Huge Blue Diamond Found at Cullinan

It seems there are no other talks in the diamond sphere but for rare blue diamond that was extracted from Cullinan mine. This is not the color that stirred the noise as far as blue diamonds are found regularly, though it less amount than white or yellow. This is the size of it that caused a wow effect.

The Petra Diamond mine 'gave birth' to a 122.52 carat blue diamond that makes this finding really significant. Petra is known as the worlds source of blue diamonds. Last year they managed to sell a 25.5 carat stone for $16.9 million, so it's hard to image how much this giant will cost. The truth is that blue diamonds are and have always been incredibly rare. Many of big blue stones have an entangled story that even adds to the price. These days jewels of this color are highly sought-after and collectable so there's hardly the sale without any blue diamonds.

Why So Blue: the Origin of Blue Diamonds

There has been a range of posts devoted to blues, but we tried to concentrate on certain diamonds gem and jewel, while a little was said about their origin. So, now let's have a closer look at blue diamonds, their origin, price,colors and mounting.

Historically, the majority of blue diamonds have been mined in India, however lately blue and grey-blue diamonds are found in Australian and South Africa. The Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa is the only significant mine in the world where blues are found in plenty. Well, the word 'plenty' correlating to diamond number does not necessarily stand for a large number, as only a couple of blue diamonds are qualified by GIA and can be used in fine jewelry.

Diamond is pure carbon, but there can be some 'impurities' that give color to a gem. In case of blue diamonds, this is boron that is responsible for blue shades: from light sky blue to deep greyish blue. There is a common mistake to think that all blue diamonds are like the famous Hope Diamond. The thing is that the majority of all blue diamonds are lighter than the Hope Diamond. To differentiate the colors there is a gradation scale for blues: fancy light, fancy, intense, deep, and vivid. Though a subtle difference between fancy and intense colors, but it has significant affect on a price! Say, one carat of light blue diamond may cost $30,000-70,000 while intense can go for $100,000-250,000 per carat. Collectors and most exclusive dealers should pay from $250,000 to $500,000 per carat of vivid blue diamond, mind that fact that large diamonds can cost much expensive.

Color and size are not the only factors that determine the high price, there is also a color combination that significantly skyrockets the price. There are blue diamonds that exhibit green color, the one resembling the Caribbean ocean waters. Of course, such greenish blues feature really high price tags, so that only a few true diamond lovers can afford to purchase them. Grey can also be a secondary color in blue diamonds. It gives unique steel blue color as well as affects the price.

What is more, there is a thing that significantly influences the perception of any blue diamond – it is the mounting. The latter can be compared to the a framed picture, where a frame makes the painting. The visual perception of the blue diamond is determined by the mounting it is set in, say the same blue diamond can have different play of color when it is mounted in a prong or bezel setting. Also, you can choose to contrast your blue diamond with other colored diamonds to emphasize its color value. Anyway, it is better to ask a competent jeweler for advice, so that he could offer you the best setting to bring out the unique color of your blue diamond.

Do You Know That...

- diamond was taken like standard element by Frederich Mohs, a German mineralogist, who created the scale of mineral hardness. Diamond rates 10 - the highest rate - on the Mohs scale and it is more than 50 times harder than corundum, which is the next most solid natural element, however diamonds lose in hardness to laboratory grown nanomaterials. Synthetic stones are going to be 58% harder than diamonds;

- diamonds can be of various colors: green, blue, yellow and brown (they are most numerous), black, red and pink (the most rarely found in nature). Though some imagine diamond as a transparent colorless gem, the number of pure white diamonds is low;

- diamond can burn, but you need to heat it to about 1300 Fahrenheit. Still, it is considered to be almost fireproof;

- not more than 20% of all mined diamonds are qualified as gemstones and are used in jewelry, the rest stones are intended for industrial needs, especially they are used to produce polishing, cutting, grinding and drilling tools;

- the biggest uncut diamond ever mined was colorless Cullinan. It weighted 0,62 kg or 3,106.75 carats. It was cut in 106 pieces where the largest cut diamond is the Great Star of Africa - 530.2 carats. This diamond is considered to be flawless, though typically each diamond has flaws;

- the world smallest cut diamond was cut by Bhavani Mikro. The gem weights only 0.00006 grams what is 0.0003 carats. Diamond gemstone has 57 shining tiny facets;

- first diamond stones were found more than 4,500 years ago, according to Peter Lu. Harvard physicist proved that ancient Chinese benefit from unique physical properties of diamond. They used it for polishing corundum axes, which could be polished neither more nor less than by diamond;

- according to various legends a person who wears diamond jewelry is protected from evil. Moreover, a wearer is considered to be a lucky man and the one possessing enough courage. All his traits were explained by wearing diamonds;

- real diamonds can be grown in the laboratory. New Age Diamonds and Gemesis place a small piece of natural diamond and a bit of carbon into the growth machine where high temperature and high pressure are applied to grow a larger stone (up to 5 carats) from these materials. Real diamond comes up in several days and possesses all the properties of naturally-occurring diamond.