Famous Colored Diamonds

A COLORFUL HISTORY
Many of the world's most famous and expensive diamonds are natural color gems. Probably the most celebrated of them all is the Hope Diamond ... an extraordinary fancy blue diamond of 45.52 carats. It is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

Then there is the Dresden Green, a 40.70 carat apple-green diamond named after the German city where it is displayed.

One of the most outstanding yellow diamonds is the Tiffany, a 128.51 carat cushion-cut canary yellow gem.

Red and pink diamonds are extremely rare. There are only about six known red diamonds in the world. The Argyle Diamond mine in Australia is the world's foremost source of intensely pink diamonds, but only a handful are recovered each year.

The largest Champagne colored diamond is the Golden Giant which weighs 407.43 carats. At the other end of the color scale in this family is the Earth Star, a pear-shape cognac diamond of 111.59 carats.

Red
Two of the very few reds include the Halphen Red which was at one time owned by a 19th century diamond dealer of the same name. It weighed about one carat. Then there is the 5.05 carat Red Diamond. This emerald cut stone was polished by the Goudvis Brothers of Amsterdam in the 1920s. In December 2001 a 1.92ct Red diamond sold at auction for greater than $860,000 per carat.

Green
The most famous is the Dresden Green named after the city where it was displayed for 200 years. This 40.70 carat stone is apple-green in color and cut as a pendeloque. It is still on display in Dresden.

Blue
There are none more famous than the legendary Hope Diamond. An extraordinary fancy blue diamond of 45.52 carats. It is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. Argyle has achieved even higher prices in sales of blue diamonds.

Pink
The Agra Diamond has its origins in India. This light pink stone, weighing 32.34 carats was recently sold by Christie's. The Hortensia is a five-sided diamond of 20.53 carats of a pale pink color and is used as part of the French Crown Jewels. It is now displayed in the Louvre. In 1987 a .94ct Purplish Pink diamond sold for $926,000 per carat.

Yellow
The 10.73 carat Eureka Diamond is a yellowish stone, but its place in history is assured as it is considered to be the first authenticated South African diamond. The Tiffany Diamond is a cushion cut stone of 128.51 carats in the rare canary yellow category

Champagne
The Golden Giant is a giant Champagne colored diamond, which weighs 407.43 carats. It is owned by Glick of New York. The privately-owned Earth Star is a pear shape Cognac diamond of 111.59 carats.