Favorite Fancy Color Diamond?

[dancingmelimel]

If you could have any fancy color diamond you wanted, what color would it be? (White is obviously not allowed.) Please, post pictures for drooling purposes!

 

[dancingmelimel]

Orange diamonds are my favorite. This is my current "In My Dreams" frontrunner.

Edited to add: This picture is from www.fancydiamonds.net. You can also find lots of examples at www.icestore.com.

 

[Hest88]

I like the blues, but not a Hope diamond blue, just a grey-blue that's blue enough so that it's obviously a fancy-color and not just a white diamond reflecting some weird light. I'm really fond of slate colors, hence why I like the idea of a nice grey-blue.

I wouldn't mind a green diamond either, though preferably one that's more olive than yellow.

 

[Mexi]

Here is a green diamond ring I love:

 

[winyan]

A true peach, rather like the Hortense, I think...Cartier pave setting.

win

 

[dancingmelimel]

Mexi, that is a gorgeous green diamond. Beautiful color and cut! I must say, while I love the color in the ring I posted, the orange diamonds don't look very lively. Might be the cut, might be the photo.

Hest, I would love it if you would post a picture of a good example of a grey-blue stone you'd like. There's so much variation of shade in any color of diamond!

And here is the Hortense that Winyan refered to, found at diamondtutorials.com...

 

[dancingmelimel]

Winyan, does the shape of the Hortensia stone have a name?

 

[dancingmelimel]

I saw "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit at the Smithsonian earlier this year, (the traveling exhibit of seven of the worlds rarest diamond,) and I was really struck that the Pumpkin Diamond, while smaller than most of the others, seemed to me to stand out as the brightest. It might just be that I gravitate toward it personally.

Here's a picture of it set in a Harry Winston ring which Halle Berry wore when she won the Oscar...

 

[Mexi]

I love that orange diamond!!

[I'm trying to remember where I found that pic of the green diamond but my mind is blank. There were many beautiful colored diamonds on that site but it escapes me at the moment.]

 

[Mexi]

How about this blue.

This pic and the green diamond are from Vivid Collection.

 

[diamondsbylauren]

When I first clicked on this thread, I came in on Mexi's thread with no photo.


I scolled up and liked the pumpkin diamond ring very much- but when I saw Mexi's green diamond I just about fell out my chair! WOW.




Anyway, here's a contribution.


It's our 1.70 Fancy Vivid Orange Yellow Heart Shape

 

[dancingmelimel]

Thank you for your contribution, David, but you didn't mention what your Favorite color diamond is....

 

[winyan]

Dancingmelimel,

I *think* it's a variation of the shield shape.

That's a pretty ring, David. I would guess your favorite coloured diamond to be yellow?

win

 

[diamondsbylauren]

Good question Diamond Angel!




I guess, if one is a seller, then commercial considerations come into play.


I love Blue diamonds- such as the 1.51 Fancy Intense Blue pictured here- but for me, part of the beauty is being able to actually possess the stone. The diamond on this post is more than $200,000- so how many people can actually enjoy it?


For these reasons, I love yellow. It's within many people's grasp, and also quite beautiful.




When I'm choosing for myself I go for a yellow, or an orange, yellow. But diamonds for men are different than diamonds for women.


I could ( and do) wear a yellow diamond ring. Even if I could afford a nice pink, it's not masculine.


Stones like the blue here. would really be a waste in a bezel type mens ring.


So, if I were a woman, I would be able to choose my dream diamond from a wider array of colors.


I love EVERY well cut diamond- every color.




The day I went for my first job interview , before the last ice age, my future boss had a simple test.


We walked into a small room, in this amazing building on Fifth Avenue.




He opened a little paper, and poured a bunch of these little...chips into a metal scoop. Then he shook a few out on a large white pad, which was on the table.


He had a very long pair of tweezers. He picked up a few of these chips and put them back down again. Not slowly, but deliberately.


Then he handed the tweezers to me.


"Pick up a diamond"


"These are diamonds?"


"Yes, pick one up"


If he knew then, what he would come to know later, this conversation would have come to a quick conclusion.


You see, I was a lead guitar player in the local band, so I had quite good dexterity.




I used my dexterity, and picked up a few diamonds.




Then he showed me how to hold a loupe.




"Pick one up and look at it", he told me.


What I saw changed my life.


What I thought were chips were actually full cut diamonds. With 57 facets, 60% depth 60% table- even though they were tiny- about .05 carat stones.




The beauty of that flash- the amazing sparkle of a diamond is really like nothing else. I love to look at....Sapphires for example. Nice in a ring, but put a loupe to 'em..... nothing




I love every well cut diamond- except Marquise


PS- I pased that interview- and had my job. Learing to assort and grade diamonds at Harry Winston Inc.


I got the interview because my mom was an assistant to some guy that worked in the "Ring Program" In those days ( late '70's) Harry Winston had a division selling jewelry to....JC Penny. Swear

 

[dancingmelimel]

David,

I know what you mean about wanting to actually be able to possess the stone...I've decided to love rather small colored stones. Fancydiamonds.net has a number of small colored diamonds at prices that look quite reasonable...Definitely in a range I could afford at some point in the not-too-distant future. I'm not at all sure how well cut most of them are, though.

By the way, Diamond Angel hasn't posted in this thread. (Not yet at least.)

-Melissa

Edited to add: By the way, thank you for the story of how you got started! I'm jealous.

 

[valeria101]

Gray, blue and any inbetween (the darker side). Picture? the 'Blue Prices' thread has it - nice and round!

Even pictures are hard to find in this area

...

