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PINK STAR DIAMOND SOLD 71.2 MILLION

4/5/2017

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A rare pink diamond known for its oval shape and vividly pink hue became the most expensive gemstone ever sold at an auction on Tuesday, fetching a record sale price of $71.2 million in Hong Kong.
The 59.6-carat “Pink Star” was sold to the highest bidder at the Sotheby's auction at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. It surpassed the current world record holder,“Oppenheimer Blue,” a 14.6-carat diamond sold for $57.5 million at a Sotheby's auction in May in Geneva.
The sale also eclipsed the current record holder for a pink diamond sold at auction. “Graff Pink,” weighing nearly 25 carats, was sold at Sotheby's in Geneva in 2010 for $46.2 million.
“Pink Star's buyer is Hong Kong-based jewelry empire Chow Tai Fook, which outbid two other telephone buyers. Founded in 1929, the family-owned conglomerate owns a chain of jewelry shops in China and is one of the world's largest jewelers. Last month, it acquired Alinta Energy Holdings, an Australia-based energy company, for $3.1 billion, Bloomberg reported. Chow Tai Fook also made Forbes's list of Asia's Fab 50 companies in 2014.

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Wow What a Beautiful Pink Diamond

4/1/2017

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ompanied by a monograph from Gübelin, duplicate no. 16 of the original report numbered 0701199, dated 22 November 2007, stating that the diamond is Fancy Vivid Pink Colour, IF, Type IIa, together with history and chemical analysis of the stone. _________________________________________________________ One of the World’s Great Natural Treasures Meticulously cut by Steinmetz Diamonds over a period of nearly two years - a process in which the 132.50 carat rough was cast in epoxy more than 50 times in order to create models upon which the design team could experiment with different cuts -it was transformed into this spectacular 59.60 carat, fancy vivid pink, internally flawless oval cut gem – the largest internally flawless or flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has ever graded. The diamond was first unveiled to the public in May 2003 as the ‘Steinmetz Pink’, and was modelled by Helena Christensen at a dedicated event thrown to coincide with the Monaco Grand Prix. Writing in the Financial Times on the 31 May 2003, Mike Duff described the diamond as “the rarest, finest, most precious stone the world has ever seen”. The stone was first sold in 2007 and was subsequently renamed “The Pink Star”. In the same article, Tom Moses, Executive Vice President and Chief Laboratory and Research Officer of the GIA, is quoted as saying: “it’s our experience that large polished pink diamonds – over ten carats – very rarely occur with an intense colour… The GIA Laboratory has been issuing grading reports for 50 years and this is the largest pink diamond with this depth of colour [vivid pink] that we have ever characterised”. Of all fancy coloured pink diamonds, those graded ‘Fancy Vivid’ are the most precious and desirable. The current world auction record for a pink diamond is the Graff Pink, a superb 24.78 carat diamond which sold at Sotheby's Geneva in November 2010 for US$46.16 million. Weighing in at 59.60 carats and graded as Fancy Vivid, the Pink Star is twice the size. In the summer of 2003, this amazing gem was exhibited at 'The Splendor of Diamonds' exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Displayed in the Winston Gallery alongside the 45.52 carat blue Hope Diamond, the exhibition featured seven of the world’s rarest and most extraordinary diamonds. Also on view for the first time in the United States was the 203.04 carat De Beers Millennium Star, one of the largest diamonds in the world; the Heart of Eternity blue diamond; the Moussaieff Red, the largest known red diamond in the world; the Harry Winston Pumpkin Diamond; the Allnatt, one of the world’s largest yellow diamonds at 101.29 carats; and the Ocean Dream, the world’s largest naturally occurring blue-green diamond. Commenting at the opening of the exhibition, Dr. Jeffrey Post, curator of the Gems and Minerals Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History said, “Each of the diamonds is the finest of its kind and together with the museum’s gem collection makes for an exhibit of truly historic proportions”. In the three months the exhibition ran, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History attracted more than 1.6 million visitors. From July through November 2005, The Pink Star again took centre stage, this time at the 'Diamonds' exhibition held at the Natural History Museum, in London. “This exhibition will bring together many of the most impressive single stones in the world, fascinating science, and insights into the diamond industry to tell the story of diamonds from deep in the Earth to the red carpet,” said Michael Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum. For five months, the dazzling exhibition attracted approximately 70,000 visitors a day

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What in a Diamond's carat weight.

