Chocolate Diamonds: All You Need to Know before Considering Them

What are chocolate diamonds? There are chocolate diamonds rings, earrings, necklaces, and more. First of all, the term “chocolate diamond” is a trademark of Le Vian Corp.

Eddie LeVian, the CEO of Le Vian Corp says that chocolate jewelry is, in fact, fancy color diamonds that are popular because of their rarity and chocolate flavor. To be branded as chocolate diamond, there are is some criteria to be taken into consideration: color, clarity, cutting, as well as a traceable source.

Chocolate Diamonds as a brand, is designed to suggest the same passion and addiction that people have for food chocolate and other sweets. What you can see when you have a chocolate diamond in front of your eyes, is that these precious stones are just brown colored diamonds.

However, some specialists say that the brown color is found much more often in diamonds than other colors such as yellow, blue, or red. Even the colorless diamonds are not that often found as the brown ones. Chocolate diamonds were not that popular until now because people did not find this color attractive.

All gems are graded according to their size, color, clarity, and inclusions. So, if you owe a chocolate diamond that is 100 karats, it is most probably a good quality gem.

It is a controversial subject, considering that brown diamonds were good only for industrial use until the 1980’s when a great quantity of them began to appear in the production of the Argyle mines. In other words, if you buy a chocolate diamond, you must check if the gem is a real diamond, and not a synthetic one.

For many years, diamonds were found only in a few places, that were also hard to reach. The jungles of Brazil and some riverbeds in India are examples of such places. Gems were so rare that only the ultra-wealthy could afford to buy them. The situation changed when, in 1870’s, many diamond mines were discovered in South Africa.

Furthermore, marketers all over the globe have created nice stories to go with the sale of diamonds. This process was a success considering that all the people nowadays associate diamonds with love symbols, commitment, and social status. Even the slogan “a diamond is forever” gave consumers the idea that a gem means enduring love, and it must not be resold.

Some people even consider that the use of the word “chocolate” is used in order to avoid the word “brown”, which might be considered as racist.

Chocolate Diamonds are marketed as something that women can buy for themselves, like a treat, a chocolate bar, or a delicious snack. The only difference is that they are not as cheap as a sweet treat. A Le Vian chocolate diamond ring can cost from 1,300 dollars up to 8,000 dollars.

Where Do Chocolate Diamonds Come from?

They come from all over the globe, just like all the other diamonds. However, every region it is known to produce specific diamond colors. In the case of brown gems, they are found in Australia, Angola, Borneo, Brazil, and Congo. Le Vian says that their source of Chocolate Diamonds is the Argyle Diamond Mine, in Australia.

The Value of Chocolate Diamond Rings

As I wrote above, brown diamonds are the most common form of gems on earth. Therefore, their prices should not be as high as they now are.

Then, why do Chocolate Diamonds cost more than brown diamonds? According to Le Vian, this is because they want to differentiate the gems they are using which are of high color, and good quality, from the poor and low quality of brown diamonds that one can buy cheap. The point is that Chocolate Diamonds are designer jewelry, and when you buy premium brand goods, you pay higher prices. The same concept happens when you buy a Louis Vuitton bag or a Jimmy Choo pair of shoes.

However, like I previously said, you must pay attention when you buy a brown diamond, and where you buy it from. In fact, you should be careful when you buy colored gems because in some cases they might be color treated. Many customers are not aware that some diamonds on the market are of poor quality.

The Main Characteristic of Brown Diamonds

These gems are at the darkest end of the color spectrum. The cause of their color is the way they are formed, deep inside the earth, under high pressure. All the characteristics of brown diamonds occur naturally.

The color of gems is graded from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow). Colorless diamonds are very rare. Most of them have hints of yellow. Diamonds that are graded with letter “Z”, are called “fancy colored gems”.

Chocolate Diamonds are considered fancy colored by many people. After all, it is a matter of taste and preferences.

Usually, colored diamonds are less expensive than their white counterparts. If you decided you want to buy a brown diamond, pay attention to its clarity, and search for flaws in the diamond’s cut.

Victoria Gomelsky thinks that women do not buy brown diamonds jewelry for its resale value. They buy those diamonds because they feel good when they look at them and they feel better about themselves when they wear those diamonds.

Furthermore, what some websites fail to mention is that brown diamonds have always been promoted under other fancy names. When we were not talking about Chocolate Diamonds, we were discussing champagne or cognac gems.

So, how valuable are brown diamonds, after all? Very valuable if they are Le Vian gems, less valuable if they are of a different brand. Brown diamonds have always been around, the only thing that Le Vian did was to come up with a great marketing plan. They made a connection between diamonds and food. Everybody enjoys a good meal or a tasty chocolate treat. Compared to champagne or cognac names, which were not suitable for the masses, Chocolate Diamonds can reach a higher coverage of the market.

If you like brown diamonds, go ahead and buy them. The only thing you must keep in mind is that you should be careful of the quality you are paying for.

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