Hope Diamond
Hope Diamond, also known as Le bleu de France is a large, 45.52 carats deep-blue diamond.
A French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier was sold an extraordinary ‘blue-violet’ stone by a slave.
He never knew that it was the largest deep blue diamond in the world.
The Hope Diamond dates back to the 17th century India and is said to be cursed.
It now rests in Smithsonian Institute Washington DC.
It is classified as a Type Iib diamond and has a long history.
It is known to have changed hands numerous times on its way from India to France to England and to the United States.
After the Mona Lisa, it is the second most-visited artwork in the world.
Its estimated value is $2000-$2500 million.
Star of India
Weighing a massive 563.35 carats, the Star of India is the largest and most famous star sapphire in the world.
It is almost flawless and unusual in that it has stars on both sides of the stone.
The greyish blue gem was mined in Sri Lanka and is now kept in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The Star of India was stolen from American Museum but was recovered from a highly unlikely place — a locker in a bus station!
Star of Africa
Also known as the Cullinan I, the Star of Africa is a stunning pear-shaped diamond that weighs about 530.20 carats.
The Star of Africa is the second largest cut diamond in the world.
It can be viewed with the other Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
Its estimated value is over $400 million
The Tiffany Yellow Diamond
Discovered in 1878 in the Kimberly mines of South Africa, this stone weighed around 287.42 carats and is considered to be one of the largest yellow diamonds in the world.
The stone was purchased by New York jeweller Charles Tiffany.
His gemologist, George Frederick Kunz, studied the gem for a year before beginning to cut it; reducing it from 287 carats (57.5g) to its current size.
The cutting was carried out in Paris.
It was mounted by Jean Schlumberger.
Its estimated value is over $400 million.
Queen Marie of Romania’s Sapphire
The enormous blue sapphire is of Sri Lankan origin.
This giant rectangular cushion-shaped sapphire, in a breathtaking deep blue cornflower colour, is also one of the largest and most historic sapphires of the world.
Somewhat more narrow at one end than the other (creating a sort of drop effect) came up for auction on November 19, 2003 at Christies of Geneva, Lot 382, Sale 1312.
The stone’s pre-lot text was ‘Property of a Noble Family’ and the estimate for the stone, set in a necklace, is 1,200,000 to 1,800,000 Swiss francs (about $879,100 to $1,318,600).
