Yellow diamonds were once thought to be inferior. Paler yellows, such as canary yellow, are more common but are not as desirable as their darker counterparts. Intense fancy yellow diamonds are the most rare and valuable of the yellow diamonds. A tiny .25-carat yellow diamond can be priced as high as 10,000 dollars depending on its clarity and cut. Several larger 6 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow diamonds have just recently been sold for $57.000 per carat.
Yellow diamonds are colored because of the impurities that are trapped inside diamonds when they are created. If a few of the millions of carbon atoms have been replaced by nitrogen atoms, then structure of the diamond will not be significantly altered but the clarity will be changed. The amount of color displayed is dependent on the amount of nitrogen involved.
When we see color it is because the object we are looking at reflected a specific wavelength of the light spectrum. A good example of this is a yellow flower. The flower absorbs all of the light except the yellow light, which is reflected by the yellow flower.
The increase the popularity of the Yellow diamonds has been caused by several factors. Celebrities are increasingly purchasing the very rare but beautiful Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds. Johnny Damon, the Red Sox baseball star, married Michelle Mangan last year, everyone was dazzled by the brilliant yellow diamond engagement ring she was wearing, so the yellow diamond has begun to take over the spotlight.
Many other celebrities jumped on the bandwagon, most notably Dennis Quaid's main squeeze, Kimberly Buffington, supermodel Heidi Klum, cover girl Varonica Varekova, hockey player Petr Nedved, producer Rodney Jenkins, and singer Joy Enriquez. Celebrities may be adopting yellow diamonds as the newest hot diamond trend due to their extreme rarity.
Yellow diamonds are rarely found in diamond mines. Only estimated 1/10 of 1 ppercent of diamonds mined have an intense yellow color. It is fortunate for the general public that lab created yellow diamonds are more common, more affordable, and just as beautiful.
Tiffany Diamond
The Tiffany Yellow is one of the most famous of the yellow diamonds. It is believed that the diamond was found in 1877 or 1878 at the De Beers Mine in South Africa. In the rough, the stone was a beautiful canary-yellow octahedron weighing 287.42 (metric) carats and it was valued at $12,000.000 in 1983. It is difficult to get an accurate description because no Major Gemological organization has ever formerly examined the diamond.
Kimberly Octahedron
The Kimberly Octahedron was discovered in the Dutoitspan Mine in South Africa in 1964. At 616 carats it is considered the largest yellow diamond in the world.
With the new techniques in creating laboratory diamonds it will only be a matter of time before quality Yellow diamonds are available to the general public at an affordable price.
By: David Cowley
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David Cowley has created numerous articles on Diamonds. He has also created a Web Site dedicated to Diamonds. Visit Diamonds
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