It is sound advice, for anyone looking to invest in loose diamonds in London – or for that matter any major city – to consider placing much or all of their investment in colored diamonds. This is partly due to their extreme beauty, even compared to normal diamonds, but also their comparative rarity,. Such rarity makes them highly valuable ! Here’s the best of the best; the world’s most expensive colored diamonds, with a value beyond reckoning:
The Hope Diamond. Not just the world’s most famous blue diamond; the Hope Diamond is one of the world’s most famous diamonds, and possibly the most famous. Its origins go back to 1762, when the legendary French Blue Diamond was stolen, and this smaller gemstone cut from it. Despite its diminished proportions, the Hope Diamond is still a 45.52 carat stone, making it priceless – and thoroughly deserving of the high levels of security used to protect at its current home, the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.
The Dresden Green. This 41 carat beauty is the ultimate in green diamonds, formed when diamonds are exposed to radiation during their formation. The Dresden Green appears in historical records dating back to 1722 and has remained in Germany throughout this time, having been on display at Dresden Castle for most of the past two centuries in the same setting it was placed back in 1768 – as a hat ornament surrounded by two large and 411 medium-sized and small diamonds.
The Allnatt Diamond. This massive 101.29 carat diamond is the most valuable yellow diamond in the world. Named after one of its previous owners, Major Alfred Ernest Allnatt – who bought the mysterious gemstone in the early 1950s. Beyond that, details are sketchy: it is believed to have been found in what is known today as the De Beers Premier Diamond Mine, and is currently owned by Hong Kong’s SIBA Corporation.
The Agra Diamond. Also in possession of the SIBA Corporation, the 32 carat Agra Diamond is the most precious of all the world’s pink diamonds, and its origins are hotly disputed. It is named after the Indian city of Agra, where its first Mogul conqueror was supposedly presented with it for sparing the lives of the city’s Hindu Rajah. It was smuggled to England during the 1857 Indian Mutiny and sold to the noted London jeweler Edwin Streeter.
The Spirit of de Grisogono. Black diamonds are exceptionally rare, and a black diamond of this size – it is an astounding 312.24 carats – is among the very rarest. Cut from an original 587 carats, Swiss jeweler De Grisogono cut and shaped it, before setting in a white gold ring with 702 smaller white diamonds.
The Moussaieff Red. . The rarest colored diamonds of all are the red ones – there are only a few examples in existence. The rarest of these is the Moussaieff Red, whose weight of just 5.11 carats does not do justice to its unique status and incalculable value as the world’s largest red diamond. Discovered by a Brazilian farmer in 1990, it was purchased in 2001 by jewellery broker Shlomo Moussaieff, hence its name.