Fancy Yellow Diamonds

 

Beautifully Brilliant, Gleefully Glittering and Wonderfully Warm. There’s something incredibly alluring about a Natural Yellow Diamond. They will quite literally light up the room.

What is a Yellow Diamond?

A yellow diamond is naturally formed diamond, much like a white diamond, however it is naturally tinted with hues of varying degrees of yellow. Yellow diamonds (also known as Canary Yellow Diamonds and Canary Diamonds) are the most common color of fancy colored diamonds. Only 1.00 carat of every 10,000 mined carats is a natural fancy colored diamond. The yellow diamond has gained great popularity because of its beautiful brilliance and its relatively affordable prices. These gems come in a variety of colors and color intensities – from straight yellow, to warm brownish yellow, to the fire-like orangey yellow.

About Fancy Yellow Diamonds

Yellow diamonds are considered one of the most rare, beautiful diamonds. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) diamond grading scale for white diamonds ranges from D-Z. Further down the scale a diamond, you will reach the color area of fancy yellow diamonds. These diamonds fall “off” the D-Z scale and into their own Yellow Diamond grading scale.

The GIA recognizes twenty-seven different hues (colors) for fancy-colored diamonds. Each hue represents a range. To classify each range, each hue is accompanied with specific grades. These grade levels are extremely important for colored diamonds because they determine the value of a diamond. If a diamond has a stronger hue, it becomes more valuable. This is due in large part to the diamond’s rarity and visual desirability to collectors and investors.

The color of a diamond is composed from the combination of hue, tone, and saturation. Hue is the basic shade that identifies the color. The tone is the amount of lightness or darkness, while the saturation is the intensity of the color.

 

What Color Diamond Should I Buy?

The fancy yellow colored diamond scale is classified into six different color grades: Light Yellow, Fancy Light Yellow, Fancy Yellow, Fancy Intense Yellow, Fancy Vivid Yellow, and Fancy Deep Yellow. All of these diamonds are 100% completely natural. Occasionally, a yellow diamond will have overtones and modifiers, which will give the diamond the appearance of a Fancy Dark diamond, yet just fall short of that classification. Additionally, sometimes the cut of the diamond actually enables a better intensity of color to show from the polished stone. This is the reason Cut is the second most important factor behind color when purchasing a fancy color diamond.

Yellow diamonds are still extremely rare – far less bountiful than colorless or near colorless diamonds. However, they are more abundant than fancy pink diamonds and fancy blue diamonds. As such, their prices are competitively affordable. In fact, many feel that going with a fancy yellow diamond is a perfect introduction to the fancy colored diamond market since the appearance is gorgeous while the cost is not as extravagant.

For the average buyer, the most desirable diamond colors are Fancy Light Yellow and Fancy Yellow Diamonds. For the high-end buyer, the most desirable (and investable) stones are Fancy Intense Yellow and Fancy Vivid Yellow. 

The Fancy Yellow Color Scale

Fancy yellow diamonds are graded according to the hue and intensity of yellow color within the diamond. In general, diamonds at the upper end of the scale contain the weakest tone of yellow. These are known as Light Yellow Diamonds. These stones are somewhat yellow, but with virtually equal traces of white throughout the diamond. At the other end of the scale, stones that contain the strongest tones of yellow are known as Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds. Vivid yellow diamonds have no white traces and, depending on the color saturation and distribution, contain an extremely yellow color throughout. The more intense the yellow becomes, the rarer (and therefore more expensive) the diamond becomes.

The Color of a Yellow Diamond

All diamonds – including white diamonds – are assessed by the same four main attributes of diamond quality; Color, Cut, Clarity, and Carat Weight. However, unlike white diamonds, the Color of a Fancy Color Diamond is the most significant characteristic of all.

A pure or straight fancy color stone with only one color present is preferred by most, but the majority of color diamonds actually contain one, two, or even up to three colors. The secondary shades most common in fancy yellow diamonds are green and orange. The pure dark tones often contain brownish or greenish hues. Although most buyers prefer a pure color stone, certain color combinations, such as an Orangey Yellow, can really be quite beautiful.

 

Secondary Hues and Color Modifiers: Fancy colored diamonds are not always straight colors. Often times, in fact more often than not, diamonds come with a secondary hue or color modifier. This is another color that is also present and visually seen, along with the main color. Most yellow diamonds in today’s market contain any of the following overtone colors; Orangish-Yellow, Brownish-Yellow, Brownish-Green Yellow, Greenish-Yellow, and Greyish Yellow. These color combinations create interesting, in beautiful, diamonds.

Yellow diamonds with secondary hues and color modifiers are still extremely rare and highly desirable. A straight, pure colored yellow diamond without any secondary hue is more valuable. However, as a result of its magnificent appearance, an orangy-yellow diamond is also considered beautiful. 

Color Intensities: Yellow colored diamonds can be found in a very wide range of intensity grades. The GIA has an advanced grading scale with the following Color Intensities Grades; Light Yellow, Fancy Light Yellow, Fancy Yellow, Fancy Intense Yellow, Fancy Vivid Yellow, and Fancy Deep Yellow.The darker the diamond’s color, the rarer and more expensive the stone. The intensity grades are dependent on the color combinations within the stone.  

Why Buy a Yellow Diamond Engagement Ring?

