Diamond with green tint?

[jadebellyt]

Hi everyone,

I found a diamond on b2c jewels and their gemologist has noted the diamond has a very slight green tint or tinge under 10x magnification. I have never heard of a diamond with a green color before. Blue yes, but not green. He noted it is not visible to the unaided eye. It's a GIA certified stone from overseas and sounds good otherwise. No images are available but return policy is great. Any concerns with the strange color notated by the gemologist? What's causing it to show slightly green?

 

[sonnyjane]

Diamonds come in basically any color you can imagine! Here are some fancy greens: www.fancydiamonds.net/green_diamonds It sounds like the diamond you're referring to just has a slight green tint and isn't actually a fancy colored stone.

As for ANYTHING ELSE related to this subject... I'll defer to Kenny.

 

[jadebellyt]

It is a Round Brilliant with medium blue fluorescence and is why I was surprised to hear it had a green "tinge" to it under magnification. I google searched and looked through the forums but didn't find too much information on this type of color in an RB which are typically colorless, yellow, or have blue fluorescence. I just thought it was odd and a bit suspicious. Should I be concerned? Are these type of diamonds more or less valuable than normal colorless diamonds?

 

[kenny]

Yes there are green diamonds and if GIA determines that the green color is of natural origin they are VERY expensive.
Mature does not behave well by placing every diamond conveniently in the center of each grade.
Annoyingly, they can fall on the borderline.
Perhaps this one fell just short of GIA's threshold for a Faint Green grade.

GIA grades diamonds on one of two scales, the D-Z scale for "white" diamonds, or the Fancy Colored Diamond scale.

If GIA saw enough green body color (not green fluorescence) to earn the grade of Faint Green I assume they'd phone the owner and tell them and grade it on the FCD scale.
The owner would be ecstatic since it would be worth MUCH more graded as a GIA green than a diamond graded on the D-Z scale, if GIA can determine the color is of natural origin and not the result of manipulation by man.
GIA can issue a report and state the origin of the green color cannot be determined - but in this case I assume it was just graded as a white diamond on the D-Z scale.

That a 10x loupe was needed to see the green sounds fishy.
That the vendor saw it (only with the loupe), and GIA didn't see it, perhaps the vendor spilled some Gatorade on her loupe.

 

[jadebellyt]

Yes there are green diamonds and if GIA determines that the green color is of natural origin they are VERY expensive.
Mature does not behave well by placing every diamond conveniently in the center of each grade.
Annoyingly, they can fall on the borderline.
Perhaps this one fell just short of GIA's threshold for a Faint Green grade.

GIA grades diamonds on one of two scales, the D-Z scale for "white" diamonds, or the Fancy Colored Diamond scale.

If GIA saw enough green body color (not green fluorescence) to earn the grade of Faint Green I assume they'd phone the owner and tell them and grade it on the FCD scale.
The owner would be ecstatic since it would be worth MUCH more graded as a GIA green than a diamond graded on the D-Z scale, if GIA can determine the color is of natural origin and not the result of manipulation by man.
GIA can issue a report and state the origin of the green color cannot be determined - but in this case I assume it was just graded as a white diamond on the D-Z scale.

That a 10x loupe was needed to see the green sounds fishy.
That the vendor saw it (only with the loupe), and GIA didn't see it, perhaps the vendor spilled some Gatorade on her loupe.

Thanks for the detailed response Kenny! It's a G colored diamond so it's on the D-Z scale. I don't know what kind of BS the B2C rep was trying to give me then by telling me the green could be seen only with a 10x loupe. Regardless, with this diamond being the way it is, should I even consider purchasing it? Should the price be comparable, more, or less than a colorless stone?

 

[kenny]

Thanks for the detailed response Kenny! It's a G colored diamond so it's on the D-Z scale. I don't know what kind of BS the B2C rep was trying to give me then by telling me the green could be seen only with a 10x loupe. Regardless, with this diamond being the way it is, should I even consider purchasing it? Should the price be comparable, more, or less than a colorless stone?

It is a diamond that GIA graded G.
That is absolute, but other stuff is more squishy.
We read about "high" Gs close to F and "low" Gs close to H, but this is the first I've heard of a white diamond having just a blush of a highly desirable color, but too little for GIA to give it their lowest-color-saturation grade of Faint Green.
I assume nature could produce such a stone, and I suspect that GIA has a minimum saturation threshold to earn a Faint Green grade.
BTW the top labs AGS and GIA get one grade of slop if you read the fine print for the D-Z diamonds.
Grading is not perfectly precise even from the best labs.

Is your vendor is trying to bump up the price by claiming there's some green?
I hope your vendor, or another, will chime in here and comment on that practice.
I'm clueless about how much this should affect the price (if at all), and frankly a second opinion about this hint of green would be nice.

