When it comes to fancy colored diamonds, blue is one of the most popular and sought after colors, but is very rare as a natural gemstone, so be ready for some sticker shock when planning your purchase. The steel blue tone of a natural blue diamond brings to mind a rolling deep sea, as opposed to other blue stones like aquamarine or sapphires, which are brighter like the sky or a tropical cove. The reason for the blue shade is the amount of the element Boron that is present in the earth during formation. Boron is also conductive to electricity, and therefore some blue diamonds are also!
As with all fancy colored diamonds, if you are looking for a specific shade or hue, a lab-grown diamond or color-treated natural diamond might be the best choice, especially considering the absolute rarity of natural blue diamonds. Color-treated blue diamonds tend towards turquoise and are rich in their hue. Lab-grown blue diamonds come in the purest of delicate blue-gray shades, similar to natural diamonds, and are quite lovely to behold.
The most famous natural blue diamond is the ‘Hope Diamond’, a 45.52 carat fancy dark grayish blue in color and named after Mr Hope of London, donated by Harry Winston to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The estimated value of this diamond is about $250 Million.
Loose Blue Diamonds
