Great question CH!  I've always used light brown and champagne interchangeably (is that word?) to describe brownish diamonds I've seen. Perhaps that's not correct to do so. Hmmmm.

I know that champagnes (or browns - whatever) can have underlying colors like more yellow, more green, more pink. And of course go from faint and light through the darkest to cognac.

I once bought a 1+ ct champagne stone on ebay from a vendor who had really good references from other people I knew. I got the stone and LOVED the color, but it had carbon inclusions all over it and I just couldn't be happy with that, so had to send it back. But the color was soooooooo cool looking in person! I've always wanted another one... someday!

Just for reference, here's a pic of my tiny champagne studs in yellow gold next to my G/H princess studs.

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Great question CH.  I would probably be partial to a light brown/champagne diamond - I love my brown asscher to bits.  Isn't it funny how your tastes change once you are surrounded by a wealth of information and like minded individuals?  I have had so many diamond desires that I would never have contemplated a few years ago.  I can appreciate even the tiniest aspect of a diamond now. 

I'm curious too.......I always thought they were just light brown.

  Amy

Hey CH,
Excellent Thread!

The first thing to discuss it labels.
If GIA called a diamond "Fancy Brown", it would mean something

Champagne doesn't really have a gemological basis, as a term.


Even diamonds GIA classifies as "brown" show many different color faces.

Let  me turn this one around on y'all.....
What does the term "Champagne" mean to you?


Heres'a 3.88 Fancy Brownish Yellow.....


What sayeth thou's?
Champagne, or no?

I have to agree w/ what Ruby said about making the stone sound more desirable... I have always thought of Champagne diamonds as the ones in the L-R range or so...

I'm clueless!

Well most of the champagne or I've also heard them referred to as candlelight diamonds, that I've seen, have a warm golden tone to them. With flashes of pink and yellow. And I agree with Rubymu, I have always heard them associated with the argyle(sp?) mine. But that probably is a creation of marketing for that mine.

Hmm...David, I wouldn't call that diamond a champagne (at least not what I perceive as champagne.)  That one seems to be clearly in the yellow family.
 
I thought that champagnes had their own coloring system...C1, C2, etc.  No?  Here is a picture from eBay...advertised as champagne. 

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I have always thought that diamonds that show a yellow tint are in the D to Z range on into fancy yellows. I would not consider a stone labeled O P R S T etc to be a champagne diamond.

Champagnes are most definetely brown. Some are very light brown and range to dark brown. Most often with a hint of peach, pink, or orangey-red.

The diamond above looks to me like a fancy yellow-brown of some degree. And not what I would consider a champagne diamond.

~Rhonda

What's interesting about this so far, is that there is not really any sure fire agreement as to what 'champagne' is.  I think perhaps the term isn't acknowledged by GIA as it isn't defined like regular colors.  Given that the color can vary so much (with the aforementioned peach, pink, orange-red tones), how does the champagne grading system work and why not just use GIA to grade the color?  Marketing.  Plain and simple.

I want to know what kind of color grade GIA would give to many of these champagne stones.

Thanks for the info, David.  It's good to know.

So the grading system is their little invention too, huh?  I'm guessing no diamond dealer worth his salt uses the 'C' scale then?

LOL!  Tell me that's not a British saying and I haven't just sounded like a dork!!!!

Thanks jewel !