blue diamond

The Smithsonian's Hope Diamond Gets a Makeover

Filed under: Jewelry

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Harry Winston's historic donation of the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, the world-renowned international jeweler has designed a new "Embracing Hope" setting for the legendary gem. The incredible necklace featuring the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond officially debuted today in Washington, D.C.

This is the first new setting for the fabled deep blue gem since it was given to the museum by Harry Winston himself in November 1958 to help found the National Gem Collection. Harry Winston, a premier diamond jeweler and luxury timepiece retailer, is the Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Winner for Best Jewelry Line.

Designed and handcrafted in the Harry Winston design studio and jewelry workshop in New York, the temporary "Embracing Hope" setting suspends the Hope Diamond in a sculptural ribbon of 340 baguette diamonds set into platinum. Eight master jewelers devoted more than 1,000 hours to creating the exquisite new setting, which was selected from three different Winston designs by popular vote in an online poll in 2009.

Gallery: The Hope Diamond's New Setting by Harry Winston

Tags: awards-main, blue diamond, diamond, diamonds, harry winston, luxist-awards, Smithsonian

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Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond On Display In New York

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

If you didn't get a chance to check out the rare 31.06-carat flawless deep blue Wittelsbach-Graff diamond while it was hanging out with its blue cousin the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian you have another chance. The famous stone is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History until early next year.

The Wittelsbach-Graff bears the names of two of its owners. It was just the Wittelsbach, a 35.56 carat stone purchased in 2008 for $24.3 million by famed diamantaire Laurence Graff. The stone, now known as the Wittelsbach-Graff diamond has been recut to 31.06 carats to showcase the color and up the rating to internally flawless. type IIb, deep blue.

The stone has a long history dating back to 1664 when it was given by Philip IV of Spain to his daughter, the Infanta Margarita Teresa, upon her engagement to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. The stone was later passed to the Wittelsbach family, part of the ruling house of Bavaria and takes its name from them. The crown jewels of the House of Wittelsbach were sold at Christie's in 1931 but the blue diamond was not among them. It resurfaced in Belgium in 1951.

The Wittelsbach-Graff diamond will be on display at the American Museum of Natural History through January 2nd, 2011. Check out a video of the unveiling after the jump.

[via DNA Info]

Tags: blue diamond, blue diamonds, wittelsbach, wittelsbach diamond, wittelsbach-graff, WittelsbachDiamond

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Bulgari Blue Diamond Ring Sets New Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions

Christie's "Jewels: The New York Sale" on October 20 had some very strong results including the sale of the "Bulgari Blue," a two-stone diamond ring featuring the largest triangular-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction. The ring had an estimate of over $12 million and brought in $15.7 million, making it the top jewel sold at auction in 2010.

The ring was designed by Rome's legendary house of BVLGARI in the 1970s and is being sold by a collector who bought it nearly 40 years ago as a present for his wife after the birth of their first son. it features a triangular-shaped, colorless diamond of 9.87 carats matched with a triangular-shaped Fancy Vivid blue diamond of 10.95 carats which is the largest Fancy Vivid blue diamond of this cut ever to be offered at auction. The collector bought the ring in 1972 for around $1 million. Fancy vivid blue diamonds are among the rarest and most sought-after colored diamonds and only one stone in around 10 million has color that rates this designation. Prices for blue diamonds continue to be strong. At a Sotheby's auction in May in Geneva a 7.64 carat fancy intense blue cushion-shaped diamond mounted in yellow gold and platinum sold to an anonymous client for $8,034,503.

National Jeweler reports that the ring was the sale's grand finale piece and was won by an Asian collector for $15,762,500, with premium after a bidding battle between one client in the room and two clients on the phone.

The 448-lot auction brought in a total of $52.5 million. The sale also included a pair of Imperial Topaz earrings, from the legendary jewelry house JAR (founded by Joel Arthur Rosenthal). Ellen Barkin sold the earrings at auction in 2006 for $710,000. They were estimated to bring in $300,000 to $500,000 but sold for $650,500.

Tags: blue diamond, blue diamonds, bulgari, bvlgari, christies, diamond, jar, jewelry designers

Blue Diamond Sets New Per Carat Price Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Prices for blue diamonds continue to rise. At the Sotheby's auction in Geneva a 7.64 carat fancy intense blue cushion-shaped diamond mounted in yellow gold and platinum sold to an anonymous client for $8,034,503. That number sailed above the estimate of between $4-6 million, setting a new record price of $1,051,636 per for carat for a fancy intense blue diamond sold at auction. Sotheby's was the previous record holder with $796,178 per carat for a 3.17 carat fancy intense blue diamond in November 2009 in Geneva. Last May a 7.03 carat stone sold for $9.49 million.

