Most Expensive Diamond Colors With Prices

In this video, Jake Talve-Goodman of The Concierge Gemologist introduces viewers to the world of fancy colored diamonds and explains how they form and get their beautiful colors.

Are Fancy Colored Diamonds Natural?

Just like colorless diamonds, fancy colored diamonds form naturally from carbon deep below the surface of the Earth at temperatures greater than 1000 degrees Celsius for millions of years.  Changes made to their chemical structure as they form give these diamonds their beautiful, unique colors, which alter the way they reflect light and, thus, the colors our eyes perceive. These small changes are very rare - happening in only 0.1% of all diamonds - but can create spectacular colors spanning the entire color wheel, including pink, purple, blue, yellow, brown, and every color in between, all made naturally.

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How are Fancy Colored Diamonds Priced?

Gemologists grade and price fancy colored diamonds using the Four Cs: cut, clarity, carat, and color. Evaluating cut, clarity, and carat all follow the rules for colorless diamonds. Color grading colored diamonds, however, differs from grading colorless diamonds. Nearly 30 base colors can create over 200 unique color combinations. A laboratory grader determines the specific name of the color by examining the base color and any secondary colors. For example, a grader would call the color of a green diamond with hints of blue a "blueish green."

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A grader will also evaluate the hue, tone, and saturation of the color in the diamond in order to determine its Fancy Color. The intensity of the color determines the grade. The grades, from least to most saturated, rank as follows: faint, very light, light, fancy light, fancy, fancy intense, fancy vivid, fancy dark, and fancy deep. The deeper and more intense the color, the more expensive the diamond.

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Red Diamonds

Red diamonds are the rarest of the colored diamonds, with only 20-30 existing in the entire world. They get their beautiful red color from a rare process during their formation, which changes the crystal structure of the diamond and causes light to pass through it differently than colorless diamonds. This process is so rare, red diamonds are usually only half a carat to a carat in size. Still, their rarity and their intense, crimson color make them the most expensive per carat of all the colored diamonds.

Red Diamond Prices

On average, red diamonds will cost over $1 million per carat. The largest red diamond ever sold weighed 5.11 carats. At a total price of $8 million, the per-carat price reached $1.6 million. You can shop these rarities at Blue Nile, who offer an expansive selection of colored diamonds for you to choose from.

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Blue Diamonds

Blue diamonds get their color from the element boron, which replaces some of the carbon in the diamond crystal structure. This can produce anything from a tint of blue to a deep, rich blue color in the diamond. Only a few mines located in Australia, India, and South Africa produce blue diamonds. Although less rare than red diamonds, blue diamonds can grow much larger and often sell for more than red diamonds even though they cost less per carat. The average medium toned 1-carat blue diamond can cost $200,000. Like all colored diamonds, blue diamond cost more as they increase in color and carat.

Blue Diamond Prices

The most expensive blue diamond ever sold was a 14.2 carat fancy vivid blue diamond, which sold at $3.9 million per carat for a price of $57.5 million. However, that pales in comparison to the Hope Diamond, currently housed at the Smithsonian. This famous blue diamond weighs 45.2 carats and has an estimated value of $250 million. You can browse these blue beauties at James Allen, who offer a large assortment of colored diamonds and 360 degree views of each one.

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Pink Diamonds

Pink diamonds are among the rarest colored diamonds. Most come from a single mine, the Argyle mine in Australia. Although their rareness is comparable to blue diamonds, pink diamonds can often be more expensive due to the high demand for their sweet, romantic pink color. These beauties are also a mystery: the cause of their color remains unknown to gem scientists. They are made of pure carbon like colorless diamonds, but are composed of a different crystal structure to reflect the dazzling pink color caught by our eyes. Pink diamonds mined outside of the Argyle mine cost less than Argyle pink diamonds, but can still quickly blow your budget!

Pink Diamond Prices

Just like other colored diamonds, the price per carat of pink diamonds can vary greatly due to differences in the diamond's size, color, and clarity. Because of this, a pink diamond's price can range from $10,000 to over $700,000 for a single carat. The most famous pink diamond, the "Pink Star," weighs 59.6 carats and sold for $71.2 million in 2017 at a per-carat price of $1.19 million.

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Yellow Diamonds

More than half of the colored diamond market consists of yellow and brown diamonds. Though still very rare, their relatively low price and striking color has made them the most in-demand of the colored diamonds. Yellow diamonds get their color from the element nitrogen, which absorbs blue light in the diamond and reflects a stunning yellow color. They often occur with a range of secondary colors. The most expensive and sought after variety are Canary Yellow Diamonds, a term commonly used to describe pure fancy yellow diamonds.

Yellow Diamond Prices

Because they are less rare, yellow diamonds can cost much less per carat than other colored diamonds. Some light yellow diamonds can even cost less than a colorless diamond of similar size. On average, you can expect to pay $3,000-5,000 per carat on a yellow diamond of decent clarity and color. For a fancy vivid yellow diamond, the price can increase to $8,000-$16,000 per carat. The most expensive yellow diamond ever sold was the Graff Vivid Yellow diamond, which weighed in at a whopping 100.90 carats, ultimately selling for $16.3 million in 2020.

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Lab-Grown Fancy Colored Diamonds

Colored diamonds are very expensive because of their rarity in nature, but lab-grown colored diamonds can provide a more affordable alternative. Lab-grown diamonds have the same properties as mined diamonds but grow in a lab rather than deep in the Earth. This means that labs can recreate the same differences that give some diamonds their color and produce them in greater quantities. For comparison, a synthetic 1-carat blue diamond will cost on average $8500, a huge difference from the $200,000 per carat cost of a mined blue diamond. Lab-grown diamonds also have a much lower environmental impact. This makes them a cheaper and more sustainable alternative. Blue Nile has an extensive collection of lab-grown diamonds, which can make for a stunning and affordable jewelry piece.

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