Your Guide To Secondary Colors In Diamonds
Over 90 Secondary Hues In Diamonds
Secondary hues, also referred to as secondary colors or overtone colors, are additional colors that appear in diamonds. These secondary hues affect the final color of a diamond. A diamond with a pure hue, such as a natural fancy vivid yellow loose diamond doesn’t contain any secondary colors. There are over 90 secondary color combinations in fancy colored diamonds, with 9 intensity levels, totaling over 230 color combinations.
The truth is that there are really thousands of color combinations in diamonds, but when it comes to grading fancy colored diamonds, there are 230 recognized color combinations. Natural fancy colored diamonds with secondary colors are easier to find, while still considered rare. An example of a diamond containing a secondary hue would be a natural fancy intense greenish yellow diamond. This article will help you understand diamond color combinations and secondary hues.
How Are Secondary Hues Graded?
 GIA Certified.jpg)
Diamonds with secondary hues contain primary and secondary colors, occasionally with the presence of a third color too. If you browse natural fancy colored diamonds online, you’ll notice that some of the secondary colors are described as “greenish” or “brownish”, while others are “green” or “brown”. This is an indication of the strength of the secondary hue.
For example, if the primary color of a diamond is pink (over 50%) and the diamond has a strong orange hue (over 35%), the diamond would be described as “orange pink”. However, if the presence of the secondary hue is around 15%, it would be considered a weak secondary color and referred to as an “orangy pink” diamond.
More Than One Secondary Hue
 GIA Certified.jpg)
Secondary hues are often present more than once in fancy colored diamonds. You can tell how many secondary colors a diamond contains by looking at the diamond title. For example, this GIA certified emerald cut natural fancy dark brown greenish yellow SI2 clarity diamond weighing 2.7 carats contains the presence of three different colors. The main color in the diamond is yellow. The weaker color, green, is presented as “greenish” while the presence of brown is referred to simply as “brown” because there is a large presence of that color in this diamond.
Are Diamonds With Secondary Colors The Same Price?
 GIA Certified.jpg)
Typically, diamonds containing secondary colors are less expensive than pure colored diamonds. This is mainly because a pure colored diamond is far rarer, with certain colors such as pink and blue natural fancy colored diamonds being particularly difficult to find and therefore among the most expensive natural fancy colored diamonds.
The price of a pure natural fancy colored diamond also depends on the intensity level of the color in the diamond. For example, a natural fancy light pink diamond\ will cost less than a natural fancy vivid pink diamond. Further, even with secondary colors, the price of the diamond will depend on how desirable the color is. For example, this GIA certified round cut natural fancy brown pink colored diamond with an I1 clarity weighing 1.03 carats is more expensive than a similar diamond with the primary color being brown. This is because pink is a far more desirable and a much rarer color for diamonds.
Secondary Colors In Diamond Jewelry
When purchasing diamond jewelry or customizing your own diamond jewelry piece, it is important that you make sure the color of the diamond matches the jewelry metal type as well as the other diamonds in the piece of jewelry. If you are looking to match several fancy colored diamonds to each other in a multi stone diamond pendant chain, for example, you would probably want to make sure all the diamonds are different colors to each other. When it comes to diamonds with secondary hues, it will be difficult to perfectly match such diamonds to each other.
Sparkle your
world with color
For pure colored diamonds, such as fancy canary yellow diamonds, finding small matching diamonds is much easier. If it is only the center stone that you want to be fancy colored, you will have far more freedom when choosing the surrounding diamonds or side stones. However, you will still have to ensure that the surrounding diamonds are within one clarity grade of the center stone.
If you have any questions about secondary hues in diamonds or want to know more about any aspect of purchasing diamond jewelry online, we can always be contacted on 1-800-557-7095 where one of our expert diamond jewelers will be happy to assist you. Alternatively, you can email us at [email protected] with any questions you may have.