ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Yellow Diamonds- Rare and Beautiful

Updated on June 9, 2012
Fancy yellow diamond
Fancy yellow diamond

Natural yellow diamonds

Yellow diamonds are the most common of all colored diamonds. Many people believe that yellow diamonds are less valuable than white diamonds- although this may be true for faintly colored yellow diamonds or off- white diamonds, intensely colored fancy yellow diamonds are actually very rare and extremely expensive.

Diamond connoisseurs have found fancy yellow diamonds to be very desirable, and have described them as being “optically warm”.

Depending on the concentration of nitrogen in the yellow diamond, different hues are produced. The tones of yellow diamonds vary from faint yellow to fancy intense yellow to vivid yellow. Like other colored diamonds, the more saturated the color, the more expensive the yellow diamond will be.

How do natural yellow diamonds get their color?

Natural yellow diamonds get their color when millions of carbon atoms are replaced by nitrogen atoms, while the diamond is being formed several miles beneath the earth’s surface. Although the structure of the diamond is not significantly altered, the clarity of the diamond is changed. The more nitrogen present within the diamond, the more intensely yellow the diamond will be.

Where do natural yellow diamonds come from?

Natural yellow diamonds come from South Africa, Brazil, Russia and India. Of these countries, South Africa is the main producer of fancy yellow diamonds (yellow diamonds with recognizably intense hues). As a matter of fact, the first authenticated diamond found in South Africa was the yellow Eureka. South Africa also produced the famous Tiffany diamond- a beautiful 287.42 carat canary- yellow diamond.

What determines the value of a natural yellow diamond?

Beautiful yellow diamonds exist in tones from light yellow to fancy intense to vivid yellow. The GIA recognizes nine color grades of yellow diamond. The fancy vivid diamonds are the rarest and most unique of the lot, and hence the most desired.

Yellow diamond grading
Yellow diamond grading

Note:

Which yellow diamonds are considered “canary- yellow” diamonds?

A natural yellow diamond is considered to be canary yellow in color when its hue is considered “purely yellow”- that is, when it is graded within the fancy yellow range (from fancy light yellow to fancy vivid yellow).

It is uncommon for canary yellow diamonds to be found in diamond mines. Yellow diamonds excavated from the mines are often not as vibrant in color as canary yellow diamonds, and therefore are not as valuable as the canary yellows either.

The most famous natural yellow diamond

 

The Tiffany Diamond
The Tiffany Diamond
Bird on a Rock by Jean Schlumberger featuring the Tiffany Diamond
Bird on a Rock by Jean Schlumberger featuring the Tiffany Diamond

The Tiffany Diamond

The Tiffany diamond is one of the largest, most famous yellow diamonds known today. The brilliant yellow stone was discovered in 1878 at the Kimberly mine in South Africa. In the rough, the stone was a beautiful canary-yellow octahedron weighing 287.42 (metric) carats.

Shortly after its discovery, the stone was purchased by Charles Tiffany of New York. One year subsequent to the purchase, Tiffany’s gemologist cut the diamond into a cushion shape of 128.54 carats with 90 facets- the cutting took place in Paris. The Tiffany diamond is classified as being Fancy Yellow- a very rare classification for yellow diamonds.

Since its existence, the Tiffany diamond has been worn by only two women. The first was Mrs. Sheldon Whitehouse, chairwoman of the Tiffany Ball in Newport, RI, who wore it in 1957; and Audrey Hepburn, who wore it in 1961 for publicity photos for the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Today, the beautiful fancy yellow gem can be seen on display on the ground floor of the Tiffany and Co. store in New York City.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)