Greetings from Denver, Colorado!
Mrs. Jones is visiting the 5280 city and what magnificent weather we are experiencing. Just gorgeous. There is nothing like the blue sky of Colorado, I call it Colorado blue. Speaking of blue, I was reading an article in the Bonhams magazine about one of their recent jewelry sales that took place in April of this year. A huge blue and white diamond ring was offered as the last lot of the auction in London. During the past ten years, fewer than 30 blue diamonds of more than five carats have been auctioned, and there was a crackle of expectation that records would be broken. The estimate for the ring was $1.5 million to $2.3 million dollars. With standing room only, the voices of the 25 staff manning the telephones increased in volume. As the price climbed, only two bidders remained. When Matthew Girling, chief executive of Bonhams Europe, brought down the hammer, a new world record had been set. The 5.3 carat diamond had gone to one of the most famous jewelers in the world, Laurence Graff, who spent a little over $9.5 million dollars, setting a record of $1.8 million dollars per carat. The "trombino" deep blue diamond ring was designed by Bulgari, circa 1965. Natural blue diamonds are among the rarest fancy color diamonds in the world. With all auction houses once again reporting record sales, I think it is safe to say the recession is over.
An important fancy deep blue diamond "Trombino" ring, circa 1965 designed by Bulgari. The diamond weighs 5.30 carats.
Fancy blue diamonds always seem to cause quite a commotion when put on the auction block. The blue diamond above is a 10.48 carat fancy deep blue briolette diamond sold at Sotheby's in November 2012. It set two new world records with its final hammer price of $10.86 million. The first record was the world auction record for price per carat for a fancy deep blue diamond and the second record was for a world auction record for a briolette cut.
The blue colour in the diamond is caused by trace elements of boron, classing it as Type IIb. Boron causes blue diamonds to become semi-conductors of electricity and the blue colour intensifies when the diamond is warm. Type IIb diamonds can also phosphoresce under short-wave UV light and glow red for several seconds.
Wish I owned one!
ttfn,
Mrs. Jones
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