Have you ever heard of fancy green diamonds? Not many people have.
In this Learning Guide, I'll answer questions you'll want to know about buying fancy green diamond engagement rings and more, like:
- Where are green diamonds mined?
- Are fancy green diamonds real?
- How does a green diamond get its color?
Top 4 Best Places to Buy Fancy Green Diamonds
If you're looking for a large pool of green diamonds to choose from, look no further than James Allen. You'll notice these guys hover at the top of many of our lists, but they really have the widest selection of a lot of jewelry elements.
They carry both natural green diamonds and lab-created fancy green diamonds. Each diamond comes with an interactive 360˚ view of the diamond. Currently, they carry just over 40 natural green diamonds in their inventory. The majority of their natural green diamonds are light green. There's even a couple with secondary hues of yellow, giving it almost a neon effect. All of the natural green diamonds are GIA certified, so you can be assured they're the best.
On the lab-grown side, James Allen carries around 80 created fancy green diamonds. Many of them have light bluish green hues, but there's quite a few forest green diamonds in the inventory. One of my favorites is the seafoam light green diamond hues, shown below.
James Allen offers a wide selection of ring settings to create stunning green diamond engagement rings. Accompanied with your purchase is a free lifetime warranty that covers any routine maintenance your engagement ring will need over the years.
At Blue Nile, you're only given the option to choose a natural green diamond for your engagement ring. They have a collection of around 60 fancy green diamonds to choose from, but the majority of them don't have 360˚ video. Many of them have stock photos that may mislead diamond buyers who don't know otherwise.
Only around 20 of them currently have interactive 360˚ video, but they offer a key of different green diamond hues to match their description. That's pretty helpful of them. And just because they show stock photos, doesn't mean you can't inquire within and obtain photos of what it really looks like. All of the fancy color diamonds at Blue Nile are GIA certified.
Customers that have shopped with Blue Nile over other diamond retailers often say it's because of the service. They were the first online diamond retailer to offer loose diamonds in 1999. Since then, they've built a solid customer base. Even if Blue Nile's price isn't always the highest, many will still select them for their engagement rings due to their service.
One of the things we've been saying Blue Nile has been severely lacking is a good maintenance plan. They offer a manufacturer's warranty, but that's for design flaws and defects. Rhodium plating white gold, retipping prongs to keep your green diamond safe and secure--they'll do that for you for a cost.
You may have to see a local jeweler to keep up with routine maintenance and pay out of pocket. Keep in mind that will also void a manufacturer's warranty with Blue Nile.
If you're shopping at Leibish and Co. for a natural green diamond, you've got a lot of cash in the bank. And don't worry, you'll need it. This company has the entire rainbow of fancy color diamonds. They also carry less talked about fancy colors like a fancy white diamond, fancy grey diamond, and even the rarest of them all-the fancy red diamond.
Leibish specializes in fancy color diamonds and colored gemstones. Currently, they have over 170 green diamonds in their inventory. Not all of them have video, but a lot of them do.
The green diamonds at Leibish are going to have the best intensities and tones online. They'll also have the highest prices too. They carry the cream of the crop when it comes to fancy color diamonds. I'd advise staying away from their engagement rings settings because they're highly expensive. You're better off just purchasing a fancy green diamond from Leibish and getting your setting someplace else.
For fancy vivid green diamonds, the prices aren't all listed on the site for you to see. Some of them require you to contact within. While it's a bummer you can't see the price, I imagine it's only for serious buyers.
Leibish is an excellent company to buy a green diamond from, if you can afford it. Unfortunately, many of us can't. They don't carry lab created fancy color diamonds, so there's really no saving money here. Thankfully, there's other options on our list instead.
Read also: Best Place to Buy Lab Grown Blue Diamonds
On the other hand, Brilliant Earth only carries lab grown green diamonds. They carry natural fancy color diamonds, but only as blue, yellow, and pink diamonds.
Their lab-grown fancy green diamonds come in a variety of hues and intensities. They don't give you too much information about them individually, like their clarity and other specifics. Instead, you're able to look at the grading certificate and see the specs in more detail.
Brilliant Earth honestly has some of my favorite ring settings for engagement rings. There are so many beautiful ring designs, it's hard to choose. They allow you to see it in 360˚ video as well as superimposing the ring on your own hand using their mobile site on your phone.
Brilliant Earth also offers their Brilliant Benefits plan which will cover the routine maintenance your fancy green diamond engagement ring may need over the year. Unlike some of the others, this is a purchase rather than a free benefit offered.
