Fancy Color diamonds make up only 0.1% of global supply of diamonds, therefore, they are all RARE, no matter what color. But if we now review the part of the spectrum that is only fancy color diamonds, we will find that Yellow is not as rare as pink, blue and red, which probably make up less than 0.1% of the total of fancy color diamonds…in other words, they are extremely rare!

In the world of fancy color diamonds, yellow is considered the everyday bread and butter for sales largely due to supply. But, let’s analyze the rarest within the yellow hue; Fancy Vivid Yellow. Vivid Yellow is a rare depth of color, a rich color, full of life. Some Vivid Yellows are so special, they are also known as Zimmis….

Look at the comparing Fancy Vivid Yellows:

To the left, a Zimmi, to the right, a regular Fancy Vivid Yellow.

A Zimmi yellow diamond ring and a regular Vivid Yellow diamond ring

A 5.91 ct TW Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond ring and a 1.25 ct TW Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond ring

Both are Fancy Vivid Yellow, but the diamond on the left is the Zimmi. But as we all know, in fancy color diamonds, it is all about the color first, and therefore the Zimmi diamond will attract more value.

Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds as Investments

Recently, an investor approached us in order to acquire a very important and special Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond on his behalf, and asked us to provide an in depth analysis. We needed to show how this depth of color has performed against other investment vehicles and other commodities, similar to the analysis we did about pinks and blues, but for the last 10 years and for yellow. So I went to work…

As every client is dealt with utmost confidentiality as in any major deal, I cannot give too many details about what he bought, what he paid, or what he did with the stones. I had to analyze how Fancy Vivid Diamonds have performed over the last 10 years, as well as all related stones that sold for over $100,000 per carat.

For a yellow diamond, an amount like this is big. At the request of the client, I compared the performance of Fancy Vivid Yellow to the Asian and North American markets as well as the major commodities that the investment community covers; silver, gold, platinum and oil, as well as Berkshire Hathaway, COKE, and in this instance, Samsung (the famous electronic company and the number 1 competitor to our dearest Apple).

In the last 10 years, 15 Fancy Vivid Yellows have sold over $100,000 per carat, and all are in various size categories. The smallest diamond was a 5.14 carat with VS2 clarity, the largest being the 110.03 carat pear shaped diamond sold in Geneva back in 2011 which broke a record that year. All are Fancy Vivid Yellow. See chart below, organized in price order from lowest to highest).

Carat Size	Diamond Clarity	Total Price		Price per carat	Auction date	Auction house		Location	Lot Number
10.39	VVS1		$ 1,072,553	$ 103,229.36	November 18, 2004		Christie's	Geneva	605
9.22			$ 969,699	$ 105,173.43	November 15, 2000		Sotheby's	Geneva	452
96.62	VS2		$ 10,847,200	$ 112,266.61	November 13, 2013		Sotheby's	Geneva	373
110.03	VVS1		$ 12,361,558	$ 112,347.16	November 15, 2011		Sotheby's	Geneva	506
20.66	IF		$ 2,409,243	$ 116,613.89	November 27, 2012		Christie's	HK	1835
6.16	IF		$ 748,026	$ 121,432.79	October 7, 2013		Sotheby's	HK	1910
13.11	IF		$ 1,595,674	$ 121,714.26	April 10, 2008		Sotheby's	HK	2222
12.02	IF		$ 1,534,696	$ 127,678.54	November 29, 2010		Christie's	HK	2060
10.3	VS1		$ 1,375,443	$ 133,538.16	November 12, 2014		Sotheby's	Geneva	467
21.4	IF		$ 3,137,155	$ 146,596.03	May 14, 2008		Christie's	Geneva	383
12.16	IF		$ 1,904,042	$ 156,582.40	November 10, 2010		Sotheby's	Geneva	518
100.09	VS2		$ 16,347,847	$ 163,331.47	May 13, 2014		Sotheby's	Geneva	507
9.03	VVS1		$ 1,537,615	$ 170,278.52	December 1, 2009		Christie's	HK	2454
5.14	VS2		$ 1,054,647	$ 205,184.24	October 6, 2010		Sotheby's	HK	1807
20.8	VS1		$ 5,184,702	$ 249,264.52	November 13, 2013		Sotheby's	Geneva	357

Next we analyzed the overall performance of the Vivid Yellow category against other various Asian and North American indices, prominent companies, and commodities. See below price increase over time as well as detailed timeline comparison and overall graph comparison.

Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds VS. Global Indices & Commodities
Global Market	May 18, 2004	April 9, 2006	December 9, 2008	October 6, 2010	November 15, 2011	October 7, 2013	November 13, 2013	May 13, 2014	November 12, 2014
Fancy Vivid Yellow	$31,269.38	$38,871.60	$71,870.78	$119,092.70	$112,347.16	$121,432.79	$112,266.61	$163,331.47	$133,538.16
Hong Kong	11,072.39	16,471.78	14,753.22	22,880.41	19,348.44	22,973.95	22,463.83	22,352.38	23,938.18
Shanghai	1,555.44	1,342.96	2,037.74	2,655.66	2,529.76	2,174.67	2,087.94	2,050.73	2,494.48
Japan	10,711.09	17,563.37	8,395.87	9,691.43	8,541.93	13,853.32	14,567.16	14,425.44	17,197.05
Taiwan	5,557.68	6,781.94	4,472.66	8,284.03	7,491.06	8,333.66	8,104.26	8,817.94	8,918.95
South Korea	741.99	1,402.36	1,105.84	1,903.95	1,886.12	1,994.42	1,963.56	1,982.93	1,967.27
Singapore	1,722.80	2,552.05	1,754.58	3,190.07	2,811.58	3,136.59	3,166.74	3,222.43	3,283.71
Malaysia	783.27	943.71	835.17	1,479.61	1,477.22	1,776.82	1,782.49	1,866.08	1,816.24
USA Dow Jones	9,968.51	11,120.04	8,691.33	10,967.65	12,096.16	14,936.24	15,821.63	16,715.44	17,612.20
NASDAQ	1,897.82	2,339.02	1,547.34	2,380.66	2,686.20	3,770.38	3,965.58	4,130.17	4,675.14
S&P 500	1,091.49	1,295.50	888.67	1,159.97	1,257.81	1,676.12	1,782.00	1,897.45	2,038.25
BRK.A	$ 88,105.00	$ 89,200.00	$ 107,500.00	$ 125,136.00	$ 114,001.00	$ 169,455.00	$ 172,150.00	$ 191,826.00	$ 218,101.00
Samsung	$ 463,066.26	$ 639,588.87	$ 459,154.40	$ 775,525.96	$ 978,963.02	$ 1,424,278.05	$ 1,407,416.82	$ 1,399,545.63	$ 1,230,000.00
Silver	$ 5.74	$ 12.50	$ 9.80	$ 23.00	$ 34.00	$ 21.75	$ 20.70	$ 19.48	$ 15.60
Gold	$ 377.00	$ 596.00	$ 763.00	$ 1,347.00	$ 1,782.00	$ 1,322.00	$ 1,274.00	$ 1,296.00	$ 1,164.00
Platinum	$ 820.00	$ 1,094.00	$ 804.00	$ 1,694.00	$ 1,630.00	$ 1,386.00	$ 1,440.00	$ 1,454.00	$ 1,204.00
Oil	$ 40.73	$ 68.74	$ 42.07	$ 83.23	$ 99.37	$ 103.03	$ 93.88	$ 101.70	$ 77.15

Yellow Diamond Price and Index Comparison

Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond prices compared to other indices over a 10 year period

Yellow Diamond comparison over time to other indices

Comparing Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds to other indices over 9 points in time

From our analysis, we concluded that the stone in question was worth exploring as an investment diamond, due to color, size, and clarity. The final element was to help the client come to a valuation method.

At the end, the client has acquired the diamond in question for a good value, while keeping the seller also happy. It was a win-win situation!

Please send me any question on diamond investments and I will do my best to help each and every inquiry.