Which term describes the combination of tone and saturation?

• A. Depth of Color.
• B. Hue.
• C. Master-Eye Effect.
• D. Saturation.

Answer: (A)

Depth of color is the term that captures how strong or rich a gem’s color appears, because it combines both tone and saturation. Tone refers to how light or dark the color is, while saturation describes how vivid or pure the color is. Together, they determine how deep or washed-out the color looks. A color can be dark and highly saturated, giving a deep, intense appearance, or light with low saturation, resulting in a pale or washed-out look.

Hue is the color family itself (the red vs. blue vs. yellow aspect), which doesn’t account for lightness or intensity. Saturation alone measures color purity, not how light or dark the color is. Master-Eye Effect isn’t a standard gemological term for color description. So the combination of tone and saturation is best described as depth of color.