the most familiar colours with green and red being the least common.

A diamond’s colour is unveiled by investigating both sides of the stone. Once the colour has been determined it is classified to the G.I.A. standards from D to Z, with D being colourless and Z having the most yellow or brown consistency. Anything that falls after Z is termed “fancy coloured” and represent deviations of either brown or yellow diamonds

The classifications ranging from D to Z are as follows.

D-E-F –these are all colourless with the only distinguishing feature between them being their transparency. Of the three, D is the most transparent.

G-H-I – these all fall within the “near colourless” category with G being the most prominent grade in this section. There is no colour when looking at the diamond face up, but when reversed, a very faint yellow colouring is visible.

J-K-L-M – after J, the colour can be seen by the human eye, even to the most inexperienced examiner. These all fall within the “slightly yellow” type of diamond colouring.

N-Z- is the Yellow category. The colour is noticeable when viewing either side of the diamond. Anything beyond a Z classification is termed “fancy coloured”.