Blue Diamond: The Rarest and Most Precious Diamonds come in different colors, including yellow, brown, green, pink, and red. But of all these hues, blue diamonds are perhaps the rarest and most precious. Blue diamonds are placed alongside purple and red as some of the rarest and highest valued natural colored diamonds. They are created when diamond crystals combine with boron. Blue diamonds encompass a range of tones, hues, and saturation levels, from faint powder to Rich Ocean and deep Sapphire-like blue.
Color Saturation A large number of blue diamond’s display a secondary gray color, producing at a steel-blue hue. Similar with other colored-diamonds, secondary colors can decrease the cost of a stone. Another secondary color that may be present in blue diamonds is green. Color saturation and intensity, along with rarity, cut, carat size and clarity influence the price of blue diamonds.
Past, Present, and Future Blue diamonds are mined as early as 400 B.C. in India. The most popular is the Hope Diamond, which is cut from the Tavernier Blue, a 112.5 carat blue diamond mined in 1642. It can be viewed today at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Indian mines produced the majority of blue diamond’s before, but today, they are found in Australia and South Africa. The price of these precious stones continues to increase as they become rarer and as demand grows.
A Newly-Found Gem Africa is the world’s largest producer of diamonds and it once again lives up to its name after a 26.6 carat blue diamond was found in a South African mine. The acornsized gem, which is now one of the rarest and most coveted stones in the world, was unearthed by a London based company Petra-Diamonds. It was found at the Cullinan mine, 25 miles northeast of the country's capital Pretoria. The diamond was small enough to fit into the palm and, according to experts, could outstrip recent diamond finds. Petra described the stone as an outstanding vivid blue with extraordinary tone, clarity, and saturation, and can yield a polished stone of great value and importance. Analysts suggest that the diamond could fetch between $15-20M at an auction.
The desire for fancy colored stones like blue diamond’s continue to increase as they make their way to mainstream jewelry design and as they slowly become a great investment opportunity.
Resources:
https://www.discountedloosediamonds.com/ http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/rare-29-carat-blue-diamonddiscovered-south-african-mine-photos-1433512 http://www.gulftimes.com/opinion/189/details/380850/africa-cleans-up-itsact-on-blood-diamonds