Cape Diamonds – How Consumers Can Take Advantage 

Most people’s first priority when searching for a diamond is to get the largest diamond they can afford without compromising on quality. A diamond’s color has nothing to do with it’s ability to reflect light (aka brilliance), and so a Cape series diamond with color K or lower is a great option for those individual’s that prefer a warm toned diamond that faces up brilliantly white and sparkles beautifully. It is interesting to know that these diamonds are actually pretty rare in today’s retail market space as the industry still deems colorless diamonds (D, E, F) and near colorless (G, H, I, and J) as the most popular color grades.

Despite what marketing says about a diamond’s beauty, you cannot deny the stunning brilliance of warm toned Cape diamonds that have been cut to perfection for maximum brilliance and sparkle. Hands down, the absolute best diamond deal a consumer could take advantage of would be to find a super-ideal hearts and arrows precision cut Cape Series diamond offered at a substantial discount.

What Are Type 1a Diamonds? – The Cape Series

A pure diamond is composed entirely of carbon atoms, however most diamonds contain very minute quantities of trace elements that replace these carbon atoms with other elements such as nitrogen or boron. These trace elements can produce body color in a diamond.

Gemologists further define diamonds into two different types, depending on whether nitrogen is significantly present in its carbon crystal structure or not. The two types of diamonds are:

• Type 1 – diamonds that contain nitrogen as a significant impurity (up to .2%)
• Type 2 – diamonds that do not contain nitrogen as a significant impurity

These two types of diamonds are further classified as Type 1a, Type 1b, Type 2a, and Type 2b.

By far, the majority of all natural diamonds fall into the Type 1a category where nitrogen atoms are present as pairs or small groups called aggregates. Diamonds in this category are better known as the Cape Series of diamonds and can be anywhere from colorless to bright yellow to a yellow-green in color. The name ‘Cape’ comes from the British Cape Colony located in Cape Town, South Africa where diamonds were first discovered in large quantities in 1867.

Although the actual categorization of Cape diamonds refers to the type of nitrogen atoms arranged within the carbon crystal structure, overtime the name and reference to ‘Cape’ referred more and more to the warmer color tones of faint to light yellow; or most commonly known today as K to Z color grades.

Brian Gavin Cape Series Diamonds

But where can a consumer find one of these super hard to find diamonds? Naturally, 5th generation diamond cutter Brian Gavin saw a gap in the market and decided to procure these warm colored diamonds and add them to his Cape Series diamond collection to make shopping for one of these beautiful diamonds easy and stress free.

If you haven’t seen a warm colored Cape Series hearts and arrows diamond then you are in for a surprise. These diamonds are not white, but they are not deep yellow either. They can best be described as a soft buttery color or light champagne. The best part is that they are visibly warm toned but not to the extreme of a fancy colored yellow diamond so these diamonds look gorgeous when set in yellow gold or rose gold and stand out in a subtle way when set in platinum or white gold.

Cape Series diamonds are not only just as brilliantly beautiful as their white and near-colorless counterparts, but they offer a very substantial cost savings. An average .75ct colorless diamond will cost around $4,000 vs. an equivalent sized Cape Series which is only about $1,500.00.

It is easy to see that you can get a lot more carat weight for your money and you have the satisfaction in knowing that you are not compromising on it’s brilliance or sparkle. Of note, one ODBA reader thought he wanted a run-of-the-mill diamond from a mall store but eventually did his diamond homework and realized he could get much better value online vs. buying in a store. Not only that, but he decided to get the most bang for his buck with a 1.63ct Cape Series diamond for less than $7K! You can read his diamond Q&A here.

So, if you think you or your loved one could easily rock the warmer colored hues of a Cape diamond then don’t hesitate to check out BGD’s gorgeous Cape Series collection. If you have any questions or would like help choosing one, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Happy Diamond Buying!