Sometimes diamonds have quirks that are not the type thing documented on a GIA report, like an inclusion looking vaguely like the face of Elvis if you get the light just right and blur your eyes a bit.
I'm being a little silly, but I'd be sure that vendor has a no-questions-asked refund policy, and I'd pay a professional, independent appraiser (who does not sell diamonds) for an opinion before paying one penny extra for this alleged green. https://www.pricescope.com/appraisers

You ask what would cause green.
Green in diamonds is the result of exposure to radiation, either naturally in the earth or in a laboratory.

 

[Circe]

Question: does the cert say faint green, or does their gemologist say so? There's a big difference. GIA will indicate the tone: most frequently when they say a diamond in the near colorless range has a brown hue (they face up deceptively white), but rarely for other stones, where they'll note it in the colorless range for the more desirable colored, ie not yellow or brown. We had one poster here last year who had an E with a faint blue hue, and it was a GORGEOUS stone, faced up unearthly white. Between the faintness of the cast and the fluor, I'd say there's nothing to worry about: appreciate the rarity, and enjoy the stone!

PS - the thing about the color only being visible under magnification is malarkey. Either s/he doesn't know what /he's talking about, or thinks that you don't an this will be easier than explaining the whole ball of wax.

 

[jadebellyt]

The GIA report has no mention of green tint, which is why I was surprised that the B2C "gemologist" provided that feedback. The price is not at a premium but at a very slight discount vs comparables I have seen. It is a diamond from an overseas vendor which may or may not make a difference. B2C does have an excellent return policy (they also pay shipping/insurance back to them) so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a look at it in person.

 

[JewelExpert]

People in U.S should avoid diamonds with a Greenish Tinge. They are always cheaper, because it the final product cannot be sold in the States and Europe. They are likely from Zimbwanan mines that fuel Conflict Diamonds!

http://mg.co.za/article/2011-12-23-us-trade-group-bans-zimbabwes-marange-diamonds

 

[zz00ter]

Is this your stone by ay chance?

http://www.kathana.in/diamonds/view_detail/36812522

At B2C
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-3399540-0.90-carat-Round-diamond-G-color-VVS2-clarity.aspx

It caught my eye as well

 

[denverappraiser]

The GIA color system for 'colorless' stones, meaning the D-Z scale, does not provide a hue. It's strictly based on saturation. That causes some difficulty for graders because although the typical hue is yellow or brown, there ARE other options and since our color comparison masters are generally tinted with yellow, this makes it difficult to make a choice. That's our problem, not yours. GIA called it a G. That means the market calls it a G and it's being sold against other G's. There is not a price difference between a greyish G, a greenish G, and a yellowish G and you would be hard pressed to get a dealer who will let you specify a preference unless you're willing to flex quite a bit in other areas. To the extent it's supposedly not detectable without a loupe, I wouldn't call it a terribly important issue unless YOU like or dislike it for whatever reason. The fact that there are other stones that GIA calls fancy green that are terribly expensive has no affect.

 

[shimmer]

The GIA color system for 'colorless' stones, meaning the D-Z scale, does not provide a hue. It's strictly based on saturation. That causes some difficulty for graders because although the typical hue is yellow or brown, there ARE other options and since our color comparison masters are generally tinted with yellow, this makes it difficult to make a choice. That's our problem, not yours. GIA called it a G. That means the market calls it a G and it's being sold against other G's. There is not a price difference between a greyish G, a greenish G, and a yellowish G and you would be hard pressed to get a dealer who will let you specify a preference unless you're willing to flex quite a bit in other areas. To the extent it's supposedly not detectable without a loupe, I wouldn't call it a terribly important issue unless YOU like or dislike it for whatever reason. The fact that there are other stones that GIA calls fancy green that are terribly expensive has no affect.

Very good insight.

I would like to add that GIA also allows non-yellow color modifiers to be added to I think the letter K and lower, which is why you sometimes see a K -Faint Brown grade. I think this applies to gray modifiers as well.

 

[acebruin]

1. Technically if a diamond is D-F (colorless), it doesn't have ANY tone.
2. Yellow tone: G-Z.
3. Brown tone: G-J, K-M faint brown, N-R very light brown, S-Z light brown. Grades of J or higher, GIA will not note the color on the report except on internal GIA docs.
4. Gray tone: G-J, faint grey, very light grey, light grey. Gray is an odd one (no K-Z letter grade on the report). Grades of J or higher, GIA will not note the color on the report except on internal GIA docs.
5. If a diamond has a color other than yellow, brown, or gray and has an equivalent color grade of G or lower, the diamond would then be graded in the fancy color grading scale starting with faint, very light, light, and then the fancy colors.
6. In summary brown tone is graded like yellow tone. Gray is an odd one, it won't receive faint gray until color K or lower. Other colors will start with faint (insert color here) starting from G or lower.

 

[denverappraiser]

I've seen a hue statement on colors towards the bottom end of the scale but I never knew the demising line was at K. I don't recall ever seeing 'green' in the statement while pink seems to get mention for incredibly faint stones.

 

[delight]

Why not you get B2Cjewels to snap a quick picture of the diamond under the loupe to show you what they mean?