By Ehud Arye Laniadowww.ehudlaniado.com

Green Diamonds – Unique and Challenging

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Presentation by Ehud Arye Laniado

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Like so many fancy colored diamonds, green diamonds made the news recently with the announcement of yet another record-breaking sale. These magnificent gems are so unusual that they present problems for grading and evaluation that

aren’t shared by most other fancy colored diamonds.

A link to the full article can be found on the last slide of the presentation

June 2016

The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity. None of the information made available here shall constitute in any manner an offer or invitation or promotion to buy or to sell diamonds. No one should act upon any opinion or information in this website (including with respect to diamonds values) without consulting a professional qualified adviser.

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Green Diamonds – Unique and Challenging

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• Green color in diamonds is caused by exposure to radiation. This natural phenomenon occurs when diamonds come in close contact with radioactive uranium from rocks near the earth’s surface. In rare cases, this radiation can be found in groundwater sources. This makes natural green diamonds extremely rare since the conditions must be perfect and extremely fortuitous to bring these two rare phenomena together. Research shows that green diamonds are more common in alluvial deposits because diamonds can be transported to or by sources of radiation, which is more likely to occur than for radiation to exist near a kimberlitic source of diamonds.

June 2016

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Green Diamonds – Unique and Challenging

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• Irradiation can also be generated in a laboratory using a linear accelerator, gamma rays, or a nuclear reactor. After exposure to radiation, diamonds are typically heat treated, which helps to disperse the color evenly throughout the stone.

June 2016

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The Growing Rareness of Pink Diamonds

5June 2016

Dresden Green

The most famous green diamond ever found is the Dresden Green because of its size – 41 carats. The rough diamond from which it was cut was likely around 100 carats. The stone is named for the city of Dresden, the capital of Saxony in Germany where it has been on display for more than 200 years. The first recorded reference to the stone is found in a letter dated from 1726, from Baron Gautier, the "assessor" at the Geheimes Rath's Collegium in Dresden, to the Polish ambassador in London. The letter refers to the green diamond being offered to Frederick Augustus I (1694-1753) by a London merchant for £30,000.

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Green Diamonds – Unique and Challenging

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Chopard Chameleon

While not strictly a green diamond, the Chopard Chameleon is the world’s largest known example of a chameleon diamond. The 31.31-carat oval cut diamond with virtually no inclusions was acquired by Chopard in 2007, comfortably exceeding the previous record for a chameleon diamond at 22.28 carats. The stone was unveiled to the public at Baselworld 2008 and is set in a ring with a pavé setting of other small fancy colored diamonds.

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Green Diamonds – Unique and Challenging

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More recently, Christie’s announced in May of this year that it had sold the world’s largest fancy vivid green diamond to Chow Tai Fook at its auction in Hong Kong. The 5.03-carat rectangular cut, VS2 stone sold for $16.8 million or $3.3 million per carat, a record for a vivid green diamond sold at auction.

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The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity. No one should act upon any opinion or information in this website without consulting a professional qualified adviser.

A full version of the article can be found here:http://www.ehudlaniado.com/home/index.php/news/entry/green-diamonds-unique-and-challenging

June 2016

Green Diamonds – Unique and Challenging