Did you know that diamonds can come in almost every colour? Either naturally or with a little help from treatments?

When we think of diamonds, we typically think of white or clear diamonds and the rainbow sparkle that we can see. Did you know that diamonds can come in almost every colour? Either naturally or with a little help from treatments?

Naturally occurring coloured diamonds are quite rare. When the Argyle mine was in full production, it was said that for every Olympic sized swimming pool of ore that was mined, there would be approximately 1 teaspoon of gem quality rough pink diamonds. In previous newsletters, we have mentioned pink diamonds, champagne or cognac diamonds, but did you know that you can have red, purple, yellow, green and even blue diamonds?!

Fancy colours occur because of different phenomena happening to the natural diamond in the earth during formation. For example; diamonds are predominately made up of carbon, but if you add a trace amounts of nitrogen in the mix, you can get yellow and orange coloured diamonds. Or if you add a little bit of boron, you get blue!

Natural diamonds can be treated to enhance or change their initial colour. Whether it’s heating the stone under pressure or irradiating it. For example; if you apply extreme heat and pressure to a natural brown diamond, you can turn it into a white (or colourless) diamond. Or if you irradiate a natural diamond, it can turn completely black!

Earlier this year, Peter purchased four natural coloured diamonds and challenged each of our jewellers to design and create a piece that highlights the colour. Eleanor, Yuki, Greg and Tony have all put their own creative touch on each piece. These are on display in our gallery!

We have a wide selection of jewellery pieces that contain coloured diamonds on show. Visit our showroom if you would like to see a rare gem or two! If we don’t have what you are after, let us know and we will do our best to source it for you! No colour is off limits!