FANCY COLOR DIAMONDS

A FIRESTORM OF DIAMONDS IN FANCY COLORS

In 2002 actor Ben Affleck proposed marriage to actress and singer Jennifer Lopez with a 6.1-carat radiant pink diamond ring, for which he had paid the princely sum of $1.2 million at Harry Winston. Sadly, the engagement was broken off two years later and the ring was returned, but the firestorm that the fancy-colored diamond set off in the marketplace continues to this very day.

In the world of celebrity, colored diamonds fast became inexorably associated with marriage proposals. Singer Carrie Underwood received a plus-5-carat canary yellow diamond ring from her ice-hockey-playing husband Mike Fisher in 2009. For model Heidi Klum, it was a 10-carat oval yellow diamond ring from singer Seal. Singer Mariah Carey, received a ring with a 17-carat, square emerald-cut pink center diamond surrounded by 58 pink diamonds and two half-moon diamonds from fiancé Nick Cannon. And the list goes on.

But it is not only the entertainment world that got caught by the enchantment of fancy colored diamonds. In recent years, the investment value of this category has become increasingly prominent, resulting in some of the most spectacular results ever seen at public auction.

In April 2017, the “Pink Star,” a 59.6-carat fancy pink colored diamond, sold for $71.2 million at a Sotheby’s sale in Hong Kong, setting a new world record price for any diamond or jewel purchased at an auction. The previous record holder was the 14.62-carat “Oppenheimer Blue,” which fetched $57.6 million at Christie’s in Geneva in May 2014. It still holds the record for the highest price paid per carat for any diamond. Before then the record was held by the 24.78-carat Graff Pink, which sold for $46.2 million in 2010.

By definition, fancy color-diamonds essentially include all gem-quality diamonds falling outside GIA’s traditional white D-Z color range, including yellow and brown diamonds that exhibit color beyond the Z range. They can be found in just about every color on the visible spectrum, but the most popular are blues, greens, pinks, yellows and reds.

Whereas diamonds in the D-Z color range usually decrease in value as the color becomes more observable, just the opposite occurs with fancy color diamonds where value rising with the saturation and intensity of the color. Large, vivid fancy color diamonds are considered the most valuable.

Fancy colored diamonds are exceedingly rare, with only one in about 10,000 gem-quality stones having a fancy color.

MID House of Diamonds is of the world’s preeminent suppliers of fancy-colored diamonds, with a large and varied stock that includes many exceptional stones, but also diamonds that enable buyers to take their initial steps in this exclusive range. Because it is a world of which many diamond buyers are less familiar, with different pricing patterns and grading standards, MID invites you to speak with one of the fancy color experts on its team.