All About Fancy Gray Diamonds the rarest

A fancy gray diamond is one that not many people will set their eyes upon during their lifetime. Aside from the true diamond connoisseur, the nuances that set gray diamonds apart from colorless diamonds remain unrecognized by most diamond experts. It takes a finely tuned eye to be able to detect a quality gray diamond, but those subtle differences set gray diamonds apart in a class of their own.

Fancy gray diamonds are so appealing because they combine the best qualities of both black diamonds and colorless diamonds. Their silvery, steely appearance connotes the same strength as the black diamond, but the clarity and sleekness of a colorless diamond. Carrying both masculine and feminine qualities, a gray diamond can be the perfect center or accent stone on a men’s or women’s wedding ring.

Location

Gray diamonds are mined all over the world, including South Africa, India, Russia, Brazil and Australia.

Cause of Color

Similar to blue diamonds, fancy gray diamonds possess their metallic color because of the hydrogen, nitrogen, and boron found in their atomic structure. Another neat feature that gray diamonds share with their blue counterparts is that they are semiconductors of electricity, unlike most other diamonds.

Pure gray diamonds are extremely rare, and are graded according to their color intensities, from Light Gray and Fancy Light Gray to Fancy Dark Gray, and Fancy Deep Gray. The lightest of the grays resemble smoky colorless diamonds, and the most vivid grays appear almost graphite in color. However, gray is most often found as a secondary hue in other colored diamonds, such as grayish pink, grayish yellow, grayish green, and most popularly, grayish blue.

Famous Gray Diamonds

Some of the most famous diamonds in the world possess gray overtones. Take the Wittlesbach-Graff for example, one of the most stellar blue diamonds ever discovered. This diamond was classified fancy deep grayish-blue until it was recut to attain a pure blue color.