As long as we are talking about color....

[pyramid]

In the UK too, well where I live amongst my peers, more expensive is seen as better, it must be why does it cost more. I know
it is not always better, but then they say 'you get what you pay for' so we are left undecided again. I think I will only see different
colors on the same level when they all cost the same for that attribute. It is ingrained.

 

[pyramid]

I still feel I can see a difference, I think it is a softer white or darker color as opposed to bright and stark as people name it. I like D-F color and would describe it as stark too but don't see that as a bad thing, more a crisp, bright, in your face thing. I see the diamond standing out more on the hand where as a lower color blends into my skin. I am fair skinned. Remember Mara saying with her tanned skin she could wear a lower color and I have noticed that gold on carribean skin looks so much better than on my fair skin. Really the contrast stands out as do their beautiful white teeth.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think that being a really good hobbyist can give a false sense of confidence.

I agree with this.

I am very color sensitive.

I also happened to buy my old cut ring without a lab report and only an appraisal from the seller saying it was a G color. When I saw it the first time I thought it was so white, maybe it was a G color! When I got home and looked at it in other lighting, I thought it was probably not a G, but maybe an I/J color. Then when it was loose, my jeweler and I were both shocked to see how tinted it was!

Since buying that diamond, I have owned perhaps 20 old cuts in various sizes and without lab reports. It is exceptionally difficult to judge color without a comparison in hand! And even then, it's tough.

It is easy to judge beauty though

Pyramid I agree its hard to remove cultural norms from one's own view of things.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I still feel I can see a difference, I think it is a softer white or darker color as opposed to bright and stark as people name it. I like D-F color and would describe it as stark too but don't see that as a bad thing, more a crisp, bright, in your face thing. I see the diamond standing out more on the hand where as a lower color blends into my skin. I am fair skinned. Remember Mara saying with her tanned skin she could wear a lower color and I have noticed that gold on carribean skin looks so much better than on my fair skin. Really the contrast stands out as do their beautiful white teeth.

Cut differences could also explain the lighter-darker appearance.

 

[arkieb1]

I'd really like to agree, about the false confidence thing, but I am not sure if I do, I sold some RBs that I owned that were various colours and each time I took them outside in natural daylight, sunlight and shade in a situation where you could see any possible colour in them. They were all well cut. I made the observation that most people that came to look at them so around 80% to 90% couldn't notice colour in the ones that were an H, I,J but there were a small percentage of people that noticed the colour immediately.

While it is true that the background, wall colour, the lighting situation (so the environment that the diamond is in) impacts on how the eye perceives or does not perceive colour as the case may be I actually observed that some people simple notice light return, fire and sparkle and size above all else and seem mostly oblivious to colour while others notice the colour first and then everything else after that.

One of my friends made the comment that she thought people who are artists, makeup artists and from professions that work in shades of colours tend to notice more colours than other people who seem oblivious to colours. I am not sure if that is or is not true. But I think there are people all things being equal, lighting being equal, environment being neutral that DO see more colour in diamonds than others.

 

[KaeKae]

Unlike many, if not most PSers, I have not had the opportunity to look for and buy a diamond. I found you all four years ago, while looking to reset my ering. While I have bought some melee already set in a ring, that's as far as I've gone since then.

Honestly, despite all I've learned here, I do not know if, given the right environment, I could detect color. I do know that if we consider the...six diamonds of any size that I own, ranging in carat weight from .32 to 1.05, and knowing the appraised colors, G, G, H, H, I and K, the I being the largest and the K next in line, I just cannot tell the difference. "Knowing" the color probably just confuses the situation for me.

So, no, I just focus on the sparkle and pretty settings.

 

[sparkle45]

I work in a restaurant, and I am constantly trying to surreptitiously look at all the ladies' rings. If it's dark, and far away, I couldn't tell you it was a lower color unless it was <L. In a brighter room, if I'm relatively close,or if I ask to see it and they hold it out, I can definitely tell if it's lower than G. In a ring shop, at my leisure, I can see a tint at G.

