Education

"Remember, many factors are highly subjective and wide open for interpretation. Do Not make the mistake of assuming that all jewelers use the same standards when it comes to any subjective decisions that are a part of the grading process. Never trust a diamonds grade if you don’t trust the Jeweler that represents it."          - Kenny Gordon

Diamond Clarity:
Diamonds completely free from internal flaws, or inclusions, are very rare and highly valued. Clarity is graded based on the number, location, size, and type of the inclusions found in a diamond. Kenny G and Company has some of the clearest diamonds available. Learn how to choose the best grade of clarity for your diamond at the best price.

FL, IF - Flawless: No internal or external flaws. Internally Flawless: No internal flaws. Very rare and beautiful diamonds.

VVS1, VVS2 - Very, Very Slightly Included: Very difficult to see inclusions under 10x magnification. An excellent quality diamond.

VS1, VS2 - Very Slightly Included: Inclusions are not visible to the unaided eye. Less expensive than the VVS1 or VVS2 grades.

SI1, SI2 - Slightly Included: Inclusions are visible under 10x magnification, and in SI2 diamonds, inclusions may be visible with the unaided eye. A good diamond value.

I1, I2, I3 - Included: Inclusions are extremely visible.

Diamond Color:
Acting as a prism, a diamond can divide light into a spectrum of colors and reflect this light as colorful flashes called fire. Just as when looking through colored glass, color in a diamond will act as a filter, and will diminish the spectrum of color emitted. The less color in a diamond, the more colorful the fire, and the better the color grade.

D: Absolutely colorless. The clearest diamond color grade, which is very rare.

E: Extremely colorless. Trained gemologists can detect slight color. A high-quality diamond.

F: Colorless. Only trained gemologists can detect color. Lowest of colorless grades.

G-H: Near-colorless. When compared to better color grades, slight color detectable, but is a much better value.

I-J: Near-colorless. Color slightly detectable. An excellent value.

K-M: Color detectable.

N-Z: Color extremely detectable.

Diamond Cut:
The cut of a diamond - its roundness, its depth and width, the uniformity of the facets - all determine a diamond's brilliance. Many gemologists consider cut the most important diamond characteristic because even if a diamond has perfect color and clarity, a diamond with a poor cut will have dulled brilliance.

Too Shallow: Light is lost out the sides causing the diamond to lose brilliance.

Too Deep: Light escapes out the bottom causing the diamond to appear dark and dull. 

Diamond Carat Weight:
Once you've determined what cut, color, and clarity grade you're looking for in a diamond, it's easy to determine the carat weight of diamond that will fit within your budget.

Origin of Color Diamonds:
The physical conditions necessary to color a diamond naturally occur very scarcely, making natural color diamonds extremely rare. How rare? For every natural color diamond, there are 10,000 colorless ones that have made the trip to the Earth’s surface. It is this entirely natural process of geographical formation which ensures that each natural color diamond is one of a kind.
The formation of natural color diamonds is a process that requires the presence of not only the original magical formula for all diamond creation, but also the presence of additional trace elements and distortions to the typical diamond crystal. If an element interacts with carbon atoms during diamond creation, the diamond’s color can change. Radiation and pressure on a diamond’s structure will also impact its color as well.

Yellow Diamond
The yellow diamond is becoming more popular each year, attracting elegant, sophisticated and glamorous women from different walks of life.
Origin
Light to vivid yellow diamonds are found in different countries, but the notably large and intense yellows have been discovered primarily in South Africa. These include the largest known canary diamond, the Red Cross, which was once presented to Christies on behalf of the British Red Cross Society. A rare feature of this stone is that a Maltese Cross is clearly visible in its top facet. Another famous yellow diamond discovered in South Africa is the Allnatt, a 100-carat fancy vivid canary yellow.

Pink Diamonds
The most feminine of colors and much favored by Hollywood stars, pink has triumphed in accessories and make-up and is now winning over the jewelry world.
Origin
Pink diamonds have only been found in a few mines across the world. The Rich Golconda river in India, Brazil and Tanzania all produced notable diamonds in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, the Argyle mine in north-western Australia is famous for the number of pinks it produces, and especially for generating the hugely coveted full bodied hot pink diamonds.

Blue Diamonds
The colors of earliest creations of sea and sky are nature's rare reflection in natural blue diamonds. The embodiment of soothing gentleness and tranquility, they are natural cool excellence in wondrous expression.
Origin
The Cullinan mine near Pretoria is the world’s only notable blue diamond producing mine. The mine also produced the largest diamond of the De Beers Millennium Jewels collection - the brilliant vivid blue Heart of Eternity, 27 carats.

Other Diamond Colors
Virtually every color, shade and hue the mind can imagine, nature has created within a marvelous natural color diamond... most now available for our pleasure, some still lying silently awaiting discovery. The range of color varieties is almost inexhaustible but NCDIA is committed to present, on a continuing basis, the full range of color categories expressed by these wonderful natural creations.

Green Diamond
Pure green diamonds are very rare since their natural green color comes from exposure to irradiated particles over eons of time. With perhaps only one new green being introduced to the market each year pure green stones are more highly valued than the yellowish green or green-yellows.

Orange Diamond
It is so rare that an orange diamond receive a color grading of pure orange, that many collectors have never seen one. More common, yet hardly abundant, are orange diamonds with a color modifier such as brown or yellow. Prized for their beauty and rarity, orange diamonds are one of the most sought after colors by prominent collectors.

Purple Diamond
Often confused with a secondary color violet, purple is a dominant and rare hue in nature and color diamonds. As purple color is correlated to internal grain formation, the cut is exceedingly important to color release. So rare are these pure purples, there has yet to be revealed a large, historically important pure purple diamond.

Olive Diamond
Often confused with the green family, olive occupies a distinct, separate 3 dimensional color space adjacent to green. Bordered in this space by grey, black, brown, yellow and green, pure olive stones often have one or more of these modifiers to impart true uniqueness to its hue.

Black Diamond
The depths of a natural black diamond are almost hypnotic as light absorption is almost complete and the play of light retained is most unique. With a very large range of modifying colors, collectors prize them and fashion jewelry is only now beginning to appreciate their special qualities.

Red Diamond
Red Diamonds are the rarest of the fancy color diamonds. In fact, they are so rare in nature that most jewelers and diamond dealers have never even seen a natural red diamond. The world's largest red diamond is known as the Red Shield, and weighs "only" 5.11 carats, compared with over 600 carats for the largest diamond of any kind.

White Diamond
The name "white" was used for centuries to describe apparent color of colorless stones but true white diamonds do have a true milky white inherent color and a translucent milky white apparent color. Pure whites with no secondary colors are truly rare and highly esteemed by dealers and collectors