Sotheby's says this is the largest cushion shaped stone of this color grading ever to appear at auction. The diamond is graded as a Fancy Intense Blue, Natural Colour, VVS2 Clarity, and comes with an additional GIA worksheet stating that the diamond may be Potentially Flawless after repolishing. The Sotheby's Spring Sales of Magnificent and Noble Jewels brought a total of $53,976,331, handily above pre-sale expectations of $32.4-46 million with most lots selling and more than 74 percent of the lots sold achieving prices in excess of their high estimate.

Tags: blue diamond, blue diamonds, jewelry auction, sothebys

Sky Blue Diamond Fetches Sky High Price

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions

A sky blue diamond fetched a sky high price at the Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong this week. The 5.16 carat blue diamond auctioned off at the Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Spring Sale on April 7 was estimated to bring in between $4.6 million and $5.8 million. It sold for HKD 49.94 million ($6.4 million) healthily above the high estimate. London's Moussaieff Jewelers has been identified as the buyer of the stone.

The rarer-than-rare pear-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond is internally flawless and was the first blue diamond from the De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection to appear at auction. The phenomenal collection was presented by De Beers in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium. At $1.25 million per carat, the De Beers Millennium Blue exceeds the price per carat of the famed Wittelsbach Diamond and nearly approached the record setting price of $1.35 million per carat for a 7.03 carat blue diamond and the 5 carat fancy intense pink diamond sold in Hong Kong last year for $2.1 million per carat.

Andrew Coxon,who personally selected the diamonds for the collection based on their beauty and rarity, says of the sale: "Impeccable provenance is worth millions to sophisticated diamond buyers. The timeless beauty of a De Beers selected Millennium Blue diamond will be remembered long after its near record-setting price has been forgotten. Personally, I wish I could have bought it back for De Beers, but professionally speaking, I sincerely congratulate the new owners and I am happy that the new owners appreciated this particular De Beers selected diamond."

Tags: blue diamond, blue diamonds, colored diamonds, de beers, diamonds, hong kong diamond auction

Blue Diamond Seeks To Dazzle At Sotheby's

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Blue diamonds aren't the rarest of the colored diamonds but they tend to do well at auction, larger stones often command top prices (a 7.03 carat stone sold for $9.49 million last year). Sotheby's Hong Kong is hoping to get a big result for a 5.16 carat blue diamond being auctioned off at the Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Spring Sale on April 7. The pear-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond is internally flawless and is the first blue diamond from the De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection to appear at auction. The phenomenal collection was presented by De Beers in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium. Each of the blue diamonds was specially laser-inscribed with a De Beers Millennium number. The 5.16-carat gem being offered in Hong Kong bears the inscription "De Beers Millennium Jewel 11". Of the 11 blue diamonds, 9 were graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as Fancy Vivid, the highest color rating for colored diamonds. This stone is prized for its natural sky blue color and is estimated to bring in between $4.6 million and $5.8 million.

Blue diamonds get their color from the presence of the chemical element boron during the stone's formation. This stone came from the Premier Diamond Mine of Transvaal, South Africa, the main source of blue diamonds in the world. Out of all the rough diamonds extracted from the Premier Diamond Mine each year, generally only one significant blue diamond can be produced.

Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, sothebys

Recut Wittelsbach Diamond Goes On Display

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

The famous Wittselsbach diamond has a new name in honor of its new owner. The 35.56 carat stone was purchased in December by famed diamantaire Laurence Graff. The stone, now known as the Wittelsbach-Graff diamond has been recut to 31.06 carats to showcase the color and up the rating to internally flawless. type IIb, deep blue. The new version of the stone will join the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on Jan. 28.

The stone has a long history dating back to 1664 when it was given by Philip IV of Spain to his daughter, the Infanta Margarita Teresa, upon her engagement to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. The stone was later passed to the Wittelsbach family, part of the ruling house of Bavaria and takes its name from them. The crown jewels of the House of Wittelsbach were later sold at Christie's in 1931 but the blue diamond was not among them. It resurfaced in Belgium in 1951. The two stones together represent two of the finest blue diamonds in the world. While the stone is at the museum it will be tested two determine if the two stones share a common provenance.

