By Branko Deljanin
One in 10,000 natural diamonds has enough colour to be deemed a fancy-coloured stone. Browns are the most common, and some mines like Rio Tinto’s Argyle in Australia produce large quantities of these diamonds, which are marketed as ‘champagne’ in the lighter yellowish brown range and ‘cognac’ for the darker orangey brown variety. Confirmation the Argyle mine will go out of production in 2018 has fuelled increased interest among private buyers and investors, both in Canada and abroad. In addition to large-size, high-clarity champagnes and cognacs, rarer grey, yellow, orange, olive, green, blue, and pink natural diamonds have also gained more notice. With supply decreasing and demand increasing, there is a natural correlation driving prices to adjust as well. Let’s take a closer look at fancy-coloured stones and how their rarity affects value.
