It is not uncommon to hear people say that there is no such thing as a perfect diamond. But there is such a thing as a “D” color, Flawless diamond. A “D” color is the highest color grade in the color grading scale of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), by far the most widely used diamond grading scale in the world. A “D” color diamond is, by definition, a Type IIa diamond, having no nitrogen or boron impurities because such impurities would impart some color to the stone. And only 2% of all natural diamonds found in nature are Type IIa, giving you some idea of the rarity of such a stone.
“Flawless” is the highest clarity grade in the GIA’s clarity grading scale. A Flawless diamond has no visible imperfections at 10X magnification. In reality, it has no visible imperfections at much greater magnifications since the labs power way up to see what they can find and then power down to see if it is still visible once they know where it is.
The GIA annually takes in for grading half a million diamonds over 1 carat and says that less than one half of 1 percent are either D, Flawless or D, Internally Flawless. The American Gem Society says that less than one quarter of 1 percent in their laboratory get graded either D, Flawless or D, Internally Flawless.
These stones are as perfect as the existing grading system can accommodate and obviously exceedingly rare. Christie’s and Sotheby’s each list only about 25 to 30 stones, 2 carats or above, sold in all their venues worldwide for each of the past four years. They are in huge demand from people who want to buy the very best and sell for tens of millions of dollars. More on that in my next post…
