FANCY YELLOW DIAMONDS

An auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva in May 2014 took an unusual turn. Within the space of a little more than a quarter of an hour, a 100.09-carat diamond, called the “Graff Vivid Yellow,” was first pulled from the sale, then resubmitted and then sold for more than $16.3 million, thus breaking the world record for a yellow diamond sold at public sale, and well within the pre-sale estimate of between $15 million and $25 million.

The Geneva sale once again raised the profile of fancy-colored yellow diamonds. The previous record holder was the “Sun-Drop Diamond,” which at 110.03-carat was considered the largest pear-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond in the world. It sold for $12.3 million Sotheby’s in Geneva in November 2011, breaking a mark set only one month earlier by the 32.77-carat “Vivid Yellow,” which sold for almost .6 million at Christie’s in Mid New York.

Yellow diamonds are considered to be fancy colored when they fall outside the traditional D-to-Z range, which includes colorless to light-yellow hues, with the latter at its far end. And, while considerably less common than the yellowish diamonds falling within the standard D-Z range, fancy colored yellows nonetheless are more common than blue, pink, and red Fancy Colored Diamonds.

The most common word used to describe fancy yellow diamonds is “canary,” which is reserved for exceptionally vivid stones. This, however, is used exclusively for marketing purposes and is not an accepted grading term.

The yellow color visible in diamonds is the result of the presence in the diamond molecule of nitrogen atoms, and, unsurprisingly, the intensity of the yellow color depends entirely on the amount of nitrogen entrapped. Colorless stones have little to no nitrogen and consequently do not show noticeable color.

Yellow diamonds occur in a wide range of saturations, and the GIA Colored Diamond Grading System assigns them one of six color grades: Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Dark, Fancy Deep, Fancy Intense, and Fancy Vivid. They frequently are cut in fancy shapes, with the radiant cut often favored. This is done because it affective in intensifying the appearance of color when viewed face up.