True or False about Fancy Colored Diamonds

You’ve probably seen magazine and television ads promoting fancy colored diamonds, and the advertising seems to be working. Fancy colored diamonds continue to rise in popularity in 2015. Test your knowledge of fancy colored diamonds—and learn some interesting facts— with this true-false quiz. Scroll down for the answers—but no cheating!

1. Diamonds that have been colored naturally, without the help of people, are known as authentic fancy colored diamonds.
2. Clear, white diamonds are always worth more than authentic fancy color diamonds.
3. According to Diamonds.net, fancy color diamonds have increased in value by 167 percent on average since January 2005, outperforming other assets in that period, including the Dow Jones industrial’s average increase of 58 percent, and Standard & Poor’s 500 63 percent increase.
4. Fancy colored diamonds are only found in pinks, yellows, and blues.
5. Authentic fancy color diamonds get their color from the trace elements they are exposed to. Radiation can create a greenish tint, while large amounts of nitrogen causes a yellowish color.
6. Through heat treating and irradiation, gemologists are able to enhance the color of most diamonds, as well as create beautiful synthetic diamonds in labs, making fancy color diamonds more expensive and harder to buy.
7. Fancy colored diamonds are graded the same as white diamonds.
8. With fancy colored diamonds, the rarer the color, the less in demand the diamond will be. And if the color is richly saturated, the diamond will also be worth less.
9. In fancy colored diamonds, inclusions are considered desirable.

In December 2012, at the final lot of Christie’s auction season, a reddish-orange fancy color diamond sold for $2,098,500, setting a new world auction record for a reddish-orange diamond and a new per-carat record price of $666,200.

Fancy colored diamonds true/false answers:

1. True.
2. False. Authentic fancy colored diamonds are often worth more than clear or white diamonds. Rarecoloreddiamonds.com wrote that 20 years ago, a one carat fancy intense-pink internally flawless diamond would have sold for approximately $70,000. Today, that same diamond would be worth $500,000.
3. True.
4. False. Fancy color diamonds are found in 12 different colors, with more than 90 secondary hues and nine intensity levels within the 234 color combinations.
5. True.
6. False. Through irradiation and heat treating, gemologists are able to enhance the color of most diamonds, making them more affordable and available to people.
7. False. The four main criteria for determining a fancy color diamond’s value include hue, color saturation, color purity, and availability. The diamond’s color, including intensity of color and hues, are considered the diamond’s most important qualities.
8. False. With fancy colored diamonds, the rarer the color, the more valuable it will be. And if the color is richly saturated, the diamond will also be worth more.
9. True. Inclusions are actually flaws, but in a colored diamond, they can create unique tones and beautiful flashes of color.
10. True.