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Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, wittelsbach, wittelsbach diamond, WittelsbachDiamond

Rare Green Diamond Up For Auction At Sotheby's

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions

The largest vivid-green diamond ever to appear at auction is one of the rare natural-colored diamonds and historical jewels being sold at the Sotheby's November 17 sale at the Hotel Beau Rivage in Geneva. A total of around 400 lots are set to be auctioned off and could bring close to $30 million. The green diamond, shown above at right, is a cushion-shaped stone with a modified brilliant cut. It weighs 2.52 carats but because of the rarity of natural diamonds of this color it is estimated to sell for $3.1 million to $5.1 million. Shown above at left is another expensive rare stone, a pear-shaped fancy vivid-blue diamond with a modified brilliant cut. it weighs 5.96 carats and is expected to fetch between $5.5 million to $7.5 million. Other gorgeous colorful diamonds up for sale include a cushion-shaped fancy pink diamond weighing 6.63 carats and a a cut-cornered rectangular-shaped fancy vivid-yellow diamond with a modified brilliant cut, weighing 74.8 carats and mounted on a yellow gold ring.

The sale also includes pieces from the collections of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and society figure Daisy Fellowes. Many pieces signed by Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Harry Winston, Tiffany and Co., and Van Cleef and Arpels, and other jewelry houses past and present will be up for sale. A sapphire and diamond demi-parure, circa 1900, was inherited from Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna by her daughter Princess Elena of Greece and Denmark, Grand Duchess of Russia, and has been consigned by its present owner, a member of a European imperial family. The set is estimated to sell for $137,000 and $176,000. The group of jewels--which left Russia just before Pavlovna's flight from St. Petersburg during the 1915 Revolution--includes a brooch set with an oval Burmese sapphire within a border of cushion-shaped diamonds, and a pair of matching ear clips.

Speaking of the sale, David Bennett, Sotheby's Chairman of Jewelry, Europe and Middle East, said: "We are thrilled that we are able to follow on from our achievement of the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction with the "Star of Josephine" this past May in Geneva by offering a magnificent Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond of 5.96 carats, as well as an extremely rare vivid green diamond – the largest to ever appear at auction."

[via National Jeweler]

Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, diamonds, green diamond, GreenDiamond, sothebys

Results From The Christie's Spring Jewelry Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

A big blue diamond was the top lot at the Christie's Spring Jewelry auction in New York this week. A 6.29 carat fancy-intense-blue diamond brought in $3.6 million on Thursday. An anonymous buyer bought the stone for what works out to $565,000 a carat. The lot saw 91 percent of the lots sold. Other stones sold included a 46.72-carat modified-rectangular-cut fancy yellow diamond with SI1 clarity which sold for $602,500 and a diamond necklace by billionaire jeweler Laurence Graff, bought by a private buyer from the Middle East for $410,500.

One lot that doesn't seem to have sold is the diamond pendant necklace with two fancy intense blue pear-shaped rose-cut diamond and a fancy intense pink hexagonal-cut diamond on a platinum chain which was supposed to be part of the auction.

[via National Jeweler]

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Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, christies, jewelry

More Big Blue Diamonds Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions

At auction over the past six months blue diamonds have been hot. SInce the record-setting sale of the Wittelsbach diamond, more blue diamonds have been seeing strong results on the auction block. Christie's New York Jewels Sale on June 11 will include four blue diamonds. Natural blue diamonds are among the rarest of colored diamonds, getting their blue shading from the introduction of boron into the crystal structure of the stone during its formation. Blue diamonds including the famous Hope diamond belong to the extremely rare Type IIb category of diamonds and are semi-conductors of electricity, the only diamonds with that characteristic. The Christie's sale will offer a superb fancy intense blue pear-shaped internally flawless diamond of 6.29 carats estimated at $3.3 – 5.5 million and a fancy dark gray-blue rectangular-cut diamond ring, SI2 clarity, of 3.28 carats estimated at $250,000-350,000. The showstopper is a diamond pendant necklace that puts two fancy intense blue pear-shaped rose-cut diamonds of 5.01 and 2.03 carats on either side of a fancy intense pink hexagonal-cut diamond of 3.01 carats on a platinum chain. The price hasn't been listed for the piece but it should be the top lot in the auction.

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Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, christies, necklace

Rare Blue Diamond Sells at Auction: $9.49 million

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions

Economic conditions aren't so dismal that records can't be set. Sotheby's just moved a flawless, rare blue diamond for nearly $9.5 million – proving that taste can prevail even when wallets are generally gripped shut.

The rectangular blue diamond weighs 7.03 carats and sold at the highest price per carat ever fetched at auction – a whopping $1,349,752 (including the commission to Sotheby's). It's also the most paid for a "fancy vivid blue diamond" ... I didn't realize that such records were tracked. The winner chose to remain anonymous (can you blame him or her?) who was bidding by phone. The auctioned ended with a veritable telephonic battle that lasted 15 minutes.

