Aurora Green Diamond – The Largest Vivid Green Diamond Ever

May 12th, 2016 by Noam Flint

Natural green diamonds are a controversial subject in the world of natural fancy color diamonds. The question that is often discussed is exactly how rare and valuable are green diamonds?

They almost never appear at auctions, unlike blue, pink and yellow diamonds, but they also do not result in final prices that would reflect their rare occurrence. Why is this the case? What does this have to do with the largest ever Fancy Vivid Green diamond that is up for auction in Hong Kong in May, the 5.03 carat Fancy Vivid Green ‘Aurora Green’ diamond?

Aurora Green Diamond

The Rarity of Green Diamonds

It is a well-accepted fact that red is the rarest diamond color in the world, followed by blue and pink diamonds. However, green diamonds often do not receive this consideration. Perhaps it is because they are simply not as popularized in the public eye, but they are not categorized as one of the top 3 rarest diamond colors. The truth is that they are almost as rare, but because they are not in as high demand, they do not receive an equal amount of press time and a subsequent strong demand from the world at large.

The color green appears naturally in diamonds when the diamond is exposed to radiation underground during its formation under the earth. This phenomenon happens incredibly rarely and natural green diamonds are very difficult to discover in diamond mines. Occasionally, a diamond of a different color will have a green overtone, such as a blue-green diamond or a yellow-green diamond. However, pure green diamonds hardly ever occur, and those of Fancy Vivid Green are the rarest of all. That makes them priced the highest of all as well. However, they are still not as in demand as red, pink or blue diamonds and therefore they are not as expensive in per carat price or total price.

Since they are not as popular as red, blue or pink diamonds, they do not qualify as investment diamonds but rather as collectors’ diamonds, and true fancy color diamond collectors pride themselves on owning green diamonds as a part of their collection, not as an asset to resell after a given time period.

Are Green Diamonds Really That Rare?

In the last 40 years or so since natural fancy color diamonds have been appearing at auction, there has been only a handful of natural green diamonds to appear. Since 2003, only a single Fancy Vivid green was ever sold, a 2.54 carat Fancy Vivid Green VS1 diamond. At its Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction on November 17, 2009, it sold for a record price of $1.222 million per carat, or $3.08 million total. Any other green diamonds to ever appear at auction in the last 40 years was not Vivid but either a Fancy or Intense color intensity.

Vivid Green Diamond 2.54 carat

The Aurora Green

Christie’s Hong Kong will auction the ‘Aurora Green’ diamond, a rare 5.03 carat Fancy Vivid Green diamond on May 31. It special not only because of its size, which makes it the largest ever Fancy Vivid Green diamond ever sold at auction, but also because of its VS2 clarity, and that it has no fluorescence, which is extremely rare for such a diamond. Just to put it in perspective, it is twice the size of the largest Fancy Vivid Green diamond ever offered at auction – and that diamond sold for $3.08 million! And don’t forget that the price per carat of a diamond increases with size.

Interestingly, according to Christie’s insiders, it is believed that the diamond is valued at a price between $16 million and $20 million, or $3.18 million to $3.98 million per carat. That means that its low estimate of its per carat price is greater than the total price of the only other pure Fancy Vivid Green diamond ever auctioned!

Aurora Green Diamond Ring

Once, Twice, … SOLD – The Aurora goes for $16.8 Million

As fitted to such a mesmerizing diamond and as customary Christie’s has saved the best for last and the supreme green diamond did not fail.

At the end of the bidding the astounding price for this astounding diamond was $115 Million HKD which is the equivalent of $16.8 Million US Dollars. This brings the price per carat of the Aurora Green to more than $3.3 million dollars. This price tag paid by an anonymous buyer also demolishes the record that was achieved back in 2014 by the Ocean Dream Diamond – a 5.5 carat vivid blue-green that sold for $8.6 million total – 1.5 million dollars per carat.

Interestingly, at the same auction Christie’s also presented a 2.08 carat vivid bluish green diamond with vs1 clarity. It was sold for $2,178,035.

Vivid Bluish Green Diamond 2.08 carat

Watch the amazing moment when the winning bid is announced:

To watch all other magnificent items Christie’s presented at this sale visit here