By Hemdeep Patel
Over the last 90 years, some of the most prominent gemmologists and gemmological institutions have aimed to create scientific consistency. The principal goal of their endeavour has been to formalize a standardized, unbiased language to accurately describe diamonds and gemstones.
Unfortunately, some of these efforts run counter-intuitive to how the diamond trade works, causing quite a bit of criticism. One such area is the accurate description of a diamond’s colour grade. More specifically, I’m referring to the addition of hue (also known as tint) to diamond reports for stones in the E to Z colour range. This may seem quite redundant, since a number of wholesale lists exist indicating prices according to a diamond’s clarity and colour grade. However, no list provides any price distinction between hues of the same colour grade, which is exactly where subtle differences can impact a diamond’s appearance and eventually its price.
