Yellow diamonds. Properties, origin, extraction and the price of yellow diamonds may just surprise you.
$16,300,000 for a 100 carat stone. This is the result of the Sotheby’s auction in Geneva. Before that, more than $12,300,000 for a diamond was not given. Moreover, the cost of the Graff Vivid Yellow Diamond has become a record among all precious stones ever sold under the hammer.
The name of the buyer is not announced. However, it is known that this is a woman. A representative of Sotheby’s let slip in an interview with a journalist from the NTD television channel: “The buyer was in the hall and got confused in the calculations.” Because of this, trading was temporarily suspended.
The amount was displayed in Swiss francs, and the woman had American dollars. When the buyer counted the available amount, the auction continued, the price tag soared to 16,300,000 conventional units.
There is something to pay for. Graff Vivid Yellow is considered exceptional. Why and what are the parameters for evaluating yellow diamonds, we will understand in the main part of the post.
Properties of a yellow diamond
The Graff Vivid Yellow yellow diamond originally weighed nearly 200 carats. Found in South Africa by Earl Lawrence. He was born in 1938 in London. The boy from the working-class district of the capital was attracted by luxury.
Lawrence became a jeweller and a successful finder of stones, for which he travelled all over the world. Seeing Graff Vivid Yellow in Kimberley, the man immediately knew that he had found an exceptional diamond.
It’s not just the size of the mineral. Its colour is unique. Usually, a yellow-coloured diamond is a stone with a tint. These are 90% of solar diamonds. They are included in the group of “Painted” diamonds.
The remaining 10% of the crystals have a pronounced colour. These are specifically yellow stones. These are already included in the category of “Fantasy” and are valued higher. However, among the fantasy ones, there are mainly stones of shades of pear, lemon, corn, lemonade.
The crystal found by Count Lawrence is imperial yellow. In other words, a diamond is brighter than the sun, shining with golden sparks. Millions are willing to pay for this colour.
Separate names have been approved for yellow shades of diamonds. Paint Graff Vivid Yellow is called “yellow”. Add to the word “light”, we get light yellow.
Yellowish stones are called “cape”, and slightly yellowish – “top cape”. “Top crystal” is a designation for crystals with a slight shade of yellow.
A loose yellow diamonds pendant in a slightly more prominent hue is accompanied by the term simply “crystal”. Together with the names of other shades of coloured diamonds, sunny tones make up 12 positions.
One colour for the whole stone is a rarity, which means a value. Usually, within the framework of the crystal, the tones of yellow flow one into the other. Therefore, jewellers are ready to literally shred large diamonds in order to get several homogeneous and expensive ones, and not just one junk. The value of Graff Vivid Yellow becomes clear. All 100.9 carats are yellow.
Yellow diamonds often lean into the green spectrum, or brown. Such stones have a minimal play of light, that is, the ability to refract it. Therefore, a rich, fantasy colour is not always a guarantee of the high cost of a crystal.
Graff Vivid Yellow is lucky to absorb as much yellow as possible without absorbing greens and browns. The optical properties of a diamond are excellent. They also depend on the purity of the sample.
When choosing a yellow diamond, the stone should be checked for a certificate. It indicates the degree of transparency. It is determined on a scale from 12 to 1. The first indicator is a frank marriage.
Such diamonds are used for technical purposes. Deficiencies are expressed in internal cracks, air bubbles, inclusions of dirt and other minerals. All this spoils the appearance of the diamond and becomes an obstacle to the light. The vaunted refraction of rays in the diamond disappears.
A ring with a yellow diamond of the 1st purity is considered ideal. Nature does not create completely pure stones. But, in diamonds of the first degree, flaws are visible only under multiple magnification and have almost no effect on the play of light.
Bought for $16,300,000. Graff Vivid Yellow has a purity score of 2. Its value is understandable, given that the jewellery category includes stones up to the 8th group.
Standing out among diamonds by colour, yellow crystals do not differ in physical parameters. Like other diamonds, they are the hardest in the world, occupying the top line on the Mohs scale.
This is a mineralogical measure of the pliability of samples to scratching and punching. None of the known stones can damage a diamond, just like artificial materials.
The active sparkle of a diamond is related not only to the refractive index. It is equal to 2.42. There is no specific unit for measurement. The main factor in the radiance in the photo of a yellow diamond is due to the high dispersion. This is the ability of white rays to break up into the light spectrum. As a result, sparks of all the colours of the rainbow come from a crystal of the same colour.
Like other diamonds, yellow diamonds are semiconductors. In other words, the material is capable of conducting current, but under special conditions, for example, when heated. Change the properties of the mineral, as well as ultraviolet and x-ray radiation.
In their light, diamonds luminesce. In the X-ray spectrum, all crystals shine blue. Under ultraviolet light, yellow diamond earrings can take on any colour.
This is due to the imperfections of the crystals, the impurities they contain. It has been proven that carbon radicals, that is, unsaturated valences, and nitrogen atoms play the main role in the luminescence.
The latter, by the way, along with the admixture of lithium, determine the colour of yellow diamonds. Tiffany and other jewellery brands adore them. They “melt” the decorations and the hearts of the public. The sunlight of diamonds warms the soul. Find out where the stone rays come from. Angara reviews often reflect the brand’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, shining as brightly as their coveted yellow diamonds.
The origin of the yellow diamond
An engagement ring with a yellow diamond from outer space. This is not an invention of marketers, but a reality. Diamonds are not only formed in the bowels of the Earth, but also come from outside. Crystals arrive on meteorites.
