Dark diamond = low color?

[happydreams]

Hi Peeps,

I have a question. Is the general rule of diamonds - the "lower" the color, the darker the diamond appears?
I guess I have not seen too many diamonds in my time aside from pricescope so I''m really not sure what the reality is.

Previously, I thought darker diamonds were just not well cut, but now I''m wondering if the color affects the darkness of the diamond as well.

 

[vintagelover229]

I'm not an expert here...but i'm pretty sure that has to do with the cut, which affects the light return. The color is the amount of yellow (sometimes grey I heard?) that the diamond has vs. being a fancy color or a clear/colorless diamond.

 

[strmrdr]

depends on the exact color and the lighting and how you define dark.

bad cut - doesn''t return light

tint/color - body color looks darker in lighting where body color is visible.
This is more apparent in brown diamonds than near colorless and yellows

Also the body of the best cut diamonds can appear to be dark in direct sunlight or bright spot lighting because of the high contrast between the light they are returning and the body of the diamond.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Yeah, I wouldn''t say that lower color diamonds are necessarily "darker". A spectaculary cut "M" color diamond will out blaze an "H" color diamond with a deep pavilion any day.

I think cut might be more what you''re referring to than color.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 6/9/2009 11:41:11 PM
Author: Richard Sherwood
Yeah, I wouldn''t say that lower color diamonds are necessarily ''darker''. A spectaculary cut ''M'' color diamond will out blaze an ''H'' color diamond with a deep pavilion any day.

I think cut might be more what you''re referring to than color.

Ditto Rich