Green rocks!

24-Carat Dresden green diamond surrounded with 382 black diamonds.


I'm sure you've heard about different colored diamonds--black diamonds, yellow ice and J.Lo's pink ones, right? But have you seen a green diamond?

If you haven't, that's because they are rare! In fact, there's only one that has been reported to exist. The Dresden green diamond, which came from South Africa, gained its hue naturally millions of years ago when it was exposed to an unknown source of radiation.

Price tag: $7.3 million


Gruosi, the founder of the Swiss jewelry house de Grisogono, had the diamond cut from a rough, 100-carat stone that he acquired eight years ago . He describes the gem as the finest modern specimen of a green diamond, eclipsed only by the 40.70-carat (uncut) Dresden Green, which dates to at least the early 18th century.

According to de Gruosi, the 40.70-carat (uncut) Dresden Green is the largest and finest natural green diamond ever discovered. The earliest mention of the stone appears in an obscure 1722 London news sheet article that recounted diamond merchant Marcus Moses’ meeting with King George I. According to the article, the king viewed the gem and was “very much pleased with the sight thereof. It is said there never was seen the like in Europe before, being free from any defect in the world . . . .” However, Moses evidently did not close the deal with the British monarch, because 20 years later, Frederick Augustus II, the king of Saxony, purchased the diamond from the merchant. (The stone takes its name from Dresden, the city that was the capital of Saxony, which is now a region of Germany.)


http://www.degrisogono.com
http://robbreport.com
Photos by: Ted Morrison