It’s in human nature to crave and be attracted to certain elements and objects that are extremely hard and difficult to come across. Such is the story of blue diamonds, as they are the second rarest colored diamond discovered on our planet!
There are numerous fascinating stories and details that all people who love dealing with diamonds need to know about blue diamonds. That’s exactly what today’s article: “Blue diamonds: everything you need to know” was assembled.
What makes blue diamonds so difficult to find and handle? What are the main differences between natural and artificial blue diamonds? How complicated can it get to precisely determine the overall pricing of blue diamonds?
Our suggestion for you is to sit back, relax, and enjoy this voyage, as today, you’ll learn everything there is about blue diamonds!
A Quick Introduction
Between diamond enthusiasts, there isn’t an established tier list where we can see which diamond color is least, or rather, most favored. Every single type of diamond is rewired as a unique and beautiful precious stone given to us by Mother Nature.
Of course, most individuals found in the diamond-making industry will have their chosen favorite: Whether it’s the plain, colorless diamond, or something more exotic, like the black diamond – everyone has their most preferred one.
Today, we will do justice to all people who favor the color of the blood that runs in the royal families – blue. The color blue is extremely hard to find in the wild, as it’s one of the rarest colors discovered on our planet. With that being said, let’s start dissecting a few incredible things about blue diamonds.
What Are Blue Diamonds?
Most people, regardless of their connections to the diamond-making industry, possess a basic level of knowledge about diamonds. It’s a well-known fact that all diamonds, regardless of their color, can only be found under the ground.
Just to make things clear, we aren’t talking about only several feet deep ground – nearly all diamonds are formed from 93 to 155 miles below the ground, in the Earth’s mantle. Some are shyer than others, as they form themselves approximately 500 miles under the surface!
Blue diamonds aren’t exempt from this rule. But, unlike classic colorless diamonds, blue ones are quite trickier to find! As of this moment, a rough estimation is that only 0.1% of all diamonds scattered across the globe are colored blue.
Quite a low number, wouldn’t you agree? If not for red diamonds, blue ones would be the rarest diamonds on our planet. But, for now, that title goes to the red diamonds!
Furthermore, it’s nearly impossible to find blue diamonds in your average mining spots. There are just a few known mines that offered blue diamonds – the most important ones are:
- The Cullinan mine in South Africa
- The Golconda mine in India
- The Argyle mine in Western Australia
- The Letseng mine in South Africa
Unfortunately, the list stops here, but for now, we can only hope that one day this list continues, as blue diamonds are one of the most beautiful colored precious stones. But, before we continue forward, we need to explain the origin behind their blue color.
Most diamonds found in the wild are colorless, as it’s quite rare for them to form by combining other elements besides their ordinary carbon structure. On the other hand, if we’re extremely lucky, some diamonds will form close to certain molecules that will integrate themselves into the diamonds’ structure.
So, what’s the necessary process for colorless diamonds to turn into blue diamonds? It can get quite messy trying to explain this part, so we will try to not overcomplicate things and keep it as simple as possible:
Diamonds can only manifest the color blue if they are formed close to boron molecules. These molecules then need to substitute the diamond’s carbon molecule structure, and as soon as that occurs, we have ourselves blue diamonds.
Given that the chemical element boron is quite rare on its own, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that only 0.1% of all diamonds possess the color blue. Not to mention that scientists didn’t run all of the necessary tests and experiments on this chemical element.
But for now, let’s take a break from the chemistry department and shift towards blue diamonds – you didn’t come here to take a chemistry lecture!
Like all other colored diamonds, blue diamonds are classified as impure, as their carbon structure has integrated boron molecules, making them imperfect. Although this might seem like a defect, all colored diamonds, especially blue diamonds, are quite accepted by today’s standards.
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for the people from the past generations, as they primarily focused on colorless diamonds. Blue diamonds (and all other colors) weren’t accepted in the early days, as they were seen as imperfect.
Luckily, that way of thinking is ancient, which is further supported by the fact that blue diamonds belong to the well-known family of Fancy Color Diamonds. All diamonds that belong in this category are there because of their ability to manifest a rich color with a bit of help from a light source.
