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The Allure Of Fancy Diamonds
by Jackie Bridgford
http://www.ablediamonds.com

Do you know what diamonds and a chocolate substitute have in
common? Can you name the most popular cut of diamond? Do you
understand why size is only one-fourth the reason for a
diamond's price? Do you know what makes a diamond 'fancy'?

But there are things about diamonds that are lesser known,
things that are fascinating little tidbits to collectors of
stray information. Do you know why we measure diamonds in
'carats', for instance? It's completely unrelated to
'karats', a measurement of purity for gold. The word carat
is derived from the carob seeds that were used in ancient
times to weight the other side of the scale when measuring
gemstones.

It's estimated that somewhere between 1 in 1000 to 1 in
10,000 diamonds mined are true, natural fancies. In size,
they are nearly always smaller than conventional diamonds.
It's rare for a fancy diamond to weigh more than one carat.

As primitive as that sounds, it was a remarkably accurate
method of measurement. Modern tests with carefully
calibrated electronic scales aren't able to detect more than
one three thousandths of an ounce difference between the
weight of carob seeds. Nowadays, a carat is 200 milligrams,
or .2 grams. If you prefer English measures, an ounce is
equal to 142 carats.

By far the most common color for fancy diamonds is brown,
though few jewelers will use the word 'brown' to describe
the stones. Pale brown stones are often referred to as
champagne diamonds, and often have an effervescent quality
to their color. Deeper brown stones are often called cognac,
and share the golden brown color of the fiery liquor.
Because of their relatively common number, brown diamonds
are usually the least costly of the fancies.

Black diamonds contain inclusions of graphite within the
crystal. Black diamonds of significant size and quality are
relatively rare. Gray diamonds, on the other hand, may be
caused by a number of different impurities in the diamond,
and those impurities often lend a tint of other color to
grey. Gray pink, gray blue and gray green are all fairly
common.

There is one exception to that rule - fancy diamonds. Those
diamonds that are clearly red, blue, green or yellow are
extremely rare, and that rarity makes them extremely
valuable. Canary diamonds, for instance, are an intense
yellow, and are valued for their sparkle and fire. Pink
diamonds, mined in only one place in the world, are
exceedingly rare, and priced accordingly. A 3/4 carat fancy
intense pink diamond can easily cost $30,000 - without the
setting.

Yellow diamonds are another fairly common fancy type, but
the intensity of the yellow varies widely. The various
impurities that can cause colors are often also tinged with
yellow, giving rise to colors like olive and yellow brown.
Despite the rarity of colored diamonds larger than one
carat, the largest cut diamond in the world, the Golden
Jubilee, is a canary diamond.

A rough diamond resembles nothing so much as a greasy, grey
pebble. It takes the artistry of a jeweler to bring out the
brilliance and fire that is inherent in the stone. And, as
any jeweler will tell you, the right cut can make the
difference between a common stone and a breathtakingly
beautiful gem. The Round Cut has been the most popular
diamond cut for centuries, but the squared off Princess cut
is gaining in popularity. New tools like lasers are making
fancy shapes like hearts, birds and flowers more and more
common, though they are still rare.

The most popular cut for a diamond is round. Over 60% of all
diamonds in jewelry are a round cut. It's the favored choice
for an engagement ring, but the marquise and emerald cuts
are gaining in popularity. A newer cut, the princess cut, is
also growing more popular. New laser cutting techniques have
opened up new possibilities, though, and it's now possible
to create diamond cuts in many shapes, including hearts,
birds and flowers.

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