Diamond Color Which Do Women Prefer?

Dear Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee,

What color diamond do women prefer?

Signed,

Color choice

Dear Color choice,

If you are referring to the color grading scale from D to Z, or colorless (white) to light yellow and brown (champagne), then most would prefer the colorless range of white diamonds. Colorless diamonds are much more valuable than the diamonds in the light yellow and light brown range.

However, there are fancy-color diamonds such as pink, blue, green, yellow, or brown that are valued for the intensity of their color. Fancy pink diamonds seem to be favored by some celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, and Britney Spears (Kimberly Fine Diamonds at www.kimberleydiamonds.com.au).

Most people have heard of the Hope Diamond, which is the world's largest deep blue diamond and the necklace is on display at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in Washington DC (the necklace in the movie, The Titanic, was inspired by it). Note that the yellow or brown fancy-color diamonds are not light colored like the less valuable color graded scale S to Z range for colorless diamonds.

Natural colored diamonds are extremely rare, making them very expensive. The Gemological Institute of America (http://gia4cs.gia.edu) states, "For every natural color diamond, there are 10,000 colorless ones that have made the trip from the earth's depths to its surface" (2009). A 2-carat white diamond color grade D (Flawless) could cost $90,000, but a same size fancy-color blue diamond could cost $3 million (www.wmagazine.com).

Fancy-Colored Diamonds by Affordability (W Magazine, 2007)

1. brown, gray and black (most price friendly)

2. yellow, orange and olive

3. pink, blue and green

4. purple or red (rare, could cost $1 million per carat)