Read also: Best Place to Buy Yellow Lab Diamonds
How Do Green Diamonds Get Their Green Color?
Some fancy color diamonds receive their color from a stress in the diamond crystal lattice. Most get their color from impurities that enter the crystal. Others are created.
Natural Fancy Green Diamonds
In order for diamonds to become fancy green diamonds, they have to be subjected to radiation as they are growing. For that to happen, diamonds have to be growing within rocks containing radioactive uranium, nickel, or hydrogen. These elements replace some of the atoms in the crystal lattice, causing us to see them reflected as green.
Different elements may cause different hues in green diamonds Pure-green diamonds are the rarest, with .07% of green diamonds.
Lab Grown Fancy Green Diamonds
Laboratory grown green diamonds start out as colorless diamonds and are put through the same conditions as diamonds in the the earth. It's known as the HPHT process, or high pressure high temperature.
A light green diamond or yellow green lab diamond gets its color by small amounts of nitrogen or boron into the growing process. Nitrogen also causes natural fancy yellow diamonds. Synthetic fancy green diamonds can also be the product of irradiation performed on yellow lab diamonds.
Where Are Green Diamonds Found?
Most of the green diamonds mined will comes from Africa or South America. They come in a range of different hues including yellow green, bluish green, or gray green.
Green Diamonds FAQs
Not a lot of people know about green diamonds. There's not too many jewelers that offer them either. Traditionally, the most sought-after colors are pink diamonds, blue diamonds, and yellow diamonds. Here's the most asked questions about green diamonds.
Are There Famous Green Diamonds?
Green diamonds have been found in a variety of hues, with most of them being yellow green or bluish green.
The Aurora Green Diamond
The most famous green diamond is probably the Aurora Green Diamond. It was sold at an auction for $168 million. It is the most expensive green diamond in the world. It's a 5.03 carat fancy vivid green diamond. It's the largest natural fancy green diamond ever graded by the GIA.
The Dresden Green Diamond
The Dresden Green diamond could also be considered the most famous green diamond. It is a 40.7 carat fancy green diamond with VS1 clarity. The color is the even throughout the large pear cut diamond and has the potential to be internally flawless if recut by jewelers.
It was found in 1722, in Kollur mine in India. At the time, it was the most famous green diamond until the Aurora Green Diamond came along in 2016. The Dresden Green was presented to King George I who had high compliments toward the Indian merchant and his 41 carat fancy green diamond.
It passed through more royalty, including King Augustus and his successor, Augustus II. It also was placed in a new setting, near the Dresden white diamond. It was reset yet again and remains in the Dresden Castle for public viewing today.
How Much Do Green Diamonds Cost?
Most fancy color diamonds are highly expensive. Even yellow diamonds categorized as "canary yellow" cost more than light yellow diamonds.
Is a Green Diamond Rare?
A Natural green diamond is one the rarest fancy color diamonds in the market. Yellow diamonds, brown diamonds and black diamonds are more common. Pink diamonds, orange diamonds and blue diamonds are more rare, but well-known. Green diamonds, purple diamonds, and fancy white diamonds are lesser known.
Why are Green Diamonds Rare?
A natural green diamond is considered rare because of the radioactive conditions it needs to thrive. As you can imagine, there's not many places in the world sitting in radioactive minerals.
Not only that, the green color must be saturated enough and uniform throughout the stone.
What's the Best Metal for Green Diamond Engagement Rings?
Many people debate choosing the metal color for their engagement rings. Some people go with their preferred metal, while others may want what complements the color of their diamond or gemstone.
But first off, let's get something straight. There's no wrong colored metal for your green diamond engagement ring. Now let's get technical.
Fancy Green Diamonds in White Gold or Platinum?
The color green is a cool toned color. Cool toned colors are said to look best with other cool tones. In a green diamond engagement ring, experts say it looks best in either white gold or platinum. Both are silvery white metals. Fancy light green diamonds, fancy bluish green color diamonds, and fancy dark green color diamonds will all look great in cool toned metal.
Fancy Green Diamonds in Yellow Gold or Rose Gold?
That being said, it's not uncommon to find green gemstones set in yellow gold or rose gold. Both of them are warm toned metals. You're more likely to see gemstones with a dark green color in these kinds of metals, like emerald jewelry. Fancy light green diamonds tend to get drowned out by yellow gold or rose gold. The colors of the metal can detract from the light green color of a stone.
But once again, the engagement ring setting for your green diamond is completely up to your personal preference. Get what you like, not what the experts say. The color of the metal has no bearing on the quality of your green diamond engagement ring.
