STORY Seah Nida


The hottest and most expensive diamonds in the world are a cool shade of blue.

The year was 1958. A nondescript package had arrived at the Smithsonian Museum via registered first-class mail. Then, the plain brown paper wrapper was slowly peeled back to reveal its content - the world's most (in)famous diamond, the Hope Diamond.

The sender was jeweller Harry Winston, who had donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Museum and declared the unorthodox delivery as "the safest way to mail gems". For a jewel with such an illustrious history - it was part of the French crown jewels, passed from private collectors to jewellers and vice versa, and is supposedly 'cursed' - the Hope Diamond remains a valuable and rare beauty. It is a blue diamond weighing in at an impressive 45.52cts.

Today, people still love the blues. On 7 April 2010, a 5.16ct pear-shaped internally flawless fancy vivid blue diamond was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong for USD6.4 million. This was no ordinary coloured stone; it was one of 11 magnificent blue diamonds formerly in the De Beers Millennium Jewels collection, and the first to be sold at an auction since going into a private collection.

The past few years have seen an upward popularity of coloured diamonds, especially blue ones. Fierce bidding wars at auctions are an obvious indicator. Top quality diamonds are seen as a good investment as well as a valuable portable commodity, and jewellers and diamond lovers are willing to pay for them. In 2008, Laurence Graff of Graff Diamonds paid USD24.3 million for the historic 17th century Wittelsbach diamond at Christie's London. He renamed it the Wittelsbach-Graff, which was at that time the world's most expensive diamond.

The 35.56ct grey metallic blue gem boasts an illustrious history, dating back to 1664 when it was given by Philip IV of Spain to his daughter upon her marriage to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. In 1722, the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria (hence the name) came into possession of it, until it was to be sold at auction at Christie's in 1931. But it never did. The diamond mysteriously disappeared before the auction and only resurfaced in Belgium in 1951.

Why the fascination with blue? Because such diamonds are among the rarest of all gems. Diamonds with intense vivid hues and even colour distribution are especially prized, because many have grey or black patches within them. It was the reason why the De Beers Millennium Jewels collection caused such a stir when it was revealed in 2000. Alongside the Millennium Star, a 203.04ct white diamond, there were 11 blue diamonds of various shapes and weights, totalling 118cts.

Andrew Coxon, President of the De beers Institute of Diamonds and a leading expert on diamonds, had begun the collection by first personally selecting each blue rough for its potential beauty and even saturation of colour. Over a two-year period, each diamond was meticulously cut and polished by The Steinmetz Group. Coxon explains, "Each rough diamonds was carefully examined to ensure the ultimate polished gem would exhibit not only the rarest natural vivid blue colour, but also the maximum sparkle and brilliance that make the best diamonds exceptional."

Weighing in on the long-term value of such gems, he says, "Exceptional Vivid Blue diamonds are a wonder of nature and only found very occasionally. No more than two a year. The outlook for prices remains very strong as once a private collector owns such a treasure he rarely ever wants to part with it."

shows more blue diamonds on the horizon. As for the legendary Hope Diamond, it will be given a new lease of life this year. A new setting called Embracing Hope has been chosen to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the donation to the Smithsonian. Designed by Harry Winston (who else?), the Hope Diamond will be on a necklace where it is delicately embraced by ribbons of white diamonds.

For a colour that evokes the vast expanse of the sea and sky, the future is assuredly blue.