Green Diamonds

Natural green diamonds are amongst some of the rarest and most valuable of all fancy coloured diamonds. Most of the green diamond jewelry you can buy online or in the stores contains stones that have been colour enhanced in some way.

As with most coloured diamonds the gem's value depends on its vividness and intensity, with the range of known greens including hues with names such as emerald, bottle and grass.

Why Are They Green?

Green diamonds are formed by radiation: the raw diamond has at some point come into contact with radioactive material, for example uranium ore. The natural irradiation takes a long time and many mined diamonds have only small spots of green which are considered blemishes and cut out.

The colouring process can sometimes be repeated artificially, using irradiation and heat treatment to enhance ordinary white diamonds and give them a green colour. Natural diamonds with a light green hue are sometimes also irradiated to deepen the hue. Colour enhanced green diamonds tend to be affordable whereas natural greens are out of the reach of most of us.

Famous

The most famous natural green in the world is the Dresden Green. This stone weighs 40.7 carats (8.2 grams) and is classified as being "apple green".