Famous Diamonds

2009
A flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats, sold for a record high of 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.49 million), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction. The rectangular-shaped blue stone, the rarest to enter the international market for the year 2009, went to an anonymous buyer bidding by telephone after hectic bidding see-sawed between two callers for 15 minutes.

It was the centrepiece of its semi-annual sale in Geneva, conducted by David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry department in Europe and the Middle East, who said the results showed the market's resilience despite the economic downturn.

"This is already a new world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond and a new world record per carat for any gemstone (at auction)," Bennett told reporters.


2007
One of the rarest gems in the world, a flawless blue diamond, has sold for US$7.98 million (3.91 million pounds) at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, making 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 $HK61.9 million (3.91 million pounds), or US$1.32 million per carat. The price smashed a 20-year-old record held by the "Hancock Red" -- a red diamond, which fetched US$926,000 per carat at the time, Sotheby's said.

Sotheby's said the buyer was "Moussaieff Jewellers" in London which has a reputation for acquiring extremely rare and costly gemstones. The seller was a private Asian collector.

Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is a large, 45.52 carats (9.10 g), fancy deep blue diamond, currently housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. The Hope Diamond is blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within its crystal structure, but it exhibits red phosphorescence under ultraviolet light^.Type IIb diamond, and is famous for supposedly being cursed. It is classified as a

List of the World's Most Famous Diamonds

1. The Akbar Shah, an Indian diamond with a roughly pear-shaped outline and random faceting, including two Arabic inscriptions, the first reading "Shah Akbar, the Shah of the World, 1028 A.H." (the letters mean "After Hegira", the first year of the Muslim era, A.D. 622. The second inscription read "To the Lord of Two Worlds, 1039 A.H. Shah Jehan". The diamond was reportedly part of the original Peacock Throne. Purchased in 1886 in Constantinople by London merchant George Blogg, who recut it from 116 carats to a pear-shape of 71.70 carats, thus destroying the historic inscriptions. Blogg was the last known owner and the stone's whereabouts are presently unknown.
2. The Allnatt Diamond, a large antique cushion-shaped brilliant Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond.
3. The Agra Diamond, antique cushion-shaped stellar brilliant, 28 carats.
4. The Amsterdam Diamond, a 33.74 carat (6.748 g) pear-shaped black diamond which sold for $352,000 in 2001.
5. The Archduke Joseph Diamond, antique cushion-shaped brilliant, originally weighing 78.54 carats, purchased by Molina Jewelers of Arizona sometime in the late-1990s and slightly recut to 76.45 carats to improve clarity and symmetry. D color, Internally Flawless.
6. The Ashberg Diamond
7. The Aurora Butterfly of Peace
8. The Aurora Pyramid of Hope
9. The Beau Sancy, a 34-carat diamond not to be confused with the Sancy.
10. The Black Orlov, a 67.50 carat cushion-cut black diamond, also called the Eye of Brahma Diamond.
11. The Blue Heart Diamond, 30.82-carat heart brilliant. Part of the Smithsonian collection.
12. The Briolette of India Diamond, 90 carats.
13. The Centenary Diamond, modified heart-shaped brilliant, the world's largest colorless (grade D), flawless diamond.
14. The Chloe Diamond, largest round brilliant-cut diamond ever put on auction. Sold on November 14th, 2007 at Sotheby's in Geneva to Georges Marciano of the Guess clothing line for $16.2 million, the second-highest price ever paid for a diamond on auction. Took 2 years to cut.
15. The Cross of Asia, discovered in 1902 in South Africa as a 280-carat crystal. At first diamond was cut to 142 carats, and next the cut was three times changed to 112 carats, a cushion-cut of 109.28 carats (the weight Lawrence Copeland's "Diamonds - Famous, Notable and Unique" lists it at) measuring 1⅛ × ⅞ × ⅝ inches, and finally into a radiant-cut gem of 79.12 carats to elimination all flaws. It is Fancy Yellow and Internally Flawless.^[1]
16. The Cullinan Diamond, the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found at 3106.75 carats (621.35 g). It was cut into 105 diamonds including the Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, 530.2 carats (106.04 g), and the Cullinan II or the Lesser Star of Africa, 317.4 carats (63.48 g), both of which are now part of the British Crown Jewels.
17. The Darya-ye Noor Diamond, the largest pink diamond in the world, about 186 carats (36.4 g), part of Iranian Crown Jewels. Its exact weight isn't known and 186 carats is an estimate.
18. The Deepdene, widely considered to be the largest artificially irradiated diamond in the world.
19. The De Young Red Diamond, the third-largest known red diamond was bought in a flea market on a hatpin by Sidney deYoung a prominent Boston estate jewelry merchant. It was donated by him to the museum of natural history.
20. The Dresden Green Diamond, antique pear-shaped brilliant - its color is the result of natural irradiation
21. The Dresden White Diamond, 47-carat antique oval brilliant, colorless/near-colorless
22. The Dresden Yellow Diamond, an antique round cut weighing 38 carats
23. The Earth Star Diamond a 111.59-carat, pear-shaped diamond with a strong coffee-like brown color.
24. The Empress Eugenie Diamond, 52-carat antique pear-shaped brilliant with an odd, random facet pattern
25. The Excelsior Diamond, the largest known diamond in the world prior to the Cullinan
26. The Florentine Diamond, a lost diamond, light yellow with a weight of 137.27 carats (27.45 g).
27. The Golden Jubilee Diamond, the largest faceted diamond ever cut at 545.67 carats (109.13 g)
28. The Graff Blue Diamond
29. The Great Chrysanthemum Diamond
30. The Great Mogul Diamond, fabled 280-carat mogul-cut diamond, now lost, although presumed by historians to have been recut as the Orlov.
31. The Gruosi Diamond, a heart-shaped black diamond, weighing 115.34 carats.
32. The Heart of Eternity Diamond, perhaps the largest Fancy Vivid Blue
33. The Hope Diamond, Fancy Dark Grayish-Blue and supposedly cursed. Almost certainly cut from the French Blue Diamond
34. The Hortensia Diamond, peach color, formerly part of the French Crown Jewels. Displayed in the Louvre.
35. The Idol's Eye
36. The Incomparable Diamond, a brownish-yellow diamond of 407.48 carats (81.496 g) cut from an 890 carat (178 g) rough diamond of the same name - it appeared on eBay in 2002. Internally Flawless clarity.
37. The Jacob Diamond weighing 184.5 carats (36.90 g), also known as Imperial Diamond & Victoria Diamond.
38. The Jones Diamond