fancy vs white diamonds

[jookiest]

hello,
what is the price difference between "fancy" colored diamonds and white diamonds of the same clarity, cut, etc? are they the same or is the colored worth more? thanks!

 

[Jennifer5973]

I only know about yellows, as I did extensive research and window shopping for one last year (then decided against it).

There are four GIA grades of fancy yellow diamonds: fancy light yellow; fancy yellow; fancy intense yellow; and fancy vivid yellow. the latter two (vivid & intense) are very rare and often priced well above white dimaonds of similiar cut quality and clarity grade. A fancy yellow dimaond can run par with a high quality white dimaond, and fancy light yellows are, in my experience, priced a bit below a comparable white diamond.

I saw dozens of yellow diamonds and fancy light yellows, while classified as a true fancy coloredd diamond, can look like K, L, M, N etc. colored tones and I felt they werent't worth it (for my personal tatstes). I'd arther have a white diamond or save for at least a fancy yellow. One very important thing about fancy yellow diamonds: you MUST have a GIA cert...they are the most reliable when ti comes to classifying colored diamonds. And make sure the color saturation is listed as "even."

While I have much less knowledge/experience about other colors, from what i've seen and read, genuine, untreated, un-enhanced pinks, blues, greens, red, etc. are truly rare and very expensive.

 

[sumi]

Jennifer5973: Can I ask why you decided against a fancy yellow? I've been interested in yellow diamonds for a little while. (I'm no where near actually purchasing a yellow diamond though.) I'd like to hear what turned you away from them. Thanks!

 

[Jennifer5973]

Hi, Sumi. Well, I want a larger stone (2.5-3 cts in the center, with at least 1 ct tw for 2 side stones, platinum) and with our budget, we could only do a Fancy Light Yellow in the 2 ct range max, which didn't have the intesity I wanted in a yellow stone anyway. There are some really pretty fancy light yellows but they weren't for me.

I have actually decided to wait altogether and make this purchase a monumental one for my 10 yr annversary in 3 years and get what I really want in the size I want. I may gravitate back towards the fancy yellow, but I think for me it was more of a phase, and I'll end up with a white stone after all.

I tried on some amazing rings...3 ct fancy intense radiant with 1ct trilliants on each side...with a six-figure price tag to go with it. I remember going into one jeweler, who was very nice, and asking to see a couple of rings that looked like they might be reasonable....When she asked me what our budget was, I said "Oh, ninety-five..." And she said "Ninety-five thousand?" And I probably went white, then said, "Uh, no $9,500." That's when I knew it was time to call it quits.

 

[jookiest]

thank you for your insight jennifer!! i will study up more and see what i can find.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Some of the most expensive diamonds in the world are the Argyle Pinks from the Kimberly Region in Western Australia. Maybe CutNut will chime in and tell more or you can PM him.

Here's a link to a website about the Argyle Mine.

http://www.costellos.com.au/diamonds/industry.html

Argyle reserves the cream of the crop Pinks to cut and polish themselves into finished goods. The "creme de la creme" are offerred by Argyle at an annual, exclusive, invitation only sale. In a documentary I saw about Argyle, the offering that was filmed had a 72 or 73 point Red emerald cut. According to the documentary, it was the diamond of the decade and the diamond of a lifetime for the buyers at the offering. The last Red prior to this one, sold at auction for over $1Mil/carat. Buyers spend a couple days, one at a time, looking at the diamonds and tender their bids on the Pinks they wish to aquire. There are no set prices at this offering. Buyers are notified later if they were lucky enough to procure any Argyle Pinks. The privately offered Argyle Pinks never reach the retail market. The Red offered in the documentary went to an Asian jeweler who fabricated an elaborate broach that later sold to a Middle Eastern buyer.

 

[sumi]

Thanks for your input Jennifer! I need to finish up with the basic diamond wardrobe (pendant, better earrings) before moving on to the yellows. You gave me something to think about...I won't be able to afford a six figure ring for a loooooooong time!

 

[Jennifer5973]

You're welcome. I am lucky to live in the Northeast and visited both the "real" 47th street in NYC-- private jewelers/diamond traders in tiny offices above the street and also browse the stores there amidst the craziness. i also had my trusted jeweler from whom i always purchase advising me; he has one of those tiny offices above 47th St as well as his storefront elsewhere. I was allover it!

He actually called it--he suspsected the fancy light yellows might not be yellow enough for me, and he knew our budget would only allow for a light yellow in the size I wanted... and he was right, but I had to drive him nuts and do my due diligence before deciding to wait.

And for the record, as much as I love jewelry, if I had six figures at the ready, i'd buy a vacation home!

 

[sumi]

I hear you! If I had six figures ready to go, I would pay off my student loans!!

 

[valeria101]

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On 2/8/2004 10:49:37 PM sumi wrote:

I hear you! If I had six figures ready to go, I would pay off my student loans!!

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Oh my! I cannot imagine paying so much for education! (says European me) Just reading it feels so shocking!

Oh well, I just wanted to put down one note on those colors and their costs. I know those "intense" and "vivid" yellow grades start at D-color prices and go up from there. But, regardless of budget, I would get to see some nice fancy yellows for a start. Given that these color grades are wider than the colorless, some fancy yellows (not "light" but not "intense" either) have strong color and are very attractive. Also, approaching 3cts, size does help deepen color and the stones get a strong color facing. The cut helps, and most norms applying to white diamonds in this regard need tweaking.

If you want to put time into buying a yellow, looking at this first fancy grade (as opposed to the light U-V or Y-Z) may be just as useful as pumping up that budget. Another great place to look are color grades combining orange and yellow (such as orange-yellow or orangish-yellor, as it is called). While pure orange color is uncommon and uncommonly high priced (same goes for stones with orange as the primary color, such as yellowish-orange), but as long as yellow remains the primary hue, the whiff of orange make the overall color appearance more pronounced.

Also, the realm of intense brownish-yellow, or intense brownish-orange yellow hold very nice secrets. The chain of color modifiers say alarmingly little about the appearance of these gems, which goes from "where is that brown?" to "saffron" to... wood colors. As in the case of white color grades, where the grader say brown, it is quite possible that no one else can, while the "intense" color saturation glows for everyone. I would not expect such good buys to turn up very often, but if you have time for it and enjoy the search... it may make sense to look for such things too aside those sunny million-dollar pebbles.