7/26/2016

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The term “carat” is the standard unit of weight for diamonds and other gemstones. The name originates from the carob seed, which was the original unit of measure for diamond traders. In 1913 the United States implemented the modern metric carat, which is equal to 0.2 grams, and other countries soon followed. Today, a carat means the same thing everywhere in the world.
A carat can be further divided into 100 points, allowing for very precise measurements. This is critical for jewelers as even a very small weight difference can have an impact on the overall diamond value and pricing structure.
Diamond Carat Size ComparisonJust as two people, one who is tall and thin and the other who is short and stout, might weigh the same on the bathroom scale, two diamonds that appear to be different sizes might actually have the same carat weight. That’s because variations in shape and cut make diamonds of similar weights look different. Since carat weight is distributed over the entire diamond, other measurements are needed to describe the overall size:
Crown Area – this is the total surface area of the top of the diamond (measured in mm2). It shows the size of the diamond as it appears face up, similar to how we view a diamond when set in a ring.
Cut Proportions – if two diamonds are the same carat weight and shape, but one carries a larger percentage of its weight in its depth, then the table percentage (flat section at the top of the diamond) and overall crown area will be smaller, giving the impression that the diamond is smaller from the top. The photo (right) shows two 1 ct. round diamonds, but the diamond on the left is cut deeper and therefore has a smaller table percentage across the top.                                  
Shape – diamond shapes such as oval or marquise have elongated lengths, resulting in the appearance of a larger size per carat weight. Sometimes this size difference can be real, however, it can also be just an illusion based on perception. 


It is important to explain to your customers how these different factors affect the perception of diamond size. A diamond with a higher carat weight is likely to be more expensive, but may not look that much larger than a smaller carat weight diamond once set in jewelry. Help your customer find a diamond that gives the largest perception of size for the jewelry setting they like, while staying within their budget.

by Shoshi Grossman 



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Diamonds still are a girls best friend at least at the spring auctions.

5/27/2016

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Christie’s sold the GIA-graded 14.62 ct. Fancy Vivid blue Oppenheimer Blue diamond in Geneva on May 18 – the largest Fancy Vivid blue ever to come up for sale. Not to be outdone, Sotheby’s Geneva sold the 15.38 ct. GIA-graded Fancy Vivid pink Unique Pink diamond, the largest diamond of that grade ever to go under the hammer. The $31.6 million price came in at the lower end of the pre-sale estimate for the diamond mined in the old Kimberley deposits in South Africa. A 5.09 ct. GIA-graded Fancy Vivid green diamond will provide the finale for the 2016 spring season. The diamond, tracked from rough to rectangle cut and mounted in a ring surrounded by Fancy pink melee, is expected to sell for $16 to $20 million.
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A 57 Million Dollar Diamond WOW!

5/27/2016

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Big diamonds – really big ones– dominated the news in May. Christie’s sold the 14.62 carat (ct.) Oppenheimer Blue for the highest price ever paid for any gemstone at auction: $57.5 million. Also, mining company Lucara Diamond Corp. auctioned one of its major finds − a 812.77 ct. rough − for over $63 million and will sell its 1,109 ct. rough diamond named Lesedi La Rona at the end of next month.

Lucara auctioned the 812.7 ct. diamond May 8 with the winning bid going to a Dubai-based firm, Nemesis International. It was a record price for a rough diamond and unlike most diamond tenders, which are outright sales, it was for a 90% share in the stone, with the remainder held by Lucara.

The record price will certainly buoy expectations for Sotheby’s June 29 auction of Lucara’s 1,109 ct. stone – the second largest rough diamond ever found. That auction will be very public, conducted at Sotheby’s in London. Lucara had said it expected to sell for more than $70 million, a safe assumption after the smaller of the two fetched 90% of that price.

As if the Lesedi La Rona’s 1,109 carats (originally reported at 1,111 cts.) were not large enough, the company announced that a 374 ct. rough found the day before had once been part of it. The company said it did not know if the piece broke off naturally or during the mining process.

