Once snubbed in the industry, brown diamonds are showing their own appeal. Diamonds are a symbol of eternity. However, in the world of "queen" stones, do you know about the existence of chocolate-colored diamonds - gemstones that were once snubbed in the jewelry industry because of their rustic and rough appearance? is starting to be noticed by the super rich? Let's find out brown diamond in the article below!
What are brown diamonds?
Brown diamonds are chocolate brown diamonds. In the early days of the diamond industry, most brown diamonds were used to produce abrasives and very few were used in jewelry. Over the past few decades, their popularity in jewelry has increased significantly.
Brown diamonds can be very attractive – especially when their brown color is altered by yellow, orange or red. The most attractive point of this colored diamond is its very affordable price. Very attractive brown diamonds can often be purchased for less than diamonds of similar size and clarity on the standard DZ color scale.
When chocolate-colored diamonds are cut into gems as small as 0.01 carat, their brown color is barely noticeable. Dozens or hundreds of these tiny diamonds are often used in a single piece of jewelry to add a huge amount of sparkle.
In the 1980s, the owner of the Argyle mine in Australia had a lot of brown diamonds and a very bold idea. Instead of selling their brown diamonds to De Beers for a pittance, they shipped millions of them to India, where cheap workers cut them into melee-sized gems – as small as just one point.
The small brown stones then entered the market in popular priced jewelry. A dozen of these little gems add an interesting flair to a piece of jewelry. One hundred of them in a pavé setting creates a spectacular result! The attractive appearance and low price of the jewelry was a huge success, and it attracted a new group of buyers into the diamond jewelry market.
Few people pay attention to the brown color because the gem is so small and the shine is so spectacular.
Today, brown diamonds are sold under trade names such as “chocolate diamonds,” “champagne diamonds,” and “cognac diamonds.” Clever marketing, new designs and low prices transformed brown diamonds into a profitable product and a new category of jewelry.
Origin of brown color
Formed more than 3 billion years ago, diamonds are grown from microscopic carbon particles under high pressure and temperature deep underground. Since its discovery, diamonds have never left the first position among the rarest and most beautiful minerals on the planet. However, the majority of diamonds found are colorless diamonds, only a very few of the mined diamonds are colored diamonds (0.01%) Therefore, colored diamonds are extremely rare and sought after. harsh.
Fancy color diamonds have several colors such as green, blue, pink, red, black, yellow, brown. Among them are pink and green diamonds in extremely small quantities, but brown diamonds are made up of carbon and nitrogen atoms, which produce larger yields and are found in many places around the world.
Many diamonds acquire their brown color due to pressure deep within the earth. This pressure deforms the diamond crystal lattice creating textures called “grains” in the diamond crystal. This grain is sometimes visible during microscopic examination as a series of parallel ridges similar to the “grain” seen in a piece of wood.
The deformed crystal lattice changes the light that passes through the diamond. It causes the diamond crystal to absorb certain wavelengths of light, and the visible light that reaches the human eye causes us to see the diamond as “brown.”
Brown grains are typical of brown diamonds from the Argyle mine in Australia. Some pink diamonds from Argyle receive their pink color from similar grain.
Why did brown diamonds become popular?
For nearly 100 years, brown gemstones were depreciated, considered ugly compared to the brilliance of colorless white diamonds. Thus, De Beers, the company that controls the gem industry, has all the brown diamonds it mines and obtains crushed and limited to industrial use.
That all changed in the 1980s, when the managers of the Argyle mine decided that instead of selling their brown diamonds to De Beers for a small sum, they would market them themselves. In a bold move, they shipped millions of their small brown diamonds (about 80% of Argyle rough diamonds are brown and under 0.1 carat in size) to India, where they are crafted. into cheap jewelry. This decision was a huge success and soon attracted a new group of buyers to the diamond jewelry market. Today, with clever marketing by jewelers, these beautiful gemstones have become more attractive and are gaining popularity worldwide. And, at half the price of a colorless stone of similar weight, brown diamonds are affordable, making them the perfect choice for the market.