What are champagne diamonds?

In the past people never appreciated champagne diamonds, but these days they are well sought after and have become one of the most wanted diamonds in the world. The rise in popularity of champagne diamonds over the years is mainly due to improved polishing and cutting. On top of that the industry launced a vast and intense marking campaign for the improved product.

The Argyle Mine where several of this diamonds are located started an intelligent marketing campaign after they discovered that almost half of the stones in their mine were brown and they knew they had to do something to change the perception of people towards these kinds of stones.

They started by changing the name to something from alluring and presentable. The lighter brown shade was given the name of cognac diamonds largely due to its strong golden appearance. The deeper brown colored stones were given the name champagne diamonds to present the stones in a desirable manner. These names stuck in people’s minds and gave them an “air” of luxury, affluence and elegance that people could easily relate to and these led to an increase in sales of these diamonds.

HOW DO CHAMPAGNE DIAMONDS GET THEIR COLOR

All colored diamonds get their color from the presence of an element in their crystal structure which goes a long way in affecting the way they absorb light. Champagne diamonds are not different as they are made up of nitrogen which is stored during the formation of the diamond. The more nitrogen the diamonds have, the deeper the brown color intensity will be and vice versa.

Champagne diamonds are known to be difficult to polish mainly due to their stressed crystalline structure and odd shapes. To overcome this problem Argyle mine created special programs in India on how to successfully polish champagne diamonds so that their real beauty can be revealed.

WHERE ARE CHAMPAGNE DIAMONDS FOUND

A large percentage of champagne diamonds are obtained from the Argyle diamond mine located in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia.

HOW CHAMPAGNE DIAMOND COLORS ARE GRADED

You will not find the word champagne on the grading report from the Gemological Institute of America. What you will see instead are colors described in the following ways: “fancy yellowish brown”, “fancy light yellow-brown” or a similar phrase that shows the intensity and shade.

The Argyle Mine, on the other hand, has created a different color scale to grade champagne diamonds consisting of grades from C1 to C7. C1 to C2 are light champagne, C3 to C4 are medium champagne while C5 to C6 are dark champagne and C7 is known as cognac.

HOW CHAMPAGNE DIAMONDS ARE VALUED

Like other colored diamonds, the color and how strong its shade is determines the value of the diamonds. For instance, the rare and dark cognac diamonds cost much more while champagne diamonds that are lighter and more common are less expensive. Generally, the prices of these diamonds are much lower than other popular colors like pink or blue, and they are also an affordable alternative to white diamonds. This is why it is important to buy a champagne diamond with a GIA certificate to be assured of its real color and value.