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ONCE IN A BLUE MOON DIAMOND

11/11/2015

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GENEVA - Once in a blue moon, the earth sends forth a coloured diamond. Intense and intriguing, the stone may be yellow, pink, orange or violet, yet its fiery brilliance and exquisite colour – the most powerful emotional triggers in a gem – always come together with dramatic effect. Among these coveted stones (there is one for every 10,000 gem-quality white diamonds found), the blue diamond is considered the rarest, most captivating and most enigmatic treasure.
A fabulous fluke of nature, a blue diamond is produced by the random presence of the atomic lattice-bound trace element boron within the stone’s carbon structure during its formation deep in the earth’s core. The earliest known blue diamond came from the legendary Kollur mine in the Golconda, a region of India that produced such famous examples as the Idol’s Eye (15th century) and the Hope Diamond (17th century), perhaps the most fabled gemstone on the planet. Later, in the early 18th century, blue diamonds were occasionally found in Brazil. But today the Premier Mine at Cullinan, some 40 kilometres east of Pretoria, South Africa, is the only one known to yield blue diamonds with any regularity. However, discoveries are still sporadic and always astonishing occurrences. Indeed, since the mine was acquired by Jersey-based Petra Diamonds in 2008, out of the eighteen million tonnes mined and five million carats recovered, only five world-class blue diamonds have emerged from Cullinan, or less than 0.1 per cent of the mine’s annual yield.I TS SOFTNESS AND NOBLE LINES NOT ONLY CELEBRATE THE STONE’S OTHER-WORLDLINESS, BUT ALSO ENHANCE ITS TONE AND SATURATION.”


THE BLUE MOON BEING PRESENTED TO THE PRESS AT SOTHEBY’S IN LONDON IN SEPTEMBER 2015.All of that changed in January 2014 with the appearance of a 29.62-carat rough blue diamond crystal. Following much press excitement, the diamond was purchased by Cora International, one of the world’s leading firms specialising in cutting large important diamonds. Cora’s experts spent approximately six months deliberating, planning and painstakingly cutting the rough into a magnificent cushion-cut 12.03-carat diamond of perfect proportions. In its detailed monograph, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) classified the diamond as “fancy vivid blue” and “internally flawless,” hailing it as a “rare wonder.” A pinnacle of perfection with top classifications, the stone was named the Blue Moon and garnered much attention when it went on view at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in August 2014. But when the exhibition closed this past January, the Blue Moon retreated to a vault.
One of the largest known fancy vivid blue diamonds, the Blue Moon is now re-emerging as the dazzling centrepiece of Sotheby’s November sale of Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels in Geneva. The last time a vivid blue diamond was polished from the rough was in 2009, when the 7.03-carat Star of Josephine, from the same Cullinan mine as the Blue Moon, fetched $9.5 million at Sotheby’s Geneva, then a record price per carat for any diamond.
The Blue Moon will be collectors’ ultimate object of desire, as well as one of tomorrow’s historic diamonds. For David Bennett, Sotheby’s Worldwide Chairman for Jewellery, the Blue Moon represents “the most mysterious and romantic” of coloured diamonds, its deep blue giving it a hypnotic magnetism. Almost other-worldly, unknowable and absolute, this spectacular specimen is simply awe-inspiring.
Beyond exceptional colour, brilliance and clarity, the Blue Moon, classified as a type IIb diamond, radiates with a captivating inner life. According to the GIA, type IIb diamonds are electrically conductive and known to phosphoresce, usually turning dark blue or green under ultraviolet light. Remarkably, the Blue Moon phosphoresces red, which infuses it with a flaming passion, another extraordinary quality.
Maximising these natural gifts, the Blue Moon also demonstrates diamond cutting’s new levels of excellence and expertise. The world’s elite diamond cutters have the ability to see into the heart of a stone, unveiling its secrets while understanding its intricate structure. Cutting and polishing a coloured diamond of immense value requires exceptional intuition, skill and experience, not to mention diamantine nerves, which the Blue Moon’s realisation embodies to the highest degree. Its exquisite cutting is clearly the result of a true art form, a blend of art and science, of the superrational with the hyper-instinctive. It should be noted that blue diamonds pose very specific challenges to gem cutters. Unlike white diamonds, type IIb blue diamonds are rarely symmetrical in structure; their internal angles are often likened to the knots in a piece of wood, making the cutter’s work all the more perilous. In addition, such stones often reveal uneven colour distribution, known as colour zoning, another parameter for the cutter to consider. One miscalculation, one slip, can mean the colour disappears entirely.
But while a blue diamond may present the greatest challenge for the diamond cutter, technical advances and increased understanding of coloured diamonds have also enabled experts to deepen precious stones’ intensity and illuminate their hues more than ever before. That much is evident in the Blue Moon’s cushion brilliant cut: its softness and noble lines not only celebrate the stone’s other-worldliness, but also enhance its tone and saturation, transforming our perception of the coloured diamond from mineralogical curiosity to refined work of art – impossibly rare, limited only by nature and discovered only once in a blue moon.
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A beautiful example of a purplish pink diamond