 

[Giangi]

I love fancy diamonds... I have many specimens in most colors... But my favorite is naturaly fancy blue... I have a 0.15ct pear which is absolutely gorgeous!!

 

[dancingmelimel]

Giangi, I'm soooo jealous! I would love to begin a collection, but must buy a house first. (Details, details.)

Does anyone have an opinion on the stones at www.fancydiamonds.net? They're the only place I've seen a decent selection of affordable fancy colored stones, which makes me wonder why they're so affordable...

Their photos are not fantastic, which may mean the stones look better in person, or may mean they look worse. Some of the stones look much better cut than others, but I wonder how good even their better cut stones are.

-Melissa

 

[Giangi]

Leibish at www.fancydiamonds.net is a great guy. Check out also www.adin.be... Nancy is amazing!

 

[diamondlil]

My favorite would be either fancy pink or fancy light pink (either radiant or emerald cut) flanked by 2 icy white diamonds.

Pink is my favorite color in general. I'll keep dreaming . . .




Diamondlil

 

[diamondsbylauren]

Hey Diamondlil,


What do you think of this one?




GIA Faint Pink with G color baguetts. These faint pinks can vary from noticable to ...is that pink? kind of color. Today, any diamond that has the word "Pink" on the GIA report brings big bucks.

 

[valeria101]

Melissa,
This is a narow market niche and I suspect that getting such rough is not easy. Also, cutting those tiny bits in specialized shapes requires different skills and such.(I welcome professional correction here).
If you browse that website, you will find a few stones over 500K (fancy intense blue (VVS), and fancy green HUGE). There were other items in the same price range handled by this firm recently and they have sort of a mithycal aura (as oposed to mere good reputation) among the European jewelers I got to meet (Spain, Germany, UK, Italy...).
Why there also are cheap stones on that site? Size: those are very small and prices for fancy colors increse on a much steeper exponential curve than white diamonds (1ct of 0.1ct stone is a few orders of magnitude cheaper than 1 ct of a 5ct stone, if you get to see one). As fasr as I know, this source is one of the few where one could drop a line for a fancy intense green and get a 'maybe'. This is my sort-of-informed take...
As for cut: this a very different story for fancies as oposed to colorless. The cut is graded as a colored stones' cut.

 

[valeria101]

----------------
On 11/11/2003 8:26:25 PM diamondsbylauren wrote:



GIA Faint Pink with G color baguetts. These faint pinks can vary from noticable to ...is that pink? kind of color. Today, any diamond that has the word 'Pink' on the GIA report brings big bucks----------------

Hi!
I have seen 'fancy very light pink' and 'fancy very light purple' (I'd say VS to SI1) priced simmilarly to D-VVS stones in the 0.5-1 ct range. Was it a bad joke or a nice offer or what should one think about this? Of course, I would appreciate any insight if it is not too much to ask...

 

[dancingmelimel]

I'm so glad to hear that fancydiamonds.net is a well respected company, and that there is nothing strange or "too good to be true" about their pricing!

Valeria,

About cut quality on colored diamonds....I understand that it's a whole different ballgame than with colorless diamonds, but my concern is that if I buy a colored diamond I don't want the cut to make it look like just any colored stone.....I want it to have the life and sparkle of a diamond. Not all of the smaller colored diamonds I looked at online seemed to have that liveliness. Any suggestions to make sure I don't get a dud? (When I someday actually purchase one, that is.)

-Melissa

 

[valeria101]

----------------
On 11/13/2003 1:44:52 AM dancingmelimel wrote:

Not all of the smaller colored diamonds I looked at online seemed to have that liveliness. Any suggestions to make sure I don't get a dud? ----------------

I guess, if one wants to treat (cut) a colored diamond like a white one, why not! Actually, yellow ones do get such tretment and so do light colored versions (as above). The Eight Star company cuts fancies on demand (there is a picture on PS)... so, you can get those standards too. Lab-made fancies do get top cuts all the time. I guess color will have some influence on optics (surely so), and I have not yet heard of any attept to determine what cutiing parameters will deliver most light out of a strongly colord diamond. Given the rarity and price per carat, such a science would sound like the 'theory of chasing dragons'!
As you said, some of the bits looked better... I guess this is the way to go. As far as I've seen. some of their stones are very well cut, the firms certainly has the technology and manpower available to achieve desirable parameters... I would say.

 

[Hest88]

Well, you can't really judge a fancy the same way you'd judge a white. As with colored stones, fancy diamonds are cut to maximize the color, not the sparkle, since the rarity of the color is what makes it valuable.

 

[valeria101]

----------------
On 11/13/2003 11:42:10 AM Hest88 wrote:

As with colored stones, fancy diamonds are cut to maximize the color, not the sparkle, since the rarity of the color is what makes it valuable.----------------

Hi! I thought is more about weight than 'color' (as in the above sentence). Do you know any source on such cutting habits used to manage color? I've heard that the radiant cut is so used for yellows, but have yet to find some explanation or further comments... Very curious here!

 

[Hest88]

Heh, size is always important, right?

Here's a decent article on fancy cutting:
http://www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/articles/2003/jan03/0103dg.html

 

[diamondlil]

David, that pear is beautiful. My current e-ring is an E color pear. What are the specs and price? The picture looks like the prongs are rose gold rather than white or is that just the photo? Would fancy light pink be less per carat that fancy pink? Just beautiful . . .

Diamondlil

 

[winyan]

I forgot to mention, in the really 'unusual' and 'inexpensive' (relatively speaking) department, I also like silver and opalized diamonds. There are pics (which I cannot access) on DT somewhere.

win