A beautiful and rich Yellow Diamond is one of the rarest shades of diamonds - too extraordinary to look away yet not affordable for everyone! By understanding how Yellow Diamond actually work and priced, you can learn how to save up to a third and still earn a yellow bling on your finger.
RARITY
Natural coloured diamonds are extremely rare. Only 1 in 10,000 carats of diamonds are coloured, and only 60% of the coloured stones are Yellow Diamonds - making it only 1 in 16,665 carats for us to find this nice yellow hue. To find a perfect rare shade of yellow to fit your skin tone, you probably need to pull out a bunch of cash to catch it. But do we really need a Vivid Yellow?
COLOUR & PRICE
Before we go into the cheats and alternatives of getting a big fat Yellow Stone. Basics: There are several colour categories of Yellow Diamonds, depending on how deeply saturated and intense the colour is emitted from the stone, as well as any other colours that may be toned with it.
From lighter shade of yellow to deeper, they are graded as “Fancy Yellow”, “Fancy Dark Yellow”, “Fancy Intense Yellow” (also known as the Canary Diamonds), “Fancy Deep Yellow” and “Fancy Vivid Yellow” as shown in the diagram above. The rarest of Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond, found in the Zimmy Mine in Africa, are a pirate’s treasure; it costs US$20k-30k per carat, which is 2 times as much as a Fancy Intense and up to 3 times as much as a Fancy Yellow. In fact, for easy comparison sake, the pricing of one carat Fancy Yellow Diamond is similar to a normal clear Diamond of the same grade.
THE BIG YELLOW DIAMOND TIP
Get a yellow-tinge White Diamond! I’m serious, don't go away yet! De Beers been doing it for years. Most people ignore Colour Grades beyond G, thanks to GIA’s standard of “colourless”. But in fact, Colours of K and beyond are not that far off from a Light Yellow Diamond. They have their own name: Top Cape or Cape Diamonds as they are originated from the Cape Province of South Africa.
M-Coloured Diamonds are extremely affordable, up to 80% cheaper than a D Colour of the same quality. Z-Coloured Diamonds with a strong yellow tinge are up to 30% cheaper than the Fancy Vivids.
So don’t be fearful of the Cape Diamonds. Choose the right one and encase them in 18K Yellow Gold, and the brilliant yellow from the gold will reflect even deeper through the diamond and achieve the look you desire.
DE BEERS - AS THE EXAMPLE
I’m really sharing you a sincere tip! Follow the leader! De Beers have found great interest in the unwanted Top Cape Diamonds and have been stocking up in large quantities of top quality Grades M or below since 2005. The mastermind behind this movement was founded by Andrew Coxon, the president of De Beers Diamond Institute.
The years of collection was finally manifested in 2016, in the 1888 Masters Diamond Collection. The 11.77 carat radiant-cut diamond as seen below is a W-colour stone, and as suggested in the tip above, it uses yellow gold claws to accent the yellow tone.
THE INVESTMENT
Of course if you are looking at buying a Top Cape Diamond for investment, that is probably not the best idea. Low colour diamonds may hold the value but it may not increase throughout time. Ultimately, the fact is they have fewer buyers and less demand when looking into resell.
But if you are looking for just your ordinary fashion and an addition to your wardrobe, I think this is the best bang for the buck!
OUR YELLOW DIAMONDS
One of a kind and one of my favourite pieces is The Solaire. It is a beautiful 1 Carat Fancy Yellow Radiant Diamond with 12 pieces of Round Brilliant Yellow Diamonds and 30 pieces of Round Brilliant White Diamonds. The solitaire is set on 18K Yellow Gold prongs to accentuate its yellow brilliance while the ring setting is in 18K White Gold for a beautiful contrast. At the time of this writing, this elegant ring is only going for HKD38,880! It's perfect and unique for engagements as well! We really don't know when we will restock this piece!
BY
Janet, the Creative Founder of Fresh Recollection. I'm an avant-garde Jeweller & a GIA Diamontaire who believe in human connection and design collaboration. I love to meet people to create beautiful ideas and develop relationships with my clients.
A Professional Architect by day, I was brought up in a Jeweller’s family - counting diamonds, artistry and design has always been in my blood.
Images courtesy of Tiffany & Co, De Beers, Pinterest and Fresh Recollection