Flawless blue diamond, the most expensive gemstone in the world, sells at auction for £4m

One of the rarest gems in the world, a flawless blue diamond, has sold for £4 million at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong. This makes it the most expensive gemstone in the world, per carat, sold at auction. After intense bidding, the 6.04 carat, internally flawless blue diamond fetched £650,000 per carat. The price smashed a 20-year-old record held by the Hancock Red - a red diamond which fetched £450,000 per carat at the time, Sotheby's said.

The seller was a private Asian collector. Blue diamonds have long captivated the rich and powerful - shimmering with a certain dark mystique. The famous Hope Diamond, a 45.52 carat grey-blue beauty, was passed down through the ages by King Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette and American heiress Evalyn Walsh McClean among others. It now rests in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

The Sultan of Brunei reportedly bought another massive "blue" which surfaced briefly in the 1980s. While not a large stone, the Sotheby's diamond has an esteemed cut and "fancy vivid blue" hue, factors which contributed to its blockbuster price - roughly ten times the per-carat price of regular white diamonds. The blue hue is a result of trace amounts of boron in the stone's crystal structure.

(Daily Mail - 8th October 2007)

£8.1m diamond is 12-year-old Chloe's best friend

Diamonds, as famously noted by Marilyn Monroe, are a girl's best friend. Even, it now seems, if you are as young as twelve years old. When the world's largest diamond ever to appear at auction was snapped up for £8.1million last night, the first thing its new owner did was to name it after his young daughter, Chloe.

The dazzling 84-carat jewel - which took two years to cut - was bought by Guess? clothing company founder Georges Marciano at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva. Likened in size to a quail's egg, it was mined in Africa and the rough diamond from which it was cut was the size of a man's palm. In addition to its extraordinary carat weight, the diamond has received the highest possible grading. Described as "pure perfection" by auction house Sotheby's, the gem is D-colour, or finest white, has flawless clarity and its cut, polish and symmetry are classed as excellent.

Lisa Hubbard, chairwoman of jewellery at Sotheby's North and South America who took the winning bid by telephone yesterday said: "It was purchased by Georges Marciano, founder of Guess? jeans who lives in Beverly Hills. "He has named it after his daughter Chloe, who is only twelve, and has time to grow into it." Last night's auction was held at Geneva's historic Beau Rivage hotel. The diamond, which was showcased in London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Rome, Los Angeles, Dubai and Bahrain, was the last of 387 lots to be auctioned in Sotheby's "Magnificent Jewels" sale.

The price is just short of the record for a jewel at auction of £10million which was paid for the 100-carat Star Of The Season diamond in May 1995. David Bennett, chairman of jewellery at Sotheby's, said: "In my 32-year career, this stone ranks among the most beautiful diamonds I have ever seen. "We are very privileged to have been chosen as the auction house to offer this magnificent and unique stone."

A spokeswoman for Sotheby's in Geneva said: "It would be an incredible ring though totally impractical. That surely would be out of the question. It is absolutely huge. "Perhaps it could be set in a pendant or a tiara. Though a bracelet would probably be a good idea because the wearer would be able to see it too."

(Daily Mail - 15th November 2007)

Diamond Fetches $11 Million at End of Maastricht Fair

(Bloomberg - 17th March 2008)

"Rough-diamond prices rose by an average of 5 percent"

Petra Diamonds Ltd. a producer of the gems in Africa, said full-year sales from mines rose more than fourfold as prices advanced.

Revenue was $76.6 million in the 12 months to June 30, compared with $16.7 million a year earlier, St. Helier, Jersey- based Petra said today in a statement. Sales included four gems sold for more than $1 million each. Production advanced 11 percent to 200,287 carats. A carat is equal to a fifth of a gram.

Petra bought the Cullinan and Kimberley mines from De Beers, the world's biggest diamond miner, and the company is forecasting annual production of more than 1 million carats in the year ending June 2009.

``We expect prices to stay firm,'' Finance Director David Abery said today in a telephone interview. ``If there is any weakening in the U.S., we are seeing that as being compensated for by rising demand from China, India and Russia.''

De Beers on July 11 2008 said rough-diamond prices rose by an average of 5 percent this month.

(Bloomberg - 28th July 2008)

Could this be the world's largest diamond? Huge uncut gem discovered in African mine

A huge gem stone which could become the largest polished round diamond in history has been discovered.

The massive stone is the 20th largest rough diamond ever found, weighs 478 carats and is said to be of outstanding clarity.

It was recovered earlier this week at the Letseng Mine, in Lesotho, a small kingdom in  South Africa.

Another similar sized rough stone from the same mine was recently valued at $12million.

But the clarity and round shape of the new gem mean it could be worth considerably more and in its polished state could fetch tens of millions of pounds.

It is estimated to be capable of producing a 150 carat polished gem stone, dwarfing the Koh-i-Noor diamond which is part of the Crown Jewels.

A spokesman for Gem Diamonds, who own the mine, added that initial examination suggested that the white diamond, which has yet to be named and valued, has a completely flawless centre.

The mine, which was owned by famous diamond company De Beers for many years, has already produced three of the world's biggest diamonds including the 603 carat Lesotho Promise, the 493 carat Leteng Legacy and the 601 carat Lesotho Brown.

Clifford Elphick, chief executive officer of Gem Diamonds, said 'Preliminary examination of this remarkable diamond indicates that it will yield a record breaking polished stone of the very best colour and clarity.'

The find is still dwarfed by the Cullinan Diamond which was discovered in 1905.

At 3,106 carats it was the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found but the biggest polished stone produced from it, the Great Star of Africa - 530 carats - is a teardrop shape.

The Koh-i-noor is a round cut but at 105 carats it is smaller than the potential size of the new find.

It originated in India but was seized by Britain as a spoil of war in 1849. It supposedly brings good luck to female owners and misfortune or death to any male who wears or owns it.

(Daily Mail - 22nd September 2008)