The record until the blue diamond went under the gavel was $7.9 million for 6.04 carats. It was set in October 2007 in Hong Kong. Sotheby's sold the last record-breaker, as well.

In all, the auction house moved $35.7 million in gems and jewelry from 266 lots – not counting another 80 that didn't sell.

David Bennett, the chairman of Sotheby's jewelry department covering Europe and the Middle East, remarked, "It is fantastic in this market and shows that these rare things are very much in demand."

No, David. What's fantastic is that such items are in demand and that people are still willing to pay for them!

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Tags: auction, auction-house, auctionhouse, auctions, blue diamond, blue diamonds, BlueDiamond, BlueDiamonds, diamond, diamond jewelry, DiamondJewelry, diamonds, gems, jewel, jewelry, jewels, sotheby, sothebys

Sotheby's To Sell Big Blue Diamond

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Although overall diamond prices are down, the sales for the big and rare stones are still pretty strong. Petra Diamonds, a miner of stones in Africa, is hoping for a high number for their first sale of a cut and polished stone through Sotheby's. They will be selling a 7.03-carat blue diamond from the Cullinan mine in South Africa. The Cullinan mine has yielded most of the best blue diamonds in the world. The stone has a fancy vivid blue color and is rated internally flawless. Petra decided to sell the stone as cut and polished versus selling the rough as they usually do because they are hoping to get maximum exposure for the gem.

The stone will be shown in Hong Kong, Paris, New York and London before winding up in Geneva for the Sotheby's auction on May 12. It is estimated to sell for as much as $8.5 million. Maybe the stone will appeal to famous diamond dealer Laurence Graff. Last December he picked up the Wittelsbach diamond, a grayish-blue 35.56 carat stone with an impressive historical provenance, for $24.3 million making it the world's most expensive blue diamond.

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Tags: auction, blue diamond, BlueDiamond, sothebys

Famous Blue Diamond Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

A historic blue-gray diamond will go on sale at Christie's London on December 10. The diamond, a 35.56 carat beauty, is known as the Wittelsbach diamond and as the Telegraph reports, it was given to Infanta Margarita Teresa by her father King Philip IV of Spain on the occasion of her engagement (to her uncle Leopold I of Austria no less). It was part of first the Austrian and then the Bavarian crown jewels before ending up back in private hands. It has been part of the same collection since 1964.

The diamond has the ideal combination of rarity (blue diamonds of this size are extraordinary scarce) and historical provenance and has been estimated to bring as much as £10 million at Christie's. Even six months ago it would seem a slam dunk that this gem would meet or even exceed estimates (in May a 13.39 carat blue diamond stunner sold for a world record price of $8.9 million). Now, however, even those at the highest ends of the market are cautious.

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Tags: auction, blue diamond, BlueDiamond, diamonds, wittelsbach

Rare Blue Diamond Sells At Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Overall, the jewelry market has seen signs of weakness lately but the tip of the market is still strong. The blue diamond shown above is a 13.39 carat stunner which sold for a world record price of $8.9 million at a sale at Christie's in Geneva last Wednesday. Blue diamonds of this size are rather rare. The stone is a type IIb diamond. Type IIb diamonds are prized by jewelry lovers and collectors and contain small amounts of boron which gives them their color. They also have the property of being semi-conductors that conduct electricity. The auction brought in nearly $48.3 million total.

[via JCK Online]

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Tags: auction, blue diamond, BlueDiamond, christies

The World of Rare Stones: Painite is the World's Rarest Gem

by Tracy Coenen (RSS feed) —

The world's rarest gem is believed to be painite, a gem that most have never even heard of. Rarity does not equate to beauty in gems, however. The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s and was widely considered to be the rarest of all gems, with only two faceted crystals in existence. Within the last couple of years, however, the source of the original painite crystals was discovered, and now a few hundred faceted stones exist.

A more widely recognized (but still very rare) gem is the red diamond. There are many more red diamonds available than some other rare gems, but very large red diamonds are extremely rare. The largest cut natural red diamond may be the one owned by Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd, a 5.11 carat trillion cut.

The rare blue diamond, made famous by the Hope Diamond, gets its deep blue color from traces of boron in the stone. It is a natural blue diamond, in contrast with most of today's blue diamonds, which are turned from clear to blue with a process involving irradiation and heat.

The Hope Diamond was believed to be originally over 112 carats, but was poorly cut. It was recut in the 1600's, resulting in a stone just over 67 carats. It changed hands many times, and got its name from Henry Philip Hope, who acquired the diamond in 1839. After it changed hands a few more times, the Hope Diamond came to rest in the care of the Smithsonian, and now weighs over 45 carats.

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Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, hope diamond, HopeDiamond, painite, red diamond, RedDiamond

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