The Blue Moon Diamond has been sold for a record US$48.26m at Sotheby’s in Geneva.
The sale price is a record per carat and for total value for any gemstone.
Blue Moon Diamond has no inclusions and has been officially declared flawless.
The 29.62-carat diamond was found at the Cullinan Mine in South Africa in January last year, blue diamonds make up only 0.1% of diamonds unearthed at the mine.
It was then cut and polished in New York, a process which took six months and eventually produced the 12.03 carat vivid blue gem.
De Beers which produces thirty percent of world rough diamonds has cut prices by 10 percent for the sight.
This comes after two reductions in its annual production output by 15 percent failed to slow slump in prices of rough.
Rough diamond prices have dropped 14 percent in some categories and are in their fifth consecutive quarterly loss, which is the longest in a decade.
De Beers cut the size of the sight to $250 million and reduced the prices by 9 percent, according to sight holders.
De Beers has also contributed tens of millions to a jewellery advertising campaign. Its advertising campaign will promote diamond jewellery in the U.S. and to Chinese consumers.
De Beers’s the world’s largest rough producer felt the pain, when only $300 million of the $450 million estimated sight was taken up by their sightholders. This leaves 30 percent of the rough on offer on the table.
Anglo has previously counted on diamond revenues to offset a collapse in the price of other metals and minerals it mines. Anglo may cut the company’s dividend for the first time since 2009 according to analysts.
This is an indication of turmoil in the $80 billion diamond industry as traders, cutters and polishers suffer from a poor liquidity and weaker demand for jewellery.
Producers in India, where 90 percent of rough diamonds are cut and polished, may halt imports over the supply glut.
Update: Report sightholders may have refused 35%-50% at July sight which may be as low as $200M.
Pictures of the Spectacular Fancy Yellow Diamond Polished by Graff Diamonds have been released.
Laurence Graff, the founder of the international luxury diamond and jewellery firm that bears his name, purchased the 299 ct rough diamond from the Letšeng mine in the Southern African kingdom of Lesotho.
Graff’s latest masterpiece named “The Golden Empress,” was polished into the 132.55 Cts stone an extremely rare diamond is a Fancy Intense yellow cushion cut,
The diamond is among the largest and rarest in the world. Only one in 10,000 diamonds discovered are classified as fancy colouredsuch as this yellow diamond.
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The major investment in Surat facility reflects a world class diamond cutting and polishing centre characterised by skill, innovation and the effective use of technology.
De Beers the world’s leading diamond company is considering a diamond auction centre in India.
This laboratory is the second of its kind in the world owned International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research.
The laboratories primary function will be to select and inscribe Forevermark diamonds with the unique serial number to deliver an accurate and reliable grading for diamonds.
De Beers is the world’s leading diamond company established in 1888 experts in exploration, mining and marketing of diamonds.
Orange / yellow Orange one of the rarest colours found in natural diamond.
In 2014 a spectacular orange fancy vivid pear shape diamond mined in South Africa, weighing 14.82 carats was auctioned for a record price of $2.39 million per carat or $35.54m for the diamond. Setting a new record price per carat for any fancy colour.
The 1.03 ct Intense Fancy yellow Orange Round brilliant is made rarer because of the combination of the size, shape, colour and clarity.
The Diamond Watch that effortlessly turns into an exquisite ring
Created by Graff Diamonds a London based jewellers founded in 1960.
Fascination is a diamond encrusted masterpiece piece which features a 38.13 ct pear shaped diamond which can be worn as a ring or inserted into a diamond encrusted watch bracelet with 152.96 cts of white diamonds.
Graff uses only the very finest diamonds, resulting in the creation of the most fabulous jewels in the world.
The Fascination will be on show at the BaselWorld watch fair in Switzerland, which begins tomorrow.
Causes of colour in heat treated brown diamonds and synthetic brown diamonds are similar to treated pink diamonds.
In natural diamond the colour is related to a lattice imperfection. This can be mimicked in synthetic or treated diamond by a variety of treatments including annealing, heating or irradiating. The heat and pressure or irradiation can result in the lattice deviation resulting in the brown or pink colour.
Synthetic brown diamond is created by compressing graphite under extreme pressure and heat to above 1500 Celsius. The treatments were perfected in several laboratories in Russia, United States and China.
Lazare Kaplan Internationals Belgium subsidiary Pegasus Overseas Ltd marketed the General Electric processed diamonds under the name GE POL or in the USA as Bellataire.
This led to a technique for creating, or treating brown diamonds into higher valued colours like yellow or colourless diamond.
The disclosure of the treatment is noted by the “GEPOL” inscribed on the girdles of every treated diamond.
Brown diamonds are often marketed with expensive sounding names like Cognac, Champagne or Chocolate diamonds. Natural brown diamonds are a cheap alternative to more expensive colours.
Recently there has been a lot of controversy in the diamond and jewellery trade regarding over graded diamonds. This led to one laboratory being banned from listing on Rapaport. Video
If you have any concerns about your diamond DCLA Laboratory will check it for you FREE of charge.
