The colour green is commonly associated with those young at heart and elegant in their taste. Green diamonds do justice to that association! The simplicity of the colour is balanced out by its sheer intensity. The colour green seems to be able to do this effortlessly. Natural green diamonds are few and far between to come by. To begin with, coloured diamonds in general are rare. If you’re lucky, yearly you may be able to salvage at most a toddler’s fistful worth these prized gems. But the fact is that most of you would have gotten a glimpse of it behind the 6 inch shatter proof glass casing of a museum!
Like in most coloured natural diamonds, the colour is confined in the thin top layer of the uncut stone. The design and cut precision of the diamond must be planned and executed such as to retain as much of the colour possible. Green diamonds generally aren’t true coloured and may have hints of yellow, grey or blue. The variation in its colour tone can divert the prices greatly!
Treated Green Diamonds
With science making leaps and bounds, scientists have found ingenious ways to further enhance the colour and tonality. How is this done, you may ask? It is by mimicking the natural process of irradiation. The irradiation is done with a low-energy electron beam. The process gives near colourless or yellow diamonds a sharp tint of green. Many buyers however prefer natural green diamond rings, because of which treated diamonds are significantly cheaper than the much rare natural green diamonds.
Green Synthetic Diamonds
These diamonds are “grown” in the laboratory in a variety of colours. When traces of Nitrogen and Boron are added to diamonds, it creates a light green or greenish yellow colour. The colour is that of Fancy intense orange yellow, which upon post growth irradiation and annealing leads to a fancy deep blue green colour. Since these are grown, synthetic green diamond rings are much easier on the pockets.
Famous Green Diamond
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Aurora Green
Sold at Christie’s auction for $16.2 million! The diamond is a 5.03 carat, VS2 clarity, Fancy vivid green diamond. It is regarded as the largest Fancy vivid green diamond ever graded.
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Dresden Green
It is a natural green type II, 41 carat diamond with a clarity grade of VS1. It is believed to be mined from Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Final Note
Only very unique and rare pieces of this natural diamond exist, which is reason enough for its price tag to contain more zeros than the fingers on your hands!
