Fancy canary-yellow diamond engagement rings

Engagement Rings of the Rich and Famous

In 2006 Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis presented his fiancée, American socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton with a 24-carat emerald-cut canary yellow diamond engagement ring reported to have a value of US$4.7 million. One of the world's most expensive engagement rings ever. At the time, the Forbes ranking of the world's richest people listed the Latsis family at No.54 with a combined wealth of $7.5 billion, so I guess Paris could afford it.

But apparently even proposing with one of the world's most expensive engagement rings doesn't guarantee everlasting happiness, and four months later they split. It seemed that Paris was consumed by her busy schedule and became wary of marriage. People close to her said she didn't seem to have time for a relationship and "When Paris gets married she wants it to be forever." About the beautiful yellow-diamond engagement ring, Paris was quoted as saying "I like it, but it's yellow and I'm like, I didn't want yellow for my engagement ring". She auctioned it to help raise funds to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Diamonds with a slight yellowish tinge are not usually considered desirable for engagement rings (you can see a full explanation of the colour scale of diamonds for engagement rings in our Buyers Guide), but those with a natural intense yellow colour are actually quite valuable. Only 1 in 1000 diamonds are classified as canary yellow. The yellow colour is believed to be due to the inclusion of nitrogen in the crystal lattice.

Kahn Canary Diamond Ring

The Kahn Canary diamond is very rare in that its natural flawless condition has meant that it has remained uncut. It has a natural strong yellow colour and triangular pillow shape that seems to impresses all who see it. Discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park, Arkansas in 1977, the Kahn Canary is considered to be an unofficial symbol of the state, nicknamed "The Natural State".

Kahn Canary Diamond - uncut and set in a custom-designed ring

Although never seriously considered for an engagement ring, the Kahn Canary Diamond was set in a custom-designed ring to be lent to Hillary Clinton to wear at her husband's inaugurals, both as Governor of Arkansas, and as President of the United States.

Incomparable Diamond

Incomparable Diamond - cut to 407ct

The Incomparable Diamond is a massive, yellow diamond found in the Democratic Republic of Congo by a young girl playing in a pile of rubble outside her uncle's house. The rubble had been dumped from a nearby diamond mine after being rejected as too bulky to be worth scanning for diamonds. Four years were spent studying and then cutting the stone. The main stone is the third largest diamond ever cut, at 407-carats, and there were 14 satellite diamonds that could be made into solitaire engagement rings. Interestingly, the stones varied in colour, from rich-yellow to almost colourless, each colour representing some change in the environment that must have happened as the crystal was growing