blue diamonds

Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond On Display In New York

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

The History Behind The Creation Of The Millennium Jewel Collection

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

I wrote earlier this month about the blue diamond up for sale at Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 7th. In advance of the sale DeBeers contacted me with a little more info on the blue diamonds including this image of the full set of the Millennium Jewel Collection, a collection of 12 blockbuster stones that includes the De Beers Millennium Star and 11 exceptional and rare blue diamonds originally gathered as part of the Millennium celebrations in the London Millennium Dome. The blue stone in the auction is the first diamond to come up for sale since going into private collection.

How did the collection come to be? Andrew Coxon, President of the De Beers Institute of Diamonds with over 40 years experience with the De Beers Group, is one of the world's leading experts on diamonds and was the head of diamond buying at De Beers Group throughout the 1990s. He was the visionary behind the collection and personally selected each blue rough diamond for its potential beauty and even saturation of color. The stones had been collected by De Beers from their own mines over a period of over twenty years. After selection the two-year cutting and polishing process began.

Tags: auction, blue diamonds, debeers, diamond, rare diamonds

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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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Montblanc 100 Years Solitaire Mountain Massif Skeleton 2006

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

This diamond-heavy pen was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Montblanc brand. The Montblanc 100 Years Solitaire Mountain Massif Skeleton 2006 is made of 18K white gold covered in 1,277 white and 123 rare blue diamonds. The pen features a transparent cap head that holds a diamond that has been cut into the shape of the famous Montblanc star. The pen sells for 120,000 euros and only three are being made.

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Tags: blue diamonds, diamonds, fountain pen, luxury, montblanc, writing instrument