Coloured Diamonds: Natural or Treated?

When celebrities showed up on the red carpet wearing stunning coloured diamond engagement rings, promise rings and other jewellery, the style world was quick to jump on the trend.

Maybe Jennifer Lopez’s pink diamond ring turned heads, but coloured diamonds have been around for a long time. Some of the world’s most famous diamonds have been in every shade from pink to blue.

Coloured diamonds, though, do not sport the price tag of non-coloured stones. This leads many people to believe these stones are fake – but nothing could be further from the truth.

How are they formed?

Some coloured diamonds do occur naturally in the earth’s crust. It is the trace element embedded in the stone that gives it the colour. Finding these stones is an extremely rare occurrence. So rare, in fact, that finding such stones renders them invaluable. Certainly not in the price range of the average diamond lover!

Most coloured diamonds in the marketplace are actually treated by irradiation and temperature in order to produce the desired colour. This is behind the notion that coloured stones are actually fake. This process, however, has been refined over the years and does not hide any imperfections in the stone. Rather, the process does exactly what Mother Nature has done to coloured diamonds in her crust over thousands of years – only far faster!

That’s right, the process of enhancing the colour of a diamond is exactly the same as that found to be occurring “naturally” in the Earth’s crust. While the naturally occurring hue of the diamond is enhanced, the diamond itself is not changed by the process.

A colourful trend

From the Hope Diamond to the topper on the Imperial Sceptre of Russia’s Catherine the Great, coloured diamonds are not only real, they are a trend that never falls out of fashion. Science and the craft of coloured diamonds ensures that many more can enjoy what was once only a royal treat!