Champagne Diamonds

[Aprile]

I have been thinking of getting a pr of champagne diamond earrings & am looking for opinions. I went to several stores but none had champagne colors. One store tried very hard to sell me yellow & said that "true champagne" are yellow in color as opposed to a brownish hue. This contradicts what I have been told in the past. Does anyone know if the "yellow description" is valid?

Thanks!

aprile

 

[Richard Sherwood]

No, the "champagne" term is used to describe diamonds with varying degrees of brownish body colors. I'll attach a copy of the Argyle chart which is not the best reproduction, but will give you an idea.

You might try IceStore, which has a nice selection of fancy colors. They don't list champagne diamonds, but they might know where to find them if they don't carry them.

http://www.icestore.com/search/fancy_color_diamonds.asp

 

[Rank Amateur]

Be careful!

It seems to me that the whole "champagne" diamond industry has sprung up as a way to market low low low color goods that otherwise wouldn't be worth a piss.

Come to think of it, those colors in the chart Rich posted look more like piss than champagne. If it's lookin' like C6 you need to get to a doctor!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Heh heh heh. Rank, you can be so rank sometimes...

The brown stones are by far the most inexpensive of the fancy colors (with the exception of blacks). Some of the straight brown tones are really "blah" in my opinion. However, sometimes you'll come across some with a modifying hue (like orange) which can look quite nice.

 

[mdx]

Richard what I think Aprile may be thinking of was a shade of yellow, M to P that was described as “Light Cape or Champagne “ in the sixties and seventies. This term was common in Southern African diamond circles at that time.

Wayne

 

[frizzy_dt]

I have a Champange diamond and I love it. It is a C6. It's not at all yellow. Looks more like the center of a flame, kind of a burnt orange yellow brown. Very pretty color.

Just make sure it's a true champagne and not an M-P yellowish stone.

 

[Giangi]

Stones with pink and orange hues, as Rich said, can be very nice and pleaseant and considerably more expensive... I think they look very nice in emerald shape...

 

[frizzy_dt]

mine is a princess

 

[Aprile]

Thanks everyone, especially Rich for posting the chart. C4 looks pretty good to me...not too light but not dark enough where I need a doctor! LOL..That was a good one. I am afraid I'm about to reveal my ignorance now because what do you mean when you say M-P? Are you referring to color range? As in say, E-J for "white" diamonds?

aprile


I am trying to avoid any orange hue...my birtstone is topaz & for some reason I just don't care for the golden to orange toned gems. If I am interpretting correctly, a nice C4 would have the faint brownish hue, almost like honey.

 

[frizzy_dt]

yes