A fancy color diamond is a colored diamond with enough color for a fancy grade. To GIA, any diamond outside the D-to-Z scale is a colored diamond.
In more detail
Colored diamonds come in yellow and brown, and also red, pink, blue, green and other colors. On the D-to-Z scale, less color is rarer. Past Z it turns around, and stronger, purer fancy color is more valued.
On a grading report
GIA grades it on a Colored Diamond Grading Report, by hue plus an intensity word. A fancy-color diamond gets no GIA cut grade, even as a round.
Related terms
- Fancy color grade: A fancy color grade names a colored diamond by its hue plus one grade word, such as Fancy Intense Yellow. The word sums up the tone and saturation of the color.
- Hue, tone and saturation: Hue, tone and saturation are the three parts of a color. Hue is the color itself, tone is how light or dark it is, and saturation is how strong it is.
- Color grade: The color grade is a letter from D to Z for the yellow or brown tint of a near-colorless diamond. D is colorless and Z is light yellow or brown.
- Type IIb diamond: A type IIb diamond contains boron, which can make it blue or gray. The boron also lets it conduct electricity.