Colored Diamonds and Colored Gems
Browse Loose Diamonds
The possibilities for purchasing fine jewelry
pieces includes more than traditional white diamond
jewelry alone. Diamond jewelers
commonly carry a wide selection of pieces featuring any number of colored diamonds and precious colored gems. These styles provide more options to
reflect your mood, compliment a particular outfit or suit personal color preferences.
Colored diamonds
When thinking of diamond jewelry,
many assume choices are restricted to pieces featuring colorless or white diamonds. This is not the case, however. Over 300 naturally
occurring colored diamonds
have been identified. Of these, there are subtle variations of shade for any one
color. The possibilities are virtually limitless. In fact, colored diamonds come in a rainbow of colors ranging
from pink to black and practically any shade in between.
When considering colored diamonds,
it is important to understand the difference between treated and naturally occurring
color. There is a great difference in quality between these stones. Treated or artificial
colored stones can be entirely man-made or can be manufactured from a natural diamond
of inferior quality. Naturally occurring
colored diamonds, as the name implies, have no manmade elements, are more
rare and are of superior quality. When investing in diamond jewelry, it is always
preferable to select naturally occurring
colored diamonds.
Precious and semi-precious gems
Like colored diamonds, colored stones are available in every shade of the spectrum.
These stones boast bright, dazzling colors as well as more subdued shades. Jewelry
designs featuring colored stones
can be as captivating and sophisticated as any diamond
jewelry.
Both precious or semi-precious gems are available as colored stones. In addition to the diamond, precious stones are the sapphire, ruby,
and emerald. These stones, as the name implies, are difficult to come by in nature.
They are popular for their striking colors of blue, red and green, as well as the
quality of the stone. Sizable precious stones with truly good color are very rare.
For this reason, natural gems with small imperfections or synthetic precious gems
are common in jewelry designs.
Semi-precious colored stones
include any gem other than a diamond, sapphire, ruby or emerald. These gems are
available in all shades of the spectrum and can add a splash of color to any piece
of jewelry. Although there are many types of stones in every color, commonly used
semi-precious colored stones
include :
- brown – tiger’s eye
- yellow – citrine
- turquoise – aquamarine
- red – garnet
- blue – lapis
- green – jade
- black – black onyx