Famous Diamonds

The Hope

Among the most well known diamonds is the Hope. This 45.52 carat steel blue diamond is currently on display at the Smithsonian. The legends of the ill-fortune and curse bestowed on the possessor of the Hope Diamond are many. This diamond was donated to the Smithsonian in 1958. The Hope was originally a rather flat, blocky 110-carat rough.

 

Dresden Green

 The Dresden Green stands out among the natural colored diamonds. It is the largest green diamond in the world weighing 40.70 carats. This diamond is historic, large and has a natural green color with a slight blue overtone. These facts make it virtually priceless.

 

Conde Pink

The Conde Pink is a pear shaped and weighs 9.01 carats. This pink diamond was once owned by Louis XIII.

Tiffany Yellow

The Tiffany Yellow diamond a beautiful canary-yellow octahedron weighing 287.42 in the rough carats discovered in either 1877 or 1878 in South Africa. The gem after cutting boasts the extraordinary weight of 128.54 carats. And until recently, was the largest golden-yellow in the world.

Mountain of Light

The Koh-I-Noor (Mountain of Light) is now among the British Crown Jewels. This diamond weighs 105.60 carats. First mentioned in 1304, it is believed to have been once set in Shah Jehan‘s famous peacock throne as one of the peacocks eyes.



The Agra

The Agra is graded as a naturally colored Fancy Light Pink and weighs 32.34 carats. It was sold for about 6.9 million in 1990. Since this sale, it has been modified to a cushion shape weighing about 28.15 carats.





 Transvaal Blue

The Transvaal Blue is pear cut. This blue diamond weighs 25 carats. It was found in the Premier Diamond Mine in Transvaal, South Africa.









 Great Chrysanthemum

The Great Chrysanthemum was discovered in the summer of 1963, in a South African diamond field. This 198.28 carat fancy brown diamond appeared to be a light honey color in its rough state. However, after cutting, it proved to be a rich golden brown, with overtones of sienna and burnt orange.



Taylor-Burton

The Taylor-Burton Diamond is a pear-shaped 69.42 carat diamond. Cartier of New York purchased this diamond at an auction in 1969 and christened it "Cartier." The next day Richard Burton bought the diamond for Elizabeth Taylor. He renamed it the "Taylor-Burton”. In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor put the diamond up for sale. Prospective buyers had to pay $2,500 each to view the diamond to cover the costs of showing it. Finally, in June of 1979, the diamond was sold for nearly $3 million dollars.

Fancy and Coloured Diamonds

The most famous diamonds in the world are coloured, or fancy, diamonds. The Tiffany Diamond, which is yellow, and the Hope Diamond which is blue, are coloured diamonds. Coloured diamonds vary from red, green, purple, violet, orange, blue and pink – and most shades between. Fancy colour shades vary from faint to intense.

Treated and Synthetic Diamonds

Fancy coloured diamonds are all the rage these days. Gemologists have developed new ways to create versions that are affordable for the average person - by treating less desirable diamonds. These less desirable diamonds are treated with irradiation followed by intense heat. This turns brown and yellowish diamonds into beautifully coloured diamonds that you can afford. This produces stunning greens, blues, yellows, reds, purples and other colours. These colours are considered permanent, but there is a possibility they could change during repairs if a high heat is used.

Treatments like irradiation make it possible for more people to own these vividly coloured diamonds. Most natural coloured diamonds are rare and also extremely expensive. When shopping for coloured diamonds you need to assume that any affordable fancy colour diamond has been treated. Ask about the stone's origin and request to view a lab certificate to verify authenticity.

Synthetic coloured diamonds are another option if owning a coloured diamond is something you desire but cannot quite afford. They are real diamonds, but they are created in a lab.

Natural Diamonds
Natural fancy colour diamonds get their colouring from different trace elements present in the stones, such as nitrogen, which produces a yellow diamond. Diamonds can be coloured by exposure to radiation during its creation. An example of a diamond affected by radiation is the green coloured diamond.

Another way that a natural coloured diamond gets colour is by its inclusions. Regarded as flaws and undesirable in a colourless diamond, inclusions give unique tones and brilliant flashes of colour in a fancy colour diamond. Remember that natural fancy coloured diamonds are very expensive, any coloured diamond labeled to be sold as natural should be accompanied by a certificate from a respected grading lab.

Coloured diamonds have an amazing financial track record. The value has never decreased on wholesale level in more than 30 years. Blue and pink diamonds have doubled every 5 years of a strong economy. In the 1970’s you could have bought a very high quality blue diamond for about 50K and today the very same stone would be worth between 2 and 3 million.