Famous Diamonds: The Heart of Eternity Blue Diamond
We now continue our "Famous Diamonds" series with one of the most valuable blue diamonds in the world - "The Heart of Eternity". This precious gemstone comes from the depths of South Africa, home to some of the rarest and most expensive natural fancy color diamonds ever know.
The breathtakingly beautiful blue diamond was first estimated in the year 2000 to be worth roughly 16 million dollars, based on its size and color. But, taking into consideration the unprecedented demand for this rare variety of diamond, and the fact that is very slightly included, the current estimated value, according to some experts, could be around 28 million dollars.
The precious stone that became the unique "Heart of Eternity Diamond" was discovered in the world's largest supplier of blue diamonds - the Sought African Premier Diamond Mine.
After the designs were all in place, the master cutters of the Steinmetz Group started doing their magic. And they did an exceptionally brilliant job. As its name suggests, "The Heart of Eternity" was cut into a perfect heart shape and ended up weighing a total of 27.64 carats.
"The Heart of Eternity" was one of the eleven extremely rare blue diamonds that were presented to the world in January 2000 by the "De Beers Group", in order to celebrate the new millennium. These exquisite pieces that became part of the "Millennium Diamond Collection" were gathered over many years, with the "crown jewel" being the famous 203.04-carat "Millennium Star".
„To be able to unveil not only one diamond, but a collection of such rarity that most of us will not see it's like again, is, I think, the only adequate way to mark the passage of 2000 years of man's history,” commented at the opening event
Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman of the De Beers Company.
The unique color of "The Heart of Eternity"
Blue diamonds are extremely rare, and therefore highly desired and expensive. They are eagerly sought after by collectors of diamonds from all around the world.
The blue color of diamonds is caused by the incorporation of minute traces of boron in the crystal structure of the diamond. According to "Internet Stones", the blue color may not be evenly spread throughout the stone and sometimes parts of a blue gem may be totally white. Few stones have an intensely saturated color.
Credit: Petra Diamonds Limited
As such, "The Heart of Eternity" is considered one of the most beautiful blue diamonds in the world and one of the rarest of the fancy color diamond family. The remarkable 27.64-carat gem is renowned for the intensity of its color.
The Gemological Institute of America rated its color as "Fancy Vivid Blue".
„To get a beautiful pure blue stone is truly a professional challenge,” said Nir Livant, who headed the team of cutters of the Steinmetz Group that made the mesmerizing perfect blue Heart of Eternity Diamond.
The experts from the Gemological Institute of America graded the precious stone with VS2 clarity. That is to say that a 10x magnification would be needed to see any inclusions otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
"The Heart of Eternity" is rated as the 6th largest blue diamond in the whole world.
