5 REASONS COLORLESS (WHITE) DIAMONDS ARE THE MOST POPULAR

5 REASONS COLORLESS (WHITE) DIAMONDS ARE THE MOST POPULAR - When one thinks of a diamond, one thinks of a white diamond, with no hint of any color at all. In fact, 'white' is a misnomer, as the 'best' examples are as clear as glass – but not as see-through, thanks to the peculiar refraction process that occurs inside a diamond! But why are the best diamonds those with no discernible color? Let us take a look.

Images Sabrinna Ringquist on Unsplash

THEY ARE TRADITIONAL

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, the saying goes, and this is just as true of diamond buying rules as it is of many other applications. Clear stones are highly valued because they have always been highly valued, in a tradition reaching back to the 1400s, when the first known diamond engagement ring was pressed upon Mary of Burgundy, by her fiancé, Maximillian, with whom she would happily co-rule until her untimely death from a horse-riding fall. Their betrothal, and then-unusual practice of having a stone set into the engagement ring, started a fashion for diamond engagement rings that grew and spread, slowly and steadily, to become the global norm that it is today.

 

THEY ARE GREAT FOR WEDDINGS!

Weddings tend to be themed around white and one or two other accent colors, and having a clear diamond ring means that these colors can be chosen at will, rather than having to tone in with such a small but important detail as the stone in the engagement ring.

 

COLOR MEANS CONTAMINATION!

A colorful diamond might be an attractive stone, but it is not, by any means, a pure stone. The purer the carbon, the clearer the stone, and that is what gives a white diamond its edge over a colorful stone, even if the color is deep, attractive and – quite often – even rarer than a clear stone! Nitrogen mixing with the carbon creates shades of yellow, orange and brown, boron creates a green diamond. Red and pink in a diamond is actually caused by a structural issue inside the diamond as it forms, and while the carbon might be pure, the light refraction is affected by this structural issue, making red and pink stones less than desirable to diamond purists!

 

HOLD THEIR VALUE

Colorless diamonds are uniformly rated, universally priced – almost a global currency in their own right, and hold their value exceptionally well. Colored gems, on the other hand, go in and out of fashion more readily, and while you may well receive a decent return on your colored diamond investment, you would be better off opting for a clear diamond so you do not have to wait up to a decade for your stones to come back into favor again!

 

FOR THE SPARKLE

The final reason that white is the mostpopular diamond color is that unique and evocative rainbow sparkle that is best shown off when there is no hint of any other color in the stone to affect or dim the scintillation and sparkle caused by the careful reflection and internal refraction of light in and around the stone before being channeled out through the table, or top face of the stone.