A 32.77 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond is expected to fetch +$18M

(IDEX Online News) – A 32.77 carats fancy vivid yellow diamond will be offered at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in New York on October 18. The diamond is expected to find a buyer willing to pay more than $6 million, the auction house believes.

According to Christie’s, the diamond's color is highly saturated. “The vivid yellow literally blazes with color, unlike any yellow diamond I’ve ever seen,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s Head of Jewelry for Christie’s Americas.

Yellow diamonds gain their color from nitrogen replacing carbon atoms in the diamond’s structure. The level of nitrogen determines the intensity of the color. The vivid yellow offered by Christie’s absorbed an unusually high level of aggregated nitrogen, giving it a superbly saturated golden yellow color, the firm said.

Large white or fancy color diamonds fetched record prices last year and early in 2011, something that was not seen in the past few months.