Diamond Colour

For white or colourless diamonds (as opposed to coloured diamonds, which is a whole different story), the diamond industry has adopted an alphabetical colour scale from D to Z, with D as the highest grading. As you go down the scale, the diamond starts to develop a yellow or brown tint.

Experts in the world of diamonds determine the colour by comparing a diamond against a master set of diamonds of different colours. Without comparing diamonds side by side, it is very difficult to see the difference between a D and a G.

Completely colourless diamonds (such as D and E) are much rarer than others which is why they come with a higher pricing premium. The key question is always where to draw the line when choosing the colour of a diamond – how far can you compromise colour before the diamond is too tinted? The answer to this question is relative to your budget and quality expectations.

Below we focus on the 7 main colours used in Diamond Jewellery.