5/16/2015

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A gorgeous 7.47 carat Fancy Purplish Pink type IIa IF diamond ring (a very rare clarity grade and type) sold for $2,602,376 or $348,377 per carat, supports the value given to such rare fancy color diamonds.

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Beautiful Kashmir Sapphire

5/16/2015

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A 35.09 carat Kashmir Sapphire (the leading mine for blue sapphires, and the most valuable source) was sold for $7,450,045 or $212,312 per carat.

 


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 Sothebys to sell 100 ct perfect diamond.  Click on link http://www.artmarketmonitor.com/2015/02/13/sothebys-to-sell-100ct-perfect-diamond-in-new-york/

2/16/2015

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THE JEWELRY OF DOWNTON ABBEY

1/27/2015

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Downton Abbey is one of the most popular shows on television, and its authentic costumes and jewelry are part of its charm.

When Caroline McCall, costume designer for the show, wanted jewelry for seasons three and four, she turned to Andrew Prince, a designer with an encyclopedic knowledge of jewelry history and impeccable credentials. Prince created tiaras and jewelry for the 2005 British comedy, Mrs. Henderson Presents (starring Dame Judi Dench); jewelry for the 2009 film, The Young Victoria (starring Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson); and is a successful designer of his own collection of period pieces .Working for a show like Downton Abbey is a considerable achievement, and Prince shared his thoughts with GIA about the experience: “It was an absolute thrill to work with Caroline McCall and to be associated with such a hugely successful series. It’s wonderful to see my jewelry being worn by this amazing cast, and adding a little more sparkle to the sumptuous costumes and surroundings of Downton Abbey.”

Prince brought an art historian’s eye to his jewelry. Even the stones were fashioned to mirror the cutting styles of the Edwardian and Art Deco eras. Unlike most costume jewelry used on movie and television sets, Prince’s was made of bronze, brass, sterling silver, palladium, Swarovski crystals, cubic zirconia, and synthetic gemstones. McCall selected items from Prince's collection, and asked him to create appropriate pieces of jewelry for Lady Violet Crawley (played by Dame Maggie Smith), Lady Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern), Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), and several of the other actresses. The jewelry Lady Violet Crawley wears in the photo on the left says much about her personality.

Prince shared his thoughts on the cast photo. He explained that Lady Violet wore the most splendid, formal gems with an air of complete nonchalance, while the beautiful younger ladies had fun with more modern styles. By season four, Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael) has become much more fashion conscious and daring, while her wild young cousin, Lady Rose MacClare, (Lily James) has embraced all the latest styles of the Jazz Age.

Another character whose jewelry is telling is Lady Cora, who married into British aristocracy. Prince noted that, as an American heiress, Lady Cora would have had the money and access to the greatest designers of the age. These individuals could be very demanding, insisting on the latest designs and the highest quality. He added that there was no British reserve to hold them back.
The show has since moved through time, from the Belle Époque period (1871 – 1914) to the Art Deco era (1920s – 1930s). Lady Rose is a spirited and rebellious young woman who epitomizes the fashionable flapper of the 1920s. Her personality is revealed by a glittering bandeau. Prince shared some final thoughts on the artistic periods that are so much a part of Downton Abbey: “I particularly love the Belle Époque – such refinement and delicacy. Design mattered more than the monetary value of the stones and precious metals used. The beauty of jewelry from that age lay in its construction. It was all so different and opulent.”
Now that you know something about the creation and selection of jewelry for the characters of Downton Abbey, you might enjoy another aspect of the show. And you may find that you have a deeper understanding and appreciation of period jewelry – knowledge that’s essential for industry professionals. (From GIA website)

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JEWELRY IS A BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSION OF WHAT MEMORIES ARE MADE OF