Brown Diamonds

LAST UPDATE ON: July 25th, 2022

Brown Diamond – Basics

Brown is the most common fancy diamond color but brown diamonds were not popular until the 1980s when they were marketed as “cognac” and “champagne” diamonds. Now they can be found in many jewelry pieces at modest price points. Only 1 carat out of every 10,000 carats mined is a natural fancy colored diamond, making rarer colors with high saturation extremely valuable.

PriceScope Pointer: When it comes to fancy colored diamond (FCD) cutting you can throw away the normal cut-quality rules for D-Z colors. The goal with FCDs is cutting with angles that exaggerate the color present – opposite the goal for well-cut D-Z diamonds.

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Brown Diamond Described

Brown diamonds are the most common colored diamonds mined worldwide. They are also the most affordable of all the fancy colors. With marketing pushes from larger retailers, brown diamonds are growing in popularity and are used in a variety of jewelry designs. From intricate pavé styles to rustic rose cuts, brown diamonds highlight many designer collections.

Fancy Brown Diamond
Photo Courtesy of Diamonds by Lauren

Brown Diamond Price

An appealing aspect of brown diamonds is the wide range of colors, suitable for many tastes, and affordable prices.

Brown Diamond Details

Cause of Color: Cause of color is attributed to internal graining, which is caused by structural irregularity in a diamond’s crystal lattice.

Secondary Colors: Common secondary colors in brown diamonds include yellowish brown, orangish brown and pinkish brown.

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Natural Fancy Brown Diamond

Rarity: Brown diamonds are the most common fancy color diamonds mined worldwide.

Grading: Brown diamonds are deemed “fancy” when a stone displays more color than the “Z” color grade within the D-Z color grading scale. Fancy brown diamonds are graded using the terms Fancy Light Brown, Fancy Brown, Fancy Dark Brown, and Fancy Deep Brown.

Brown diamonds that show less color than “Z,” but more color than “K” graded diamonds are called Faint through Light Brown: K-M Faint Brown, N-R Very Light Brown, and S-Z Light Brown.

Trade Terms: Gem grade brown diamonds were a rarity before Australian Argyle mine production in the 1980s, as most brown diamonds were mined for industrial use. Using the terms “Champagne Diamonds” and “Cognac Diamonds,” dealers marketed these stones for use in jewelry. “Chocolate Diamonds” is the latest term via a push from Le Vian‘s popular brown diamond jewelry.

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