Up until 2000, when Le Vian came on the scene with his Chocolate Diamonds campaign, diamonds where desirable based only on the 4C’s – cut, color, clarity, & carat. The better each of the 4C’s scored, the more desirable that diamond was considered & therefore, the higher the price. The only colored diamonds that were considered of any value were the very rare pink and blue diamonds.

Le Vian spent millions in marketing and advertising to brand brown diamonds as “Chocolate Diamonds”. His television, radio, magazine, billboard, & many other advertisements spread the word. But the thing that enhanced the brand to a reality was having 100s of celebrities wear his Chocolate Diamonds on the red carpet.

Chocolate diamonds are not usually cut into large carats or the traditional diamond cuts and are often mixed with other precious stones to enhance their beauty. Some mixes are:

Chocolate Fountain

Chocolate pearl diamonds – this is a very elegant mix of dark brown and white that reminds many of the chocolate diamond’s namesake.

Chocolate diamonds & turquoise – a very daring, but stunning mix with different textures to enhance the overall effect.

Chocolate diamonds & white diamonds – this is a very common mix, but still very brilliant.

Chocolate diamonds & other colored gems – again very common, but so much variety, any piece of jewelry is practically its own unique piece.

For every gem variety, color is the most important factor, these diamonds being no different. So they are not graded as traditional colorless diamonds are. Their grading is based on the saturation (intensity of color) graded from a 1 – weak, to 9 – vivid. The Gemological Institute of America grades all fancy colored diamonds a Z1 – Z9 (the 1-9 being based on the saturation). And fancy colored diamonds are also rated by their tone (the degree of lightness or darkness of a color) though they are not given a grade by the GIA according to tone. The most desirable tone of a fancy colored diamond is considered to be the medium tone, not too light & not too dark.

There are also different hues of fancy colored diamonds. For instance, the hue of a brown diamond is designated into the categories:

Chocolate – light brown diamonds with no other discernable color

Champaign – sparkling warm golden brown

Cognac – deep reddish/orange

Cinnamon – light pinkish brown

Honey – deep yellow orange

Clove diamonds – deep olive brown

Whatever Chocolate Diamonds you choose, be sure to compare around for price & quality of the diamonds.