Friday, July 7, 2017

Orange Diamonds


(Click to Enlarge)
The largest fancy-vivid orange diamond known to exist sold for 32.6 million Swiss francs ($36 million) at Christie’s International in Geneva in late 2013.

The 14.82-carat pear-shaped stone’s price was about $2.4 million per carat, a per-carat record for any colored diamond at a public sale. The gem also set a record for an orange diamond of its type. The diamond shattered its high estimate of $21 million.

Natural fancy orange diamonds are an anomaly. It is extremely rare to find a pure orange diamond. To be classified as a “fancy orange”, there must be a complete absence of brown in the gemstone. Although the orange hue is not as rare in nature as some other hues, the GIA rarely grades an orange diamond as “pure” orange. As a result, orange stones that receive this grade are even rarer than the natural fancy red diamonds.
The majority of diamonds contain some nitrogen. In orange diamonds the nitrogen atoms have grouped themselves in a very specific way. Nitrogen arrangements absorb light in the blue and yellow region of the spectrum producing an orange color. Orange Diamonds may contain a brown, yellow or pinkish modifying color.

The strength of colour is one of the most important factors in determining the value of a natural color diamond.

The value increases with the intensity of the most prominent colour within the diamond.
Orange diamonds are typically found with a hint of other hues such as brown or yellow; diamonds with a pure vivid orange color are extremely rare and valuable.

The Pumpkin Diamond is 5.54 carats and rated as Fancy Vivid Orange by the GIA. Halle Berry wore the ring to the 2002 Oscars where she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Monster's Ball. The popularity of orange diamonds zoomed.

2.00-carat, fancy vivid orange, heart-shaped Lady Orquidea Diamond

The Mandarin Orange is a cushion shaped 4.19 ct. fancy vivid orange VVS1 diamond. It sold for $2,956,410 in 2011.

A rectangular modified round 7.67 carat fancy intense pinkish orange IF type IIa diamond. It brought $3,106,500 in 2010.