Chameleon Diamonds

General Info:

Chameleon diamonds were first documented in 1943, since then they have been described in several brief reports. EGL USA in collaboration with other gemological laboratories and universities worldwide have been studying and investing this outstanding phenomenon, an extensive research has ben done on 39 Chameleon diamonds. 

There are number of characteristics that are common with all natural Chameleon diamonds, first they do not appear in all color intensities for instance they can't be found in fancy intense or fancy vivid, second, Chameleon diamonds will always poses fluorescence and they always include a combination of colors minimum two colors (one of them will represent the main color hue and the other will be the overtone). Most Chameleon diamonds will include the following color combination: Yellow, Green, Gray & Brown.

Even though there is a wide variety of colors which are related to Chameleon diamonds, Chameleon diamonds have classified as a natural color of their own. Currently there isn't any scientific way (or artificial way) to replicate this type of behaivior on any other stones both natural and treated.

According to some research the color of the Chameleon diamond is caused due to a compound elements obsorbed into a composition throughout its creation. The various elements present in the composite of the diamond are being defined through the study of spectroscopy.Even today there isn't any known constant definition of elements present in natural Chameleon diamonds.

Different Types of Chameleon Diamonds:

Chameleon diamonds are falling into two categories "Classic" and "Reverse". Classic Chameleon diamonds are those that exhibits both "thermchromic" and "photochromic" tendencies. They are usually Green with an overtone of Gray, Brown or/and Yellow. On the other hand "Reverse" Chameleon diamonds are the ones that only exhibit "thermocromic" tendencies. Their color is usually a light Yellow with overtones of Gray, Green, and/or Brown. Reverse Chameleon diamonds tend to be those that change from Yellow to Yellowish Green while classic Chameleon tend to change their color from Green to Yellow. Additionally reverse Chameleon diamonds contain more hydrogen & nitrogen then classic Chameleon diamonds. Currently GIA does not recognize reversed Chameleon as Chameleon diamonds, they only acknowledge classic Chameleon as Chameleon diamonds.

Color Modifiers: 

Generally a natural fancy colour diamond is considered to be more rare and highly valued when presenting only one color without any other overtones (modified colors). Chameleon diamonds are typically Yellow or Green diamonds that contain at least one color modifier usually Gray or Brown.