On the day of my beloved mother’s death, I was at the chapel at the cemetery, then at the graveside and then sitting shiva (7 days of mourning) with my heartbroken dad and all the family. During that first day, every treasure was stolen from my late mother, presumably by the relative (by marriage) who asked to have my mother euthanised only four weeks earlier. The police, rabbi and care home staff never found my late mother’s diamond ring.
Above find an image of the engagement ring I would have worn, had I designed it myself.
It is .5 of a carat.
Now read information from The Jewellery Editorabout large, expensive and rare diamonds that belong to other people. Pink diamonds are extremely rare, with only 50 or 60 quality gems appearing on the market each year. These blush-coloured stones frequently fetch 20-40% more per carat than the equivalent white diamonds.
Now read information from The Jewellery Editorabout large, expensive and rare diamonds that belong to other people. Pink diamonds are extremely rare, with only 50 or 60 quality gems appearing on the market each year. These blush-coloured stones frequently fetch 20-40% more per carat than the equivalent white diamonds.
Blue diamonds are among the rarest in the world, accounting for only 0.0001% of all gems mined around the world. The numbers are further whittled down by the fact that only c1% of these stones display the colour tone and saturation that allow them to be classified as Fancy Vivid.
In 2013 the oval pink diamond Pink Star was cut from a 132.5 carat rough mined by De Beers in Africa 20 years ago. The Pink Star ended up as a 59.6 carat pink diamond of internal flawlessness, and was the largest Fancy Vivid diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America/GIA. At first it was sold to diamond cutter Isaac Wolf at Sotheby’s Geneva in Nov 2013. But the buyer failed to complete the purchase on his $83 million winning bid, leaving the diamond to languish in Sotheby’s inventory for 3+ years. Then tense telephone bidding war for the Pink Star took place between three interested parties. The proud new owner of the Pink Star diamond, the most expensive gem stone ($71.2 million) in the world, is Hong Kong jeweller Chow Tai Fook.
Set into a platinum ring flanked by two shield-shaped white diamonds, the Graff Pink was previously owned by American jeweller Harry Winston. The final selling price in 2010 exceeded the pre-sale estimate of c$40 million, bought by jeweller Laurence Graff for $46.2 million at Sotheby’s Geneva auction. The Graff Pink’s 24.8 carat emerald-cut Fancy Intense gem was fabulous.
Blue diamonds have dominated jewellery auctions in recent years, and the Oppenheimer Blue is the second most expensive jewel to sell at auction. This 14.6 carat emerald-cut Vivid Blue diamond was auctioned at Christie’s Geneva in May 2016, for $57.7 million. This particular indigo-coloured gem being named after Sir Philip Oppenheimer, a member of one of the world’s most influential and powerful diamond families, for his wife. The Oppenheimers controlled the De Beers Mining Co and Sir Philip oversaw the diamond sales cartel for 45 years until 1993.
The Cullinan is the largest rough diamond ever found, weighing an incredible 3,106.8 carat. Discovered in Cullinan South Africa in 1905, it was then gifted to King Edward VII but not set into a ring by renowned jeweller Verdura until the 1990s. The rough diamond was cut into 9 main stones and many small gems, the largest of which was the 530.4 carat Cullinan I/Great Star of Africa. The Cullinan I was set in the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross, an important part of the British Crown Jewels.
The 24.2 carat Cullinan Dream is the largest of the gems cut from the 122.5 carat rough blue diamond unearthed from the Cullinan Mine in 2014. The Fancy Intense blue diamond appeared at auction and sold for $25.4 million at Christie’s New York in June 2016.
As a rough diamond, the Centenary Diamond weighed over 500 carat in 1986 in Premier Mine South Africa. It was later cut to a modified heart-shape, weighing 273.9 carat. It took a total of 154 days for their highly-skilled team to finish the re-cutting process and thankfully, the sacrifice in carat weight improved the colour and flawless clarity grade of this unique diamond. The diamond was insured at US$100 million at its unveiling in May 1991, loaned to the Tower of London where it was displayed for a number of years.