Breaking: Breathtaking 122.52-carat Blue Diamond Discovered – Largest Ever

June 14th, 2014 by Noam Flint

Certainly, blue diamonds are among the most beautiful products of nature – but they’re also one of the rarest. In terms of colored diamonds, this hue is hard to come by, which is why any discovery of these gemstones is exciting.

It’s even more thrilling when the blue diamond in question has an impressive carat weight and remarkable quality on its side. To the delight of diamond enthusiasts and collectors, Reuters reported that an “exceptional” blue stone was recently found at the Cullinan mine in South Africa – the source of some of the most famous diamonds in history. This isn’t just any blue gem, however – it weighs an unbelievable 122.52 carats.

As said in the statement by Petra Diamonds:

The rarity of a blue diamond of this magnitude sets it apart as a truly significant find”

The largest blue diamond in the world!

While it is still impossible to know how much the polished diamond would weigh, it currently takes the position of the largest uncut blue diamond in the world.

Previously, the record belonged to the Tavernier Blue – (aka the French Blue) – that weighed ~112 before polishing and was later lost and assumed to be cut into the Hope Diamond.

SEE ALSO: The Darya-ye Noor – World’s Largest Pink Diamond

From mine to auction

Reuters reported that Petra is now looking to analyze the stone to determine its potential value before identifying the ideal route to market.

There’s no telling when you’ll be able to bid on this stunner, but the firm stated that the diamond would not be sold until after the current financial year is over, June 30. FinnCap analyst Martin Potts said that a 507-carat white diamond, also from the Cullinan mine, holds the current record of the highest price paid for a rough diamond at $35.3 million. Potts expects this new blue diamond to smash that record, however.

How much is a 122 carat blue diamond worth?

Petra Diamonds Limited is a publicly traded company in London under the symbol PDL. The amazing finds they had during the past 5 years did not go unnoticed. The stock increased approximately 465% during that time. 8% only yesterday with the announcement of this new find.

It seems, that even though no exact information was released, the market (or analysts) have a strong idea of much the one of a kind 122 carat blue diamond is worth!

7.72% increase in the stock of a company that has a market cap of $922 Million is the equivalent of approximately $66 Million Dollars. Assuming that no other major changes occurred yesterday – $66 Million is the estimated value of this new find! – the market has spoken!

Other fetching finds by Petra and the Cullinan mine

Since acquiring the mine in 2008, Petra Diamonds made a number of significant diamond discoveries – especially blue ones. In fact, mere months ago, Petra sold a 29.6-carat blue diamond unearthed there for more than $25 million, or $862,780 per carat. In 2013, the 25.5-carat Cullinan blue fetched $16.9 million. Additionally, the 7.0-carat Star of Josephine, an Internally Flawless fancy vivid blue diamond, raked in $9.49 million in 2008.

According to Petra’s website, the Cullinan mine has produced over 750 diamonds that weigh more than 100 carats, 130 that exceed 200 carats in weight and even more impressive, one-quarter of all stones discovered there weigh more than 400 carats.

While the blue diamonds produced by the Cullinan have undoubtedly made a dazzling impression, some other noteworthy colored and white diamonds have come out of this mine as well. To name a few: the pear-shaped white Premier Rose diamond, the Internally Flawless pear-shaped Niarchos, the De Beers Centenary colorless diamond and of course, the famous Taylor-Burton diamond.

In 2010, the Cullinan Heritage, which weighed 507 carats before cutting and polishing, was sold for $35.3 million, setting a record at the time for the highest price on record for a rough diamond.

The most famous, however, is no doubt the Cullinan Diamond. When it was found in 1905, it weighed a staggering 3,106.75 carats in the rough. The jaw-dropping gem was cut into nine large diamonds and 96 smaller ones, the largest piece of which is known as the Cullinan ,I or the Great Star of Africa, and weighs 530.40 carats. Up until the discovery of the Golden Jubilee, a 545.67 carat brown diamond from the same mine, it was the largest polished colored diamond in existence.

The beauty of blue

It should come as no surprise from simply looking at blue diamonds that they are increasingly sought-after by collectors. As explained by Petra, the exquisite color exhibited by these diamonds can be attributed to traces of boron that becomes trapped in the crystal lattice while the gemstone is forming. Petra also noted that nearly every single blue diamond evaluated by the GIA can be classified as a Type IIb diamond.

Grading a colored diamond’s hue is a two-factor process. After a gem has been determined to be blue, the second aspect to take into consideration is the intensity, which can range from “fancy vivid” to “faint.” As a general rule, the more intense the color, the higher the price tag of the stone.

Such diamonds can take years to polish.
But in the meanwhile, do you think it would sell for $66 Million?