Lot Essay
Historically, blue diamonds orginate from the Kollur mine near Golconda in the Indian state of Hyderabad. Most of what we know of the early mining activity in India comes from the writings of the 17th Century traveller and gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. His principal client was Louis XIV and it is known that he sold the king a very large blue diamond among numerous other important stones. The deposits have now been depleted and so nearly all the blue diamonds that appear on the market come from the Permier Mine of South Africa.
Of all the natural colours in which diamonds can be found, one of the rarest and most desirable is blue. The colour derives from minute amounts of boron atoms that are incorporated within the crystal lattice of a diamond during its crystallisation, which may have been at least 100 million years ago.
Due to the increasingly sophisticated audience expressing interest in these stones, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has introduced a new scale by which these rare diamonds are graded. By describing more accurately the colour saturation, the large range of colour present in a stone may be characterised more precisely. The new set of grades are fancy vivid blue, fancy deep blue, fancy intense blue and fancy blue.
Christie's has sold many famous blue diamonds. In April 1995, a 13.49 carat fancy deep blue diamond fetched US$ 7,482,500 or US$ 554,600 per carat, and a few months later, another fancy deep blue stone, the famous "Begum Blue", which formed part of the collection of Princess Salimah Aga Khan, sold for US$ 7,791,000 or $ 520,000 per carat.
The present pear-shaped fancy intense blue diamond, as well as the pair of circular-cut fancy blue stones, weighing respectively 1.63 and 1.70 carats (lot 80 & 81), and the heart-shaped fancy blue, weighing 3.20 carats (lot 82) are interesting additions to the other similarly coloured stones that have been slod in recent years.
Of all the natural colours in which diamonds can be found, one of the rarest and most desirable is blue. The colour derives from minute amounts of boron atoms that are incorporated within the crystal lattice of a diamond during its crystallisation, which may have been at least 100 million years ago.
Due to the increasingly sophisticated audience expressing interest in these stones, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has introduced a new scale by which these rare diamonds are graded. By describing more accurately the colour saturation, the large range of colour present in a stone may be characterised more precisely. The new set of grades are fancy vivid blue, fancy deep blue, fancy intense blue and fancy blue.
Christie's has sold many famous blue diamonds. In April 1995, a 13.49 carat fancy deep blue diamond fetched US$ 7,482,500 or US$ 554,600 per carat, and a few months later, another fancy deep blue stone, the famous "Begum Blue", which formed part of the collection of Princess Salimah Aga Khan, sold for US$ 7,791,000 or $ 520,000 per carat.
The present pear-shaped fancy intense blue diamond, as well as the pair of circular-cut fancy blue stones, weighing respectively 1.63 and 1.70 carats (lot 80 & 81), and the heart-shaped fancy blue, weighing 3.20 carats (lot 82) are interesting additions to the other similarly coloured stones that have been slod in recent years.