Warm and Champagne Diamonds

There are two quite different warm diamonds. The first is a near-colourless or faintly coloured stone, graded on the D to Z scale somewhere around K to M, with a soft, buttery warmth. The second is a fancy coloured brown diamond, in shades the trade calls champagne and cognac, graded by the depth of its colour rather than its absence.

A warm diamond has a softer, more candlelit glow than an icy white one. It looks at home in yellow and rose gold, where a colourless diamond can look slightly out of place, and it suits antique and vintage-inspired designs naturally. Because the market has long prized colourless stones, warm diamonds have often offered more size for the budget.

Interest in them has grown, helped by the return of old mine cuts and yellow gold.

Champagne describes a light to medium brown with a golden or pinkish cast. Cognac describes a deeper, richer brown. Australia’s Argyle mine, famous for its pink diamonds until it closed in 2020, also produced a great many champagne diamonds and helped make the colour fashionable.

On a laboratory report, these stones are graded as fancy brown, with modifiers such as light or dark, rather than by their marketing names. Ask for the report wording.

Judge colour by eye, in daylight and set against the metal you have in mind. Warmth that looks muddy in platinum can look rich in yellow gold. Look for an even colour without a greenish or greyish cast, and for good brightness: cut matters as much as ever.

Lab-grown diamonds can also be grown, or treated, in warm tones. As with any diamond, the report should state origin and any treatment.