Due to their the growing popularity of yellow diamonds, more and more brides to be are changing their preference from the classic white diamond engagement ring to yellow diamond engagement rings. As such, fancy yellow diamonds have recently been used as the center piece of some of the most breathtaking engagement rings. This is due to their incredible rarity and beauty. Every woman wants the ring of their dreams, and most of the time rarity and fancy yellows win. Natural fancy yellow diamonds have the ability to be far more alluring than the everyday colorless diamond engagement ring, especially since they are so much more unique.

Surprisingly, fancy yellows are quite reasonably priced, yet still look exceptionally impressive and expensive when set in a beautiful engagement ring. Shapiro Diamonds’ jewelry designers have mastered the creativity and technical ability to create some of the alluring and beautiful yellow engagement rings available today.  When designing the ring, we set the diamond in an adorned cage (also known as a basket) of yellow gold.  This technique allows light to reflect back into the diamond, further increasing the yellow intensity of the diamond. The color reflects through the diamond, actually increasing the face-up color of the diamond by at least one intensity grade. Setting a colored diamond is not as simple as setting a colorless stone and requires a master designer’s knowledge.

 

Intense Fancy Yellow (Canary Yellow)

Intense Fancy Yellow Diamonds (Canary Yellow Diamonds) are the most sought after yellow diamonds. These are the pure yellow diamonds with strong color saturation. These diamonds have no color modifiers and no additional colors to them. Intense Yellow Diamonds, vivid yellows and high quality fancies fall into this category of diamond.

Intense fancy yellow diamonds are an essential addition to the portfolio of serious diamond investors and jewelry collectors. A true fancy yellow diamond has no trace of whiteness and is fully saturated with yellow diamonds look especially stunning regardless of their setting. These fancy vivid color diamonds attract a high price in whichever diamond market you are in. These diamonds are and are only available through high-level diamond wholesalers such as Shapiro Diamonds.

Investing in Diamonds

Yellow diamonds are more common in the niche of colored diamonds than pink diamonds and blue diamonds. For this reason, we recommend buying something which is a bit more unique if you are considering purchasing a yellow diamond as an investment. Fancy Intense Yellow Diamonds and Fancy vivid Yellow diamonds are a good choice if this is your goal. Educated diamond investors and diamond collectors usually go for intense yellow diamonds.

Yellow diamonds with a high clarity grade (IF or VS), high intensities, and usually above 2.00 carats make for excellent investment opportunities. These stones are  sought after as excellent additions to many fancy color diamond investment portfolios. Some of the highest prices at auction have actually been paid for large yellow diamonds.

Natural yellow color diamonds are far more common than most of the other fancy color diamond colors. Since they are so striking and alluring, while still remaining competitively affordable, the demand for yellow stones has aggressively and steadily increased over the past three decades. Many of these diamonds are being used for engagement rings and daily wear – not necessarily being viewed as an investment opportunity.

 

What Shapes Are Most Popular for Yellow Diamonds?

While round brilliant cuts are popular for white diamonds, the round shape reduces the appearance of color in a diamond. This is due to the amount of light that reflects through the stone. As such, it is more common for yellow diamonds to be cut in squarish shapes such as radiant cut or cushion cut. Of course, similar to any other diamonds in the market, fancy yellows can be found in all cuts, such as Asscher, Oval, Marquise, Pear, Radiant, Heart, Cushion, and Princess. However, limiting your selection to diamond shapes outside of the radiant or cushion cut may limit the available stones you have to select from.

How Are Yellow Diamonds Formed?

Diamonds are conceived of 99.95% of carbon, while the other 0.05% consists of traces of other elements. For fancy yellow diamonds, traces of Nitrogen give them their natural yellow color. The more Nitrogen that exists in the atomic structure, the strength of color will increase. In other words, the more Nitrogen, the stronger yellow a diamond will be.

 


Celebrity Yellow Diamonds

Probably the most famous yellow diamond is the engagement ring Paris Hilton received from billionaire Paris Lastis. Other famous Yellow Diamond Rings are the one Whoopi Goldberg wore an 80 carat canary yellow diamond pendant – worth about 5 Million Dollars, and Hillary Clinton was seen wearing a 4.23 carat yellow diamond ring in on various occasions. Both Academy award winners, Natalie Portman and Kate Winslet wore yellow diamonds in the academy awards. Natalie Portman was seen wearing amazing yellow diamond earrings. Academy award winner beautiful Kate Winslet had the entire set – a $2.5M yellow diamond necklace along with a 10 carats fancy intense yellow earrings and yellow diamonds bracelets.

Singer Seal gave international supermodel Heidi Klum a 10 carat oval cut light, fancy yellow diamond. This beautiful stone was prong set tightly surrounded by yellow canary pave set diamonds on a 2.5mm band. The singer, Usher is also a big fan of yellow diamonds. He currently owns a watch with 1,000 tiny yellow diamonds that create his face. Legend Elton John also wears a 25 carat yellow diamond ring.\



Where Can I Find Yellow Diamonds in Dallas?

Shapiro Diamonds is one of a select number of wholesale diamond dealers with unlimited access to the rare collection of fancy yellow diamonds. Our connections in the wholesale colored diamond market can allows us to arrange for  a collection of fancy yellow diamonds available to viewing to our clients. We can offer our clients some of the most exquisite fancy yellow diamonds in existence. Shapiro Diamonds supplies only the highest grades of GIA certified diamonds. Call us today to view a collection of fancy yellow diamonds.