The value of a diamond depends on the 4 Cs: cut, color, clarity, and carat weight.
Scroll down for more information on diamond color.
D-Z Color Scale
GIA has developed a universally-accepted color grading system for colorless diamonds. This scale ranges from D to Z, with D being completely absent of any body color and Z being a light yellow diamond. Diamonds that are more yellow than Z color would be graded using the fancy color grading system.
Photo courtesy of GIA
Diamonds can occur in nearly all colors including yellow, brown, gray, black, blue, pink, orange, green, and red. These colored diamonds are graded using GIA's fancy color grading system.
For colored diamonds, the color strength grades are:
• Faint
• Very Light
• Light
• Fancy Light
• Fancy
• Fancy Intense
• Fancy Vivid
• Fancy Vivid Dark
• Fancy Vivid Deep
Photo courtesy of Forbes
Fancy yellow radiant cut diamond ring
Fancy brown chocolate diamond ring
Princess cut black diamond ring
All photos courtesy of Scott Papper, GIA GG, AJP, CMA (NAJA)