Color Theory
In our everyday lives, colors paint our moods
and tint our emotions. Without color our lives would be bland
indeed. We would endure a monochrome existence - no powder blue
in the sky, no mauve in the sunset, no green in the forest.
Colored diamonds come in all of those hues and every other color
in nature, sometimes combining in the most beguiling ways.
Two factors other than size help to determine
the value of colored diamonds. One is body color in the rough
diamond crystal and the other is the quality in the cutting
process expressed in the process.
Crystalline cocktails devised by nature over
tens of millions of years. Colors are part mystery, part
scientific analysis.
Blue diamonds are derived from the element
boron, which, over eons, mixes within the carbon base of the
diamond. Yellow diamonds acquire their vibrant colors from
nitrogen. Grey, violet and olive diamonds contain hydrogen. The
pink, brown and purple tinges in some diamonds derive from
structural anomalies within the diamond. Some diamonds attain a
green color because they came into contact with a natural source
of radiation within the earth, probably uranium ore.
Each colored diamond is different not only
because of its natural body color but also because of the way it
is shaped and finally polished. Most fancy color diamonds are
cut into cushion or radiant shapes forms, which best bring out
the depth of hue. The most skilled cutters shorten the optical
light path through the diamond, creating the bright sparkle that
is reflected from them. Cutting deeper pavilions and creating
different facets may intensify color. The cutting of colored
diamonds is significantly important, performed by highly skilled
craftsmen who combine their technical knowledge with a deep
appreciation for beauty and color. Different regions of the
earth have yielded particular types of colored diamonds, and
each color requires a master cutter's knowledge and appreciation
to unlock the beauty within.
" ... An architect who created a beautiful
edifice, an artist who painted a fine picture, a poet who
composed melodious rhymes - they are all gripped with one
feeling - a lapidary (gem cutter) feels the same way." D.
Kreptiukov 1929