Although this month's birthstone is Emerald, and I had been planning on making my first post in May a review of some beautiful jewellery designs using the stone, I couldn't ignore the recent news about blue diamonds.  Colored diamonds have been in the jewelry industry headlines for months (years?) for both their beauty and controversy,  but this month sees some extra special romance and glamour attached to blue variations of the stones.

The first blue diamond in the news came from the huge rough stone found in South Africa last year, which has now been cut and polished and set in a suitably simple ring, showcasing the stone in all of it's splendor.  Weighing in at over 7 carats (7.03 to be precise) the stone is expected to break the record price ever paid for a diamond when it is auctioned in Geneva next week. 

High estimates for the winning bid are $8.5 million,  and the winning bidder will also have the honor of naming the rare gem.

The stone comes from the Cullinan mine, the same mine which produced the second largest diamond in the world,  the Great Star of Africa, which is 530 carats and is set in the Crown Jewels.  This blue diamond is also currently in England,  as it is being displayed atSotheby's world famous auction house until it is shipped to Geneva to be sold. 

Blue diamonds are exceptionally rare, and representatives of the mine said that they discover only one or two stones per year out of the two to three million tons of rock which is mined.   Their color is due to the presence of the chemical boron.   The Gemological Institue of America has rated the diamond as flawless.

Speaking of the GIA, their Spring issue of Gems and Gemology include a feature on Blue diamonds,  including the intriguing story of the Hope Diamond and the French Blue diamond.  The story of the two stones is the stuff of novels,  as legend has it that the Hope Diamond was carved from the original French Blue stone after it went missing during the French Revolution in 1792.   The article highlights new computer models which lend credibility to this theory,  surely giving writers around the world inspiration for a historical drama spanning continents and generations of rebels, nobles and the tragic curse that the Hope Diamond is supposed to hold.

The stone actually dates back to even earlier version, the first of which was documented in Jean-Baptiste Travernier's journals,  which contained sketches and mentions of the diamonds that he brought to Europe from his travels in India.   The stone was then acquired by King Louis XIV,  and in 1678 King Louis XIV commissioned the royal jeweler,Sieur Pitau, to re cut the stone to be used as a pendant.

After being stolen during the French Revolution, the diamond disappeared from history,  although a smaller blue stone (which later become known as the Hope diamond ) appeared 20 years later, in London, coincidentally precisely upon the expiration of the statute of limitations for the original theft of the French Blue.