10.6-Carat Fancy Blue Diamond Has an Asking Price of $9.8 Million

The "Royal Blue" diamond

A 10.6-carat fancy blue diamond known as the “Royal Blue” is available through M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans. The asking price is $9.8 million.
 
Blue diamonds are among the rarest in the world so it seems unusual that this cut-corned, modified brilliant cut gem is the second significant blue diamond to appear on sale in August. A week earlier, Sotheby’s Hong Kong announced that it is offering a 7.59-carat round fancy vivid blue diamond that is estimated to fetch $19 million.

This stone has a VVS1 clarity grade, notable for having “very, very slight” inclusions, according to the report from the Gemological Institute of America. It is one step away from being graded as “internally flawless” under the GIA scale. The chemical that creates the blue in diamonds is boron, which this gem has.

The diamond is set on a platinum and rose gold ring surrounded by vivid pink and colorless diamonds.

Fewer than 0.3 percent of all colored diamonds graded by GIA were predominately blue. Gem expert and dealer Robert Procop, also the co-designer of Style of Jolie jewels with Angelina Jolie, knows as much as anyone when it comes to the rarity and historical significance of these gems.

“Blue diamonds are rarely discovered and only a few have been found over centuries of mining, making it one of the rarest gems of the world,” he said. “(They) have also been the most gifted by royalty and historical figures making them the most mysterious and precious of jewels. I rarely see a blue diamond that I do not admire.”

Large fancy blue diamonds have been sold for record-breaking figures at auctions and other sales, several have had illustrious provenance through its mine origins and ownership throughout centuries. The most famous blue is the Hope Diamond, last purchased by famed luxury jeweler, Harry Winston, who donated it to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1958.

The asking price for the “Royal Blue” ring is more than $924,500 per carat, which seems a bit steep, particularly since it has no known provenance. However, it is only about half of the per-carat price of a 5.30 blue diamond purchased by another famed jeweler, Laurence Graff, at a Bonhams auction in London in April 2013. The final price was $9.6 million or $1.8 million per carat.

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Susy Gubelin, Tom Moses Join in the Judging of the JNA Awards

Susy Gubelin and Tom Moses

Susy Gubelin of the Gubelin Gem Lab and Tom Moses, Gemological Institute of America senior VP, Laboratory and Research, have become gem expert advisors to the panel of judges of the JNA Awards 2012. Their expertise will be used specifically on the "Wonder of the World" category, which recognizes rare and precious natural gem material.

Judging for the "Wonder of the World" category will take place on September 19 and the recipient of the award will be announced during the JNA Awards ceremony and gala dinner on September 20 at the The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong. GIA and the Gubelin Gem Lab will be the official gem testing laboratories for this category.

“To have the world's two leading gem laboratories advising the JNA Awards judging panel attests to the importance and recognition of this award in the international gemstone industry,” said Letitia Chow, founder of JNA and director of Business Development - Jewellery Group at UBM Asia, and the Chair of the JNA Awards judging panel.

At the ceremony, JNA will also be honoring Nicky Oppenheimer, former chairman of De Beers Group, with a Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize his significant contribution to the global diamond business, particularly in Asia.

The shortlisted honorees for the first nine categories of the JNA Awards were announced on the first day of the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The JNA Awards is an industry-wide event that honors and recognizes excellence and achievement in the jewelry trade. The event, the first of its kind in Asia, is organized by Jewellery News Asia of UBM Asia in collaboration with UBM Awards.

The JNA Awards 2012 is a ticketed event by application only. Interested parties may submit their request by logging onto www.JNAawards.com.

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GIA to Hold Classes in Botswana

The Gemological Institute of America will offer Diamond Grading Lab classes in Gaborone, Botswana, in April and September 2011. The classes will offer a practical, hands-on approach to learning, and are designed to help Botswana increase local employment and enhance career development within its diamond production industry.

The classes teach students to grade diamonds in the D-Z color range, including how to detect synthetics, treatments, simulants and fracture-filled diamonds. Students also learn how to use the GIA International Diamond Grading System and the 4Cs (Color, Cut, Clarity, Carat weight).

The classes are five days in length and will be offered at the GIA Botswana campus in Gaborone. Students can choose from four sessions: April 11-15, April 18-22, Sept. 12-16 and Sept. 19-23.

GIA Education programs offered in Botswana are accredited by the Government of Botswana. The education reimbursement initiative was determined by the Botswana Training Authority, a regulatory body of the government that coordinates and monitors training provided by vocational training institutions.