Natural Fancy Orange Diamonds
Natural fancy orange diamonds are completely natural and caused by the presence of nitrogen in the diamond's carbon lattice structure upon the diamond's formation thousands of miles under the Earth's surface in the Earth's mantle.
"...pure orange diamonds are...exceptionally rare naturally, which is why they are desirable collectors' specimens" (source: S.C. Hofer, 1988).
Fancy Vivid Orange diamond
Because pure orange is a mixture of the primary colors red and yellow, natural fancy orange diamonds range from orange red diamonds, to yellow orange diamonds. Red, orange, pink, purple and yellow are the secondary hues found in natural fancy orange diamonds. Although orange is not one of the rarest colors to be found in diamonds in nature, the GIA rarely grades a diamond as "pure" orange, as they mostly occur with a secondary color tone. Because of this, pure orange diamonds are almost as rare as fancy red diamonds!
Because of the rarity of orange diamonds, collectors actively seek even enhanced orange diamonds.
The seven natural color grades for natural fancy colored orange diamonds are, in ascending order, Faint Orange, Very Light Orange, Light Orange, Fancy, Fancy Intense Orange, Fancy Vivid Orange and Fancy Deep Orange. Fancy vivid and fancy deep are the most desired hues.
Orange Diamond Color Scale
From left to right: Light Orange, Fancy, Fancy Intense Orange, Fancy Vivid Orange and Fancy Deep Orange
Stephen C Hofer describes Pure Fancy Vivid Orange as Pumpkin Orange. Natural fancy orange diamonds come in all cuts and shapes, including Princess, Emerald, Asscher, Oval, Marquise, Pear, Radiant, Heart , Cushion and Round natural fancy orange diamonds.
One of the most famous Orange diamonds is the Pumpkin Orange. The Pumpkin Orange is a 5.54-carat, Fancy Vivid Orange, Cushion-shaped diamond. The 11.00-carat, Brownish Orange colored rough was mined in South Africa in 1997, but the mine of origin is unknown. Its original owner was a farmer and it is therefore assumed to have been found in alluvial deposits.
Another famous orange diamond recently set a world record for highest price paid per carat. This rare orange diamond weighs 14.82 carats. It was auctioned at Christie’s on November 12, 2013 and fetched a record $35,540,612 (the highest amount paid for an orange diamond.) It set the record for “highest price paid per carat” at $2.4 million/carat.