Are D, E, F colored diamonds really all colorless?
“D, E, and F colored diamonds are all in the “colorless” category. But are they really all colorless. We’ll explain below.
GIA, the industry standard who developed the color chart used to grade diamonds, classifies certain colors into categories.
You’ll be hard-pressed to see a difference in color when looking at these particular diamonds face-up.
Colorless Category
You can see that GIA places D, E, and F into the colorless category. However this is to make things easier to describe, it makes it easy for those buying diamonds to get an idea just how good the actual color grade is, in terms of being colorless, but it does not mean that E, and F are as colorless as D.
- D is absolutely colorless. Very Rare.
- E has such minute traces of color that you absolutely will not be able to see it.
- F has a touch more color than, but you still won’t be able to see the traces.
Are the differences between the color grades proportional?
They are not proportional. Some colors differences are very small, while others take a rather large leap. However, there is not a significant difference of color between D, E and F colored diamonds. In fact the difference is so small that you would need to be in a diamond laboratory with a highly skilled diamond expert to see the difference.
Even more, a diamond’s color is graded from the bottom up, while being compared to “master colored stones”. In other words, upside down. So if you were to put two diamonds of True F color and True E color side by side mounted or unmounted in a setting, you still would be beside yourself trying to figure out which is which. You would have to flip the diamonds upside down and place them side by side to see a difference, but, as stated above, unless you have the eyes of a eagle, or are in a lab with the correct tools and master color stones, you’ll still be hard pressed to see the difference.
If however you place a True D colored diamond graded by GIA and placed a True F colored diamond graded by GIA, there’s a slight chance you will see a minute difference. That’s the reason for the price increase as well. The more rare an item, the more expensive it will be.
Are all diamonds graded D, E, and F equal?
NO. Mentioned above you have to look at who graded the diamond. GIA (the only diamond grading lab EVERY diamond dealer fully respects and knows to be 100% accurate) grades without bias. They have absolutely no stake in it whether your diamond is a D or G. They don’t care. They invented the system. They perfected it. They continue to find better ways to be absolutely sure their grading system is the best. They are the only grading company respected and trusted throughout the world. What they say your diamond is, it is.
Other grading labs grade much more lenient. They do this because diamond wholesalers want their diamonds to be graded higher than what GIA would grade them. If it’s graded higher, they make more money on the diamond. So, as you can imagine, there was room for many more “softer” grading labs to fill the need many diamond wholesalers wanted.
If you were take a D colored diamond graded by GIA, and a D colored diamond graded by EGL International and compared the two side by side, you will easily be able to see the EGL Int. graded diamond has traces of color. They should look identical, color wise. How can a diamond be colorless if it has color? These grading labs make things tough on consumers who believe what they are buying is exactly what’s stated on the diamond certification.
This is why not all D, E, F diamonds are equal, in terms of grading. You can expect that any grading lab, other than GIA, will over grade your diamond. This is also why top diamond sellers online only sell GIA graded diamonds. The returns cost money, and many consumers were returning their diamonds claiming the diamond is much worse than what the certification actually says. This is why we will only sell GIA graded diamonds, and at the very least EGL USA graded stones.
To sum up whether D, E, and F diamonds are all really colorless …
D, E, F colored diamonds are in the colorless category, but they are not all colorless. Only D is truly colorless. E, and F are exceptional color grades, and unless you started putting master set diamonds next to yours, you will NOT be able to tell the difference with your naked eye. If they are graded correctly, and if you are working within a budget, go with the F color to save money. You’ll be incredibly happy, and it will look colorless.