Yellow Diamonds Sold, Found and Broke Records

May 16th, 2013 by Noam Flint

Good news for lovers of yellow diamonds: the largest rhomboid-cut diamond ever certified by the Gemological Institute of America went on display a week ago and can still be seen by appointment. However, bad news for thieves and rogues who love yellow diamonds: the exclusive group of gemologists who is known as “The One and Only One” will only show the gem at one of several secret locations! In fact, they won’t even say what the stone is worth to them until they screen you! But the extreme security measures are understandable: the fancy vivid yellow stone dubbed the “Golden Dragon” weighs in excess of 90 carats! We wonder if its price will break a record on its own.

3 Yellow Diamond Rings sold by Bonhams

Spectacular yellow stones have been selling for small fortunes of late. Last month Bonhams auctioned off over 180 items of fine jewelry at its New York City salesroom and among them were three interesting yellow pieces. The first was an 5.61-carat old European-cut natural fancy yellow diamond ring, which obliterated pre-sale expectations and selling for $146,000 (three times the expected price). The second was a 15.45-carat rectangular cut fancy yellow diamond solitaire ring, which netted an impressive $302,5000. The third was a Bulgari ring mounted with a radiant cut intense yellow diamond weighing 21.07 carat and flanked by triangular colorless diamonds weighing 3.52 carat – the latter sold for $590,000.

A neglectable amount compared to the 5.3 carat Bulgari deep blue diamond they sold two weeks ago for $9.6 million dollars.

73.52 carat Yellow Diamond Found

It was also a yellow stone that lifted Rockwell Diamonds to a quarter of increased diamond sales figures, the firm announced this past week. Rockwell’s Klipdam diamond mine in South Africa actually produced fewer sellable gems during the last three months of its fiscal year, but its sale of several 10-plus-carat stones – and most of all a massive 73.52-carat fancy yellow diamond – led the diamond mining company to a 14% increase in its sales of stones from Klipdam and a 19% increase in its sales from all of its projects.

74.53 carat Fancy Yellow Diamond at Sotheby’s

This very week another large yellow stone of historical note played a crucial role at Sotheby’s Magnificent and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva. Among the items expected to fetch the largest purse at auction was a 74.53-carat cushion-cut fancy yellow diamond which once belonged to the Persian Sultan Ahmed Shah Qajar. The Shah was the last of the Qajar dynasty and the third-last monarch to rule Iran before the title was abolished following a popular uprising in 1979. The amazing diamond was predicted to sell for no less than $1.35 million and actually sold for over $2,950,000 – once again more than doubling the estimated price.