 

[Tourmaline]

I voted that I always notice the color, but I want to say that I prefer warmer diamonds, so for me it isn't a negative.

 

[Niel]

So what I want to know is if you can detect color when other people are wearing their rings in general. Maybe it is at work, and it is your colleague, or maybe a stranger is paying at the cash register in front of you, or you are having lunch with a friend and she is wearing her ring and sitting right across from you...color detection in real life scenarios within a relatively close distance.

My answer to this is "No" for most normal humans.

agreed. I also agree to circes points, as i usually do

I can loosely guesstimate. Like, i work in a certain lighting at my desk, and know how my stones react, so when i see my coworkers in the same light, I can estimate the range. BUT in new lighting, i wouldnt presume to guess. I dont look too much though, their settings often get most of my attention.

 

[TC1987]

...

So what I want to know is if you can detect color when other people are wearing their rings in general. Maybe it is at work, and it is your colleague, or maybe a stranger is paying at the cash register in front of you, or you are having lunch with a friend and she is wearing her ring and sitting right across from you...color detection in real life scenarios within a relatively close distance.

If all you get to see is the stone, face-up, then maybe not as easy. But starting at I, I'll see the tint from a tilt or from the side from farther than arm's length away. And the larger the diamond and the more exposed the pavilion is, the easier it is to see the tint. I have owned diamonds ranging from M up to F and G, and colorless and tinted sims and Moissanite, in a variety of metals. Color is a thing that you can train yourself to see. And the difference between the top of the range that the original question inquired about and the J/K and lower colors would be very obvious to me in many instances, depending on ct size and the mounting. White metals make it easier for me, because they provide a reference point. Rose gold or yellow gold makes it harder to gauge color from a casual observation.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Surprised by Paul-Antwerp's reply. As he is a diamond cutter.

Maybe it is just seeing strangers rings he is speaking about, but if I see a ring for a minute I can see it is a different color. Or at least I think I do.
Now I am wondering after Paul writing he agreed people could not see

Hi Pyramid,

Let me clarify.

As a cutter, I am often faced with people presenting me their diamond-ring, asking me to value it. This may be in various locations, in a pub or at a dinner-table, even while watching a sports-event. Sometimes, the jewel is even offered for sale. While it is my job to be extremely colour-conscious, I truly cannot correctly judge a diamond's colour in such random environment, even in very close observation.

It goes even further. On a daily basis, I am buying polished diamonds to re-cut, often with lab-reports coming from various labs, mostly GIA and HRD. The most important issue in this purchase-process is to judge whether I fully agree with the lab-report, so that after re-cutting, I can be sure that the diamond will not be downgraded by AGSL. From experience, I have learned to only purchase if I can judge the stone's colour in my own office, under my own lamp and with my own loupe. Sometimes, I even ask to re-check the stone the next morning, as I am not certain anymore about my own abilities at the end of a day's work. In reality, I even make sure to have my colleague verify and agree with my assessment.

This describes how sensitive I must be as a professional and the conditions I need in order to make my assessment. Knowing that, I feel safe to state that most people, even a lot of professionals, may think that they can distinguish certain subtleties, but that in reality, they cannot.

Live long,

 

[braga123]

I have to confess that this poll's results are confusing me. I have a hard enough time distinguishing between color when I am shopping BC I tend to purchase estate pieces mostly.....so how do the rest of you distinguish color when someone is wearing the piece in different environments? Do tinted stones give off a special glow? What are you guys seeing that I am not?

 

[baby monster]

The poll results are certainly interesting. I was told by a jeweler that, in his observation, 10% of his customers can correctly identify the colors. The rest can't, even if they think they can, which is in line with what Paul posted above.

I confirmed that I can't differentiate between colors when he showed me a large cushion that I thought was I-J but was actually F.

 

[CharmyPoo]

The poll is asking about colorless (D E F) to J K L. I just took it at the extremes of D to L ... and I still stand by that there is a pretty big difference there. We aren't talking about telling a K from and L or even a J form a L ... that would be much harder.