How did the fancy colored diamonds become the latest darling of the market? Not so long ago, in the 1960s, many merchants of jewellery would carry some colored diamonds in their suitcase, but see them as the most affordable diamonds. Back then, there was even a legend that one of those precious stones was fairly exchanged with a pack of cigarettes. Yet in the 1970s, when the oil crisis soared, and the investors turned to conservative choices, the colored diamonds which represent around 2-3% of the total diamond production came in the spotlight of the investment market, with their price growing much faster than their white siblings. Forged with external elements (infiltrated by metal or natural radiation), the colored diamonds’ rarity is further assured by the strict grading rules of GIA like《Fancy》or《Vivid Fancy》, thus made them a superior target of investment.

Nevertheless, some gems are quite famous before all the hype. the Farnese Blue diamond which is going on Sotheby’s auction table in may this year is a dazzling example, gifted between european royal families from as early as 1714. In other regards, the most famous《Fancy Red》diamond, the Hancock Red, among less than 50 equally graded gems in existence, was purchased by Mr. Hancock with $13,500 in 1956. Until the diamond was sold by Christie's with $880,000 in 1987, it was the only diamond graded 《Fancy Red》by GIA. Such was a typical case in the colored diamond market.

Indeed, the regulations such as clarity would be the decisive factor of colored diamonds’ auction result. Yet still, between different colors, the diamonds would have different values in the eyes of collectors. We can see by the general pricing trend that red is the name of the king, followed closely by blue. The asian market is highly focused on pink diamonds. The Pink Star, sold by Sotheby’s in 2017, bought by Chow Tai Fook of Hong Kong with $71,200,000, was to become the most expensive gem in the world. With the hype of asian market, whether the willingness to invest, or the appearance of pink diamonds, will prove to increase their potential to attract investment. Meanwhile, the yellow diamonds over 1 carat with high clarity, remain to be easy to purchase, and represent as well the potential of higher pricing in the future.

Apart from rapidly raising prices, the colored diamonds are potentially entering the spotlight of the auction market. Other than the diamonds mentioned above, there are more well-known curiosities like Hope Diamond, Blue Moon, De Young Red, Pink Promise…etc., or the pair of earrings composed of an IIb blue diamond《Apollo》and an IIa pink diamond《Artemis》was sold to an anonymous asian collector in 2017 with $57,420,000. These gems would always be the objects of countless discussions and reports. All these phenomenons could be the reason why the market mostly agrees that colored diamonds will continue its strong performance, and thus being an excellent target of both investment and collection.