Biggest and Rare Blue Diamonds Found in South Africa
This Blue Diamond is about the size of a strawberry and weighs a little less than three pounds of coins. But if you have this rare blue beauty in your pocket, you will carry around a Diamond that can be worth more than £ 60million. The 'ordinary' 122.5 carat blue diamond is dug in the Cullinan mine in South Africa which is famous for producing giant gems.
A Blue Diamond from the mine was taken 508,000 pounds per carat earlier this year. If this bigger one reaches the same valuation, it will cost £ 62million - breaking the Blue Diamond price record so far. Anyone who buys it, however, will hope to be more fortunate than the famous blue owner Diamond Hope. This should put a curse on those who have it, as guillotined Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette discover.
The newly discovered diamond was excavated by Jersey-based Petra Diamonds in a mine near Pretoria. One industry insider said it was almost unheard of to find a blue stone weighing more than 100 carats.
This stone is bright blue and very clear, and has the potential to be a very valuable diamond, "Petra said. The Cullinan mine has produced many large blue diamonds, which are considered as prima donna of precious stones. The mine was obtained by Petra in 2008. The company also operates in Botswana and Tanzania In 1905, the African Star blue diamond, the second largest cut diamond in the world, was found in the Cullinan mine.
The Cullinan Mine, located northeast of Pretoria South Africa, has been known as a mine producing hundreds of precious rocks, especially blue diamonds. Previously a rough 26.6-carat diamond found in the same place in May 2009 was cut to near-perfect stones and sold for just under 10 million dollars at Sotheby's auction. The diamond was given the name "Star of Josephine" by its new owner.
Other blue diamonds found in Cullinan were sold at an auction for 10.8 million US dollars last year and broke the world record for value per carat. In 1905, the "Star of Africa" blue diamond - the second largest cut diamond in the world - was also found in the Cullinan mine. The 530-carat pear shaped diamond is a gift to King Edward VII and is a collection of British crown gems.
This stone is bright blue and very clear, and has the potential to be a very valuable diamond, "Petra said. The Cullinan mine has produced many large blue diamonds, which are considered as prima donna of precious stones. The mine was obtained by Petra in 2008. The company also operates in Botswana and Tanzania In 1905, the African Star blue diamond, the second largest cut diamond in the world, was found in the Cullinan mine.
The Cullinan Mine, located northeast of Pretoria South Africa, has been known as a mine producing hundreds of precious rocks, especially blue diamonds. Previously a rough 26.6-carat diamond found in the same place in May 2009 was cut to near-perfect stones and sold for just under 10 million dollars at Sotheby's auction. The diamond was given the name "Star of Josephine" by its new owner.
Other blue diamonds found in Cullinan were sold at an auction for 10.8 million US dollars last year and broke the world record for value per carat. In 1905, the "Star of Africa" blue diamond - the second largest cut diamond in the world - was also found in the Cullinan mine. The 530-carat pear shaped diamond is a gift to King Edward VII and is a collection of British crown gems.
