"Cape" colored diamonds are usually a lightly colored of faintly colored yellow diamond and can also be brownish in color. They come mostly from the Cape Province in South Africa and this is why they are called "Cape" diamonds. These colored diamonds are part of the yellow diamond family and many of the natural yellows that are being sold on the market are Cape diamonds. They are natural yellow and not synthetic, a synthetic yellow can not be a Cape. This type of precious diamond and the yellow Canary diamonds belong to the same family of rare diamonds.
There are many synthetics on the market with a yellow, canary or "Cape" color. The genuine Cape diamonds are naturally occurring and not synthetic. They are extremely rare! The Cape diamond however is the more "light yellow" colored of the yellow colored diamonds and as such can usually be cheaper than an intense fancy yellow, which is more rare in the natural yellows. The Cape is actually a common diamond in the natural colored diamond industry.
Special "Cape" Diamonds
Some of the Cape diamonds actually stand out from the other Capes, for example an orange-yellow Cape with a stronger yellow is rarer than just a regular faint yellow Cape diamond. Most diamonds that come from this area (Cape Province in South Africa) are not even faint, very light or light yellow, meaning that the natural yellowish Cape diamonds are extremely rare.
Is The "Cape" Yellow Colored Diamond a Fancy Diamond?
Almost all natural Cape yellow diamonds do not have a sufficiently intense yellowish hue to be called a "fancy diamond" but they definitely are part of the natural colored diamonds family. So the answer is no, they are not a fancy diamond.
Famous Yellow "Cape" Diamonds
One of the most famous Cape diamonds is the Eureka, it is a 10.37 carat oval brilliant yellow colored diamond. Its origin is from the Cape Province of South Africa, like many other yellow diamonds, is was found by accident by a fifteen year old boy named Erasmus Jacobs, in the year 1867. the diamond was eventually sold to Sir Phillip Wodehouse for GBP 1,500, after it moved through a few other peoples hands who had no idea how much the rare rough 21.25 carat yellow diamond was actually worth.
 |
| The Eureka Cape Yellow Diamond |
