The 4Cs - Color

Another very important factor to consider when purchasing a diamond, is to consider the color of the diamond. A lot of people have the wrong perception that Diamonds are graded from A onwards and i often hear people saying that D color is not so good when it's already the whitest grading, as they thought that there's an A grading. This will only bring muffled giggles from the salespersons.

Diamonds are generally graded into 5 different categories, ranging from D-Z under GIA standards. D being colorless and Z, Fancy Yellow.


In local jewelry stores, we would commonly see diamonds which are of Near Colorless gradings, as they do not appear too yellowish under the naked eyes. In Europe and America, consumers would seldom go for anything better than a G if it's for wearing, as they prefer to set their diamonds on rings made of Yellow Gold, and the diamond would in fact appear whiter than its supposed to be. Whereas in Singapore, the preferred material is White Gold, if a diamond which is graded a J or K color, and set on to a White Gold setting, the color of the diamond would look obviously yellow even to the naked eyes, due to the contrast in colors.

For some customers, they would ask for the best color there is available, but personally, for wearing purposes, a G or F color is good enough. If i were to have a choice between a F color diamond with an excellent Cut vs a D colored diamond with only a Good cut, for the same price, i would choose the F colored one. Reason being, if the diamond is well cut, with good return of light and brilliancy, the slight tinge of yellowness would not even be noticeable to the naked eyes.

Tips

If one is not convinced of the color of the diamond, what you can do easily is to use a piece of white colored name card, fold it into 2 and create a valley, put the diamond in between the the 2 folds and compare the whiteness of the name card against the diamond. This way, you would be able to see the color contrast without bringing any equipments.

To see how much difference there is between a D color and a F, ask for 2 rings of these color grading and put them side by side against a dark background and compare without the influence of strong showroom lights, preferably, under the counters. Make sure you ask for permission from the salesperson to do so, just in case they are worried of the rings being switched. You will notice that there's hardly much difference between D and F as they are only 2 grades difference and both are under the colorless range.