A diamond is a mineral made from an allotrope of carbon. The carbon atoms are arranged in a structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is the hardest and most thermally conductive of any bulk material. This means that it is not only used as a beautiful jewel, but also as a cutting and polishing tool.
Because of the rigid diamond lattice, it is not contaminated by many impurities. The substance also has wide transparency, resulting in the colorless and clear appearance of most diamonds. If diamonds do contain impurities, these may change to the colur and create different types of diamonds.
Just like colourless diamonds, coloured dimaonds are also subject to the 4Cs of quality: cut, clarity, carat weight and colour. However, with coloured stones it is the intensity of the colour (rather than the lack of it) that plays a greater paer of the valuation of the diamonds.
Colourless diamonds
Colourless diamonds are the most transparent and have a clear appearance. These diamonds are also the most common and are popular in various jewellery items.
Pink Diamonds
This is the world’s most valuable and rare diamond, mostly found in the Argyle Mine. In 1989, a 3.14 carat Argyle pink diamond sold for $1,510,000. The Argyle Mine has sold pink diamonds at $ 1 million per carat. Before the pink diamonds of the Argyle mines were discovered, white diamond was considered the most beautiful because the pink diamonds of Brazil, India and Africa didn’t have the same intense pink colour as Argyle pink.
White Diamonds
White diamonds are discovered in mines all over the world in a variety of sizes and shapes.
Champagne Diamonds
These diamonds are can be found in a wide range of champagne-like colors, ranging from a light straw colour to a more rich, cognac colour.
Pink Champagne Diamonds
These have a predominantly champagne colour, but also have secondary pink hues. The pink colour demands a higer price per carart than normal champagne diamonds. The pink colour can range from a slight to a bold flash within the diamond in shades of light pink champagne, to medium pink champagne and dark pink champagne. The darker the strength of the pink, the more expensive the diamond per carat.
Yellow Diamonds
Yellow diamonds come in a broad range of hues, varying from a light yellow to a richer vanary yellow colour.
Blue Diamonds
Like yellow, blue diaomnds also come in a wide rnage of shades, from sky blue to steely sapphire blue.
Green Diamonds
The colour penetration in green diamonds is not very deep and is often removed as the stone is carved and fashioned.
Diamond Simulants
Diamonds are very expensive, so there are a number of stones that can be used as substitutes. The most commonly enocuenteres simulant for diamond is Cubic Zirconia. Most commercial Cubic Zirconia is made in laboratories rather than mined from the ground, also Cubic Zirconia is also found in nature. In both natural and synthetic forms, Cubic Zirconia is colourless, although colour can be introduced. To tell the difference between Cubic Zirconia and real diamonds a thermal pen tester can easily detect Cubic Zirconia.
Another diamond simulant is Synthetic Moissanite. Some of the properties of Synthetic Moissanite are very close to diamonds, leading to some confusion. Unlike Cubic Zirconia, Synthetic Moissanite can be passed as diamond by thermal pen testers because the thermal characteristics of Synthetic Moissanite are similar to those of diamonds. Other methods of identification, however, will reveal that it is not in fact real diamond. Synthetic Moissanite is being marketed as a new and unique synthetic gemstone to take the place of diamonds.
Moissanite was first identified in natural form in a meteorite crater in the early 1900s. Most Moissanite is produced synthetically because naturally occurring Moissanite is very rare. Chemically, Moissanite is made from silicon carbide and is also known as carborundum, a substance widely used in the electronics industry and for abrasive purposes.