With that out of the way, let’s discuss the overall complexity of blue diamonds:
Are Blue Diamonds Difficult To Handle?
Regarding technicalities regarding blue diamonds, they aren’t too far from regular colorless diamonds. Still, they differ in certain aspects – so let’s find out how!
As we previously mentioned, all diamonds are found under the ground, specifically in special mining spots governed exclusively by the diamond-making industry. In rare cases, the state or country where the diamond is found can lay their claim if a diamond is found on their soil, as long as there aren’t any other legal owners of that specific chunk of land.
So, as soon as a diamond is found, regardless of its color, the miner needs to immediately write down several key elements regarding that diamond. For example, the time, date, and location where the diamond is found.
The same can be said for blue diamonds, but with a small twist: most blue diamonds need to have a special note in those files, where the exact location (depth) needs to be documented as well.
Without that piece of information, it can get quite difficult for experts to further research and calculate roughly where other blue diamonds can form. So, the exact depth where the blue diamonds are found needs to be documented.
After they are found, miners need to take them out of the mine and hand them over to the overseer of the mine, so that he can evaluate where the blue diamond needs to be shipped. All real diamonds are dug up in their rough, natural state. The same goes for blue diamonds.
As a result, the diamond-making industry needs to polish and reshape them so that they can be put on the free market, more specifically, in jewelry shops that can be found all around the world.
Without the polishing process, diamonds would have a rough time being sold, as most customers around the globe desire to own smooth diamonds. Furthermore, it’s quite difficult to embed rough diamonds in pieces of jewelry.
So all diamonds need to be shipped to special laboratories where professional diamond-cutters need to work on them so that they can be prepared for display in jewelry shops.
Did you know that nearly 90% of all diamonds found go straight to India, where they are cut and graded? There’s a high chance that most of the diamonds that you own have, at one point, visited one of the diamond-cutting experts located in India! It’s quite logical: only one in ten diamonds aren’t carved and polished within India’s borders.
But, does the same rule apply to blue diamonds? Well, the correct answer is both yes and no.
Most blue diamonds do get shipped to India for further treatment. But, because blue diamonds are so rare, sometimes, the overseer of the mine gets informed by certain clients to ship some blue diamonds to other places.
Why does that happen? Just like other rare and exclusive objects, blue diamonds are highly desired by some people.
It’s quite rare to stumble upon blue diamonds that are embedded in your average piece of jewelry found in jewelry shops. Most of them are hidden from the public eye, as only a handful of groups of people wish to possess them.
Because of that, most blue diamonds bypass the necessary protocol of visiting the diamond-cutters stationed in India. They venture to other professionals that are closely related to wealthy and powerful people that wish to buy that specific blue diamond.
From then onward, those blue diamonds are cut and polished specifically for those wealthy customers who arranged that process from the moment that they are informed that a blue diamond has been dug up.
Sometimes, although quite rarely, blue diamonds can be found in regular jewelry shops – if you do come across one, don’t hesitate to buy it – you might not get a second shot in doing so! So, what happens when we stumble upon a blue diamond in a jewelry shop? How expensive can they get?
Let’s take a quick break and talk about the:
Overall Pricing Of Blue Diamond
Regardless of their color, all diamonds are valued by their 4C’s – the cut, clarity, color, and number of carats. This rule has been well-established since the early days, and it’s not possible to precisely calculate how valuable a diamond can be without examining its 4C’s.
A quick and simple explanation of the diamonds’ 4C’s is as follows:
- The overall quality of the cut is performed by the professional diamond-cutter.
- The level of clarity of the diamond in hand is graded by its ability to allow light to pass through it, resulting in the sparkling and shining effect.
- The exact color of the diamond. Diamonds are either colorless or colored with the presence of impurities triggered by other chemicals present when the diamond began forming its original shape.
- And lastly, the number of carats a diamond possesses. As the number grows higher, so will the overall price tag.
If you’re interested in learning more about the 4C’s of diamonds, then we highly suggest that you click on the link here, as it will provide you with an in-depth look at this exact topic!
