If there is a fancy colored diamond associated with the rich and famous, it has to be pink. Its romance with celebrity is of relatively recent vintage; most probably dating back to 2002 when actor Ben Affleck bought Jennifer Lopez a 6.1-carat pink diamond as a gift for their short-live engagement.

Several years later, British soccer star David Beckham offered his wife Victoria a 10-carat pink diamond as a pricey apology for a rather public indiscretion, and among the others who have been associated with pink diamond jewelry are supermodel Kate Moss, who chose a baby pink diamond ring to mark the birth of her daughter, pop diva Christina Aguilera, and, as one would expect, Elizabeth Taylor.

In recent years, pink colored diamonds have become one of the most desirable colors in the fancy colored group. But when is pink actually pink? Although it is relatively popular variety among colored diamond dealers and retailers, a pure pink color diamond, without any influence of secondary color moderators, is quite rare. Practically all have secondary color moderators which affect the beauty of the gem.

To understand the affect secondary color moderators have on a pink colored diamond, we enlisted the help of GemePrice™ back-office engines. These engines crunch the database with more than $100 million fancy colored diamonds currently available on the Internet and are routinely updated. By processing this vast amount of data using sophisticated algorithms, we can track how even subtle color changes bring about price movement. This data is used to set up the rules for the GemePrice system to price diamonds with moderators. Depending on the color moderator, the prices of pure pink diamonds are marked up or down. The results of the analysis are shown in the chart in Figure 1.

Most of the pink-body colored diamonds include slight but measurable tints of either brown, or orange or gray. Most are the results of nitrogen impurities and/or crystal structure defects. These tints, which generally represent less attractive colors, negatively impact the price of the diamond. Adding even the slightest tint of brown to the pink-body colored diamond may dramatically reduce its price between 30% (brownish pink) to 50% (brown pink). Similar results could be shown for gray tints, i.e. a reduction of between -30% (for grayish) to -40% (for gray). The orange influence, however, representing a valued peach-like color, is weaker than the gray and the brown but still negative, -10% (for orangey) to -25% (for orange) colors.

Contrary to these tints above, moderators such as violet or purple, may increase the value of the stone. These influences are scarce as they occur mainly by rare boron impurities (bluish tint) and/or unique crystal structure defect (reddish tint). A purple tint, that adds a touch of a blue, may increase the value of a pink stone by between 20% (for purplish) to 30% (for purple). The most dramatic effect on the price is caused by even the slightest tint of red. This may double the value of the gem.

We must remember that these color moderators effect on the value of diamonds are not constant and may be subject to other parameters, such as the color intensity (the lower the grade – the weaker the influence), the resultant color (pleasant to the

beholder) and the market demand for the color. Moreover, the numbers above are relevant only for secondary color moderator. It is practically impossible to set up rules to the effect on the price of third color moderators, such as orangey brown pink where the orangey is the third moderator.