Can All Yellow Diamonds Be Called Canary Diamonds?

Natural yellow diamonds are quite common amongst fancy colored diamonds, though significantly more rare than colorless diamonds. It is a frequent false impression that ayellow diamond is less valuable than a colorless diamonds. Even though very light or slightly yellow diamonds are considered to be quite typical and not of a really high value, yellow diamonds for example intense and vivid are quite valuable.



The pure yellow stones are much more valuble than yellow diamonds with secondary brown hues, however, if the diamond has secondary colors of green-yellow or orange yellow, this could raise the value of the stone quite substantially. The reason behind this is that these diamonds are much rarer than yellow diamonds.



Yellow diamonds are graded by their strength and intensity of color. The highest-quality grade is the Vivid Yellow, followed by the Intense Yellow diamond. The lowest quality of natural yellow diamond is the Light Yellow diamond, closely followed by the Fancy Yellow. Some tones of Vivid Yellow diamonds along with the more rare Intense Yellow diamonds are called Canary Diamonds. Canary diamonds are the rarest amongst yellow diamonds and consequently they are the most costly and are desirable both by investors and sophisticated clients. The canary diamond has a very special shade of yellow, even if you have never observed a Canary Yellow before, if you were to see one, you will “recognize” it immediately!



Yellow diamonds look fantastic when they are combined with white stones and typically yellow diamonds are set in yellow gold. A 3-stone ring should include white diamonds and the yellow stone should be placed in the middle. A beautiful setting is a yellow diamond with trapeze, triangle or oval white diamonds..



Just as with other fancy color diamonds the coloration remains the main criterion that influences the value of the diamond, then comes size and of course clarity. Clarity is also crucial in the evaluation of yellow stones, though this is much less than in traditional white diamonds.



The ideal cut for fancy colored diamonds is the Radiant cut. This is the perfect shape so that it is possible to take full advantage of the color. Yellow diamonds can be also in the Cushion cut, Oval cut, and Pear and Heart shapes. The rarest are the Emerald, Square Emerald and the Brilliant cuts (round shape). The price for these shapes are substantially higher for all fancy diamonds and not merely for yellow diamonds.



Colored diamonds are held to an entirely different standard in regards to cut quality. The objective when cutting a fancy color diamond should be to intensify the depth and saturation of the diamond's color while, at the same time, managing to strike a balance between the carat weight and brilliance. It is vital that the stone is sold with a grading report from a reliable laboratory such as GIA, HRD, IGI or EGL. This report must declare that the color is "Natural". The report must also describe the intensity of color, plus the color distribution throughout the diamond.



The Kimberley Octahedron is the biggest naturally formed actohedral diamond in the world. The owner of the mine prefers not to cut this diamond , but to leave it in its original conditiontherefore the color and distribution grades cannot be given to this magnificent diamond.