The less color in a diamond the more valuable it is. Most diamonds range from lower grades with a slight tinge of yellow or brown to rarer stones that are absolutely colorless and quite expensive. But, people are often surprised to learn that natural diamonds occur in a full range of colors. Some rarer stones display intense natural shades of yellow, brown, green, red, pink or amber.
Some fancy colors are rarer than others.
The more encountered colors of yellow, brown and grey are quite affordable, while the rarer pinks, greens, blues and reds fetch much higher prices. Fancy yellow and brown diamonds certainly offer a potential bargain for lover's of fine diamonds. Although these colors are at least 10 times as rare as their white diamond counterpart, they are not 10 times more expensive. Since the term fancy covers a broad spectrum of hues and intensities, a yellow diamond could vary from a straw-like color, through to taxicab yellow. However, this term should only be reserved for those rare stones which display an intense yellow hue with a warm orange tinge.