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Fancy Yellow cushion diamond ring, 0.88 ct VVS2, two-tone 18K gold
A GIA-certified natural cushion cut diamond of 0.88 ct, colour graded Fancy Yellow, clarity VVS2, set in a yellow gold bezel on an 18K white gold band. Certificate 2191737929.
Fancy Yellow is a different scale entirely
The familiar D-to-Z scale measures the absence of colour and stops at Z. Beyond it, GIA grades diamonds on a separate scale for colour that is present rather than tolerated: Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid. This stone is graded Fancy — the middle of that range and the point where yellow is unambiguous, saturated, and the first thing anyone notices. A W-X stone is a warm white; this is a yellow diamond. The two are often sold as if they were the same thing and they are not.
VVS2, which is unusual in a coloured stone
Very very slightly included: inclusions a skilled grader struggles to locate at 10x magnification. Colour normally masks clarity, so most fancy yellows are sold at SI grades and nobody minds. This one does not need the excuse. At VVS2 it is among the cleanest coloured stones we hold, and that grade survives into the resale market in a way that colour alone does not.
The yellow bezel on a white band
A bezel wraps the girdle completely, which means more metal in contact with the stone than any claw setting achieves — and metal in contact is what reflects into the pavilion. Yellow gold there pushes the colour further; the white gold band, which touches nothing, keeps the ring light on the hand. It is the most effective version of the two-tone technique, and the reason this 0.88 ct reads larger and stronger in colour than its weight suggests.
The cushion cut
Rounded corners, a deep pavilion, larger facets than a modern brilliant. That depth is what holds colour: light travels further inside the stone before leaving it, and picks up more of the body tone on the way. Cushions and radiants are the two shapes cutters reach for when a rough diamond is yellow, and this is why.
