GIA grading and faint brown

[Laila619]

I was wondering, does anyone know if GIA is required to disclose if a stone has "faint brown"? I'm talking about diamonds in the H through K range. Is it up to the grader to choose whether to notate it or not, or do they have to? I have seen "faint brown" noted on some lab reports. If it's NOT noted, is it safe to assume the stone does not have a faint brown tint? Thanks!

 

[kenny]

Good question.
I'd also ask the same question about gray.

Jonathan at GOG posted this cool photo showing the 3 possible colors of diamonds graded on GIA's D-Z scale, yellow, brown and gray.

 

[Laila619]

Hi Kenny, great to see you!!

Hopefully one of our pros will know and will be along shortly.

 

[yssie]

Tom Gelb talked about D-Z and yellow/brown/grey in an old thread several months ago -

Hello Yssie,

I believe I can shed a little more light here. I worked in fancy colors at the GIA for a number of years. Please note the responses in red below. If you have anymore questions please let me know.

All the best,

Tom

No, I'm definitely not talking about fluor - only the body colour of the stone. So am I understanding correctly (w/ reference to GIA's grading only):

1. GIA will call a stone with *yellow* body colour of certain strength/saturation (let's call this "X") a K. Correct
2. GIA will call a stone with *brown* body colour of certain strength/saturation >= "X" a K, and will note that colour is due to brown on the report. From K-M Faint brown, N-R Very Light Brown, S-Z Light Brown
3. GIA will call a stone with *yellow* body colour of strenght/saturation < "X" an E-J. Correct
4. GIA will call a stone with *brown* body colour of strength/saturation < "X" an E-J, but you are unsure if there will be a brown notation. No brown noted, except on internal GIA documents
5. If the stone is cut from *pink* rough, it is either a D (completely colourless) or a Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid, Fancy Deep. There is no possibility of acquiring a GIA G with an inkling of *pink*. Same with *blue*. If a diamond is graded D-F it will get only a letter grade regardless of the underlying tint. Remember D-F is termed "colorless" so although there may be something there it would be quite strange for a diamond to be called both colorless and blue. If a diamond has a color other than yellow, brown or gray and has an equivalent color grade of G or below the diamond would then be graded in the fancy color grading scale starting with Faint.
[...]
7. This quote from one of the threads linked above is also wrong: "grey diamonds are graded d-j. if there is more color than a j, it's fancy grey". Gray diamond are a strange exception and treated differently. The post is correct in that a diamond with a gray undertone would be graded on the D-Z color scale until it reached K color. At that point the diamond wold be graded on the GIA fancy color grading system starting with Faint Gray.
[...]

ETA: Kenny, that is a fantastic photo, thank you GOG for sharing it!!

 

[WinkHPD]

Yssie,

Thank you for sharing that fascinating post with us. It has been so long since I have seen or heard this information that I had forgotten the details. Details are important. I was going to go look it up, but now I will not have to.

Anyone who has read that thread or this now knows more than most jewelry store employees about color grades. (Sadly.)

Wink

 

[Ashleigh]

Faint brown almost pinkish but not noted on cert:
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.54-carat-j-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-129003

Slightly more brown, also not noted on cert:
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.60-carat-j-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-199990

But saw brown being noted on H color cert before. Can't find it now. Hence I wonder about the consistency too.

 

[Karl_K]

But saw brown being noted on H color cert before. Can't find it now. Hence I wonder about the consistency too.

I swear GIA does weird stuff every once in a while just to spite those that think they have it all figured out. (I'm not one of em)

 

[spicyitalian]

GIA is only required to disclose the color of the stones when the grade is below K for yellow or brown stones. Anything above that, it is not noted in reports. That is why you don't see the note in the j colored diamonds.

Grays, blues, pinks follow a different rule.

 

[yssie]

Yssie,

Thank you for sharing that fascinating post with us. It has been so long since I have seen or heard this information that I had forgotten the details. Details are important. I was going to go look it up, but now I will not have to.

Anyone who has read that thread or this now knows more than most jewelry store employees about color grades. (Sadly.)

Wink

I just realised that I neglected to post the original thread as my source!
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-color-diamond-doesnt-have-a-yellow-undertone.168762/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-color-diamond-doesnt-have-a-yellow-undertone.168762/[/URL]