As we previously mentioned, blue diamonds aren’t exempt from this rule – they also need to be evaluated by the 4C’s before placing a price tag on them. Still, there are a few differences that can be found when dealing with blue diamonds. Those include:
Unlike the price of regular colorless diamonds, blue diamonds will have a price that is further influenced by their hue and color. The blue color of diamonds can vary drastically – some of them can offer only a glimpse of a blue color. On the other hand, some are formed with a purely blue color that is uniformly distributed all around the gemstone.
This difference is important when trying to evaluate the precise price tag of a blue diamond, as diamonds that have a more intense blue color are rewired as more precious, which results in a higher price.
Even when a blue diamond is dug, it’s quite rare to find one that can offer such a blue tone, as most of them are formed with a pale blue color. Because of that, blue diamonds need to be classified with more precise parameters. Some of them are:
- A 0.3-carat light blue diamond can cost about $15.000, whereas a 0.5-carat one can be priced at a whopping $26.000. Quite extreme, wouldn’t you agree?
- Higher carat blue diamonds are extremely hard to find. Because of that, blue diamonds that weigh anywhere from 2 to 3 carats can reach unimaginable price tags.
- The glamorous vivid and deep blue diamonds are the most expensive ones. They can cost roughly $75,000 per 0.25 carats.
With that in mind, you can imagine how difficult and expensive any mistakes can get if the shade or secondary hue of the blue diamond isn’t correctly evaluated! Even the diamond-cutting process of blue diamonds is extremely risky:
Whenever a blue diamond is discovered, most of the time, it will only reach a single-carat weight range. Working on such small diamonds can be difficult, especially if the professional diamond-cutter isn’t equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for cutting diamonds.
Here, we can find another reason why blue diamonds weren’t so popular in the early days, as diamond-cutters from the past could only use primitive tools to cut them.
We can only imagine how difficult that must have been, as it’s not a piece of cake even with today’s machinery to work on such small gemstones. A small mistake can cost a fortune, so most blue diamonds from the past were kept in their rough state.
Today, we have special computers that navigate extremely precise lasers that are used to cut all sorts of diamonds, especially blue ones that are small and difficult to handle. On average, a rough one-carat blue diamond needs to be cut to 0.5 or even 0.3 carats to be representable and compatible for embedding in various pieces of jewelry.
Still, even when we cut the blue diamond in half, once it’s polished, the price tag will be undeniably higher than when it’s in the rough state. On that note, the most present shapes for blue diamonds are the cushion and radiant cuts. Those two cuts display the best possible manner of its blue color. Other cuts include the round, pear, and emerald cuts, and the least popular ones are the oval and marquise cut.
The last thing and most important thing for evaluating the overall pricing of blue diamonds is their color intensity level. All Fancy Color Diamonds have different intensity levels that need to be evaluated – blue diamonds aren’t exempt from this rule and the most important ones are as follows:
- Fancy Dark
- Fancy Vivid Blue
- Fancy Deep Blue
- Fancy Intense Blue
- Fancy Blue
- Fancy Light Blue
- Light Blue
- Very Light Blue
- Faint Blue
Although most of them seem quite similar – when it comes to the pricing of blue diamonds, a grade up or down can drastically increase or decrease the overall price tag of a blue diamond.
So, before you decide to order a blue diamond, it’s important to remember which shade of blue you are looking for, especially if you know which type of setting you are looking for when buying jewelry that’s embedded with blue diamonds. On that note:
The Best Settings For Blue Diamonds
When it comes to diamonds, most people immediately start to envision a beautiful golden ring that’s embedded with diamonds. But, did you know that the setting for some diamonds needs to be accordingly done proportionally to the exact color of the diamond?
When it comes to blue diamonds, the setting is one of the most important aspects, as a good setting significantly impacts the blue diamonds’ shine and sparkling.
Rushing to your average jewelry shop to buy a piece of jewelry that’s embedded with blue diamonds without preparation won’t bear fruit. You need to previously learn a thing or two about which settings are the