Finding diamonds on them is a rarity. Yellow specimens are even rarer. The facts of the sale are not known. However, we know that nothing is impossible. If desired, connections, money, you can get engaged, enlisting the support and energy of the Universe, or lay a piece of space at the base of your house.
The presence of diamonds outside the Earth is predictable. Although the universe is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium, it also contains carbon. The last element is the diamond. True, carbon is also graphite.
It’s all about the structure of the crystal lattice. In diamonds, it is complex, composed of 2 simple sublattices. Their main figure is a tetrahedron. This is a polyhedron composed of 4 triangles.
Their tops are carbon atoms. There are strong covalent bonds between them. These bonds and the density of the crystal lattice determine the hardness of the stone.
In the bowels of the Earth, carbon atoms line up in the diamond crystal lattice only at “cosmic” temperatures and pressure. Crystals break out to the surface from depths of 100-130 kilometers.
Stones endure magma flows. They break into cracks in the earth’s crust. Along the way, the mass captures pieces of already formed stones, crushes them. The result is a rock called breccia.
Peculiar pipes, in the form of which it approaches the surface, are called kimberlite pipes. They are looking for natural diamonds. But there are also synthetic ones. They are produced in laboratories using thermobaric technology.
Recreate the desired temperature and pressure. Carbon atoms are “driven” into crystals using metal catalysts. For a wedding ring, a yellow diamond is grown in 6-7 days.
Lovers may not know that the vaunted thousand-year-old energy is not in their rings. By 2017, the share of synthetic diamonds in the jewellery market reached 56%.
The world’s first artificial diamond was also obtained by the thermobaric method. It was created in 1950 by Swedish scientists. In the 21st century, a new synthesis method appeared – CDV.
This is the crystallization of diamonds from gaseous carbon. The technology requires the use of an electric arc. Crystals are formed in just 3-4 days, so the method is gaining momentum.
The production of synthetic diamonds is gaining momentum, also due to their relative cheapness. Most consumers are chasing diamonds as status items.
Customers of jewellery stores are rarely interested in the origin of stones in jewellery. Meanwhile, attention is always paid to the favourable price of products. Many people don’t consider the reasons behind the cost when making an impulse purchase. In general, there is a demand for synthetic diamonds. He creates an offer.
Buying artificial type yellow diamonds means getting perfect stones. It is in natural that there are inclusions, bubbles and other shortcomings. In laboratories, absolutely pure, monophonic crystals are obtained.
The presence of such in jewellery is a reason to check the origin of stones. Although, in terms of composition, structure, properties, synthetic diamonds are the same diamonds, but young, and not with a history of thousands and millions of years.
Deposits and mining of yellow diamonds
A couple of years ago, the development of a yellow diamond deposit in Australia began. Jewels found in the west of the continent. 80% of the rights for exploration and mining of stones were purchased by Lucapa.
This Australian firm produced nearly 5,500 carats in the last quarter of last year alone, increasing efficiency by 147%. This is in comparison with the same period in 2015.
But, the point is not that, but that the Australian deposit is the last of the explored and it already accounts for half of the yellow diamonds mined in the world.
Australian deposits are a breakthrough not only in terms of reserves of high-quality diamonds, but also in a different way of looking at their formation. Instead of kimberlite pipes, lamproite pipes have been found on the continent. Lamproite is a volcanic rock. It consists of pyroxene, olivine and amphibole. Diamonds have never been found in such a company before.
The remaining 50% of natural yellow diamonds are mined in Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, in general, Africa. In Russia, the main diamond-bearing region is Yakutia.
However, yellow crystals are mined in the Popigay deposit. It is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. A meteorite crater with a diameter of about 80 kilometres was found there.
In it, according to the assurances of some scientists and prospecting geologists, there are trillions of tons of diamonds. They not only arrive together with meteorites, but can also be formed at the point of contact of cosmic bodies with the earth.
Locally there is intense heat. The shock wave is the pressure on the rocks of the planet and the meteorite. In general, the conditions of the deep layers of the Earth’s mantle are recreated.
Famous yellow diamonds and their price
- The yellow diamond is one of the symbols of the Tiffany jewellery house. A stone of 128.54 carats is inserted into the Golden Bird brooch. The feathered one is studded with diamonds, but the Tiffany crystal is the “twig” on which the flyer sits.
- A diamond of honey light and round cut resembles the sun. It has 90 facets. Cut off over 100 carats. Initially, the weight of the crystal was 287 carats.
- The price of the Tiffany yellow diamond has not been announced, because the stone is part of the jewellery. The cost was set for the entire brooch. The price of Golden Jubilee is also unknown. This brown-yellow diamond was cut by Gaby Tolkowsky himself.
- The famous jeweller is the son of the equally famous Marcel Tolkowsky, who calculated the parameters of the ideal cut of a diamond. The original weight of the Golden Jubilee is 755 carats. After cutting, about 500 were left.
- At the end of the last century, the diamond was presented to the king of Thailand. The Golden Jubilee is still in his palace, even though the ruler has passed away. The price of the stone, as you know, was not set. A gift is a gift.
- Perhaps it is in honour of the Golden Jubilee that the “Yellow Diamond” of Versace is named. It is a perfume no less famous than some diamonds. At the same time, a floral aroma with notes of citrus is more accessible. For 30 millilitres of perfume, they ask for about 3,500 roubles.
- “Yellow Diamond” – spirits, overflows of which are worthy of the radiance of precious stones. The average cost of a carat, by the way, ranges from $7,000 to $25,000. The price depends on the quality characteristics of the stone and its overall dimensions. The larger the diamond, the more carats it contains and the more expensive it is.
Some images courtesy of unsplash.com and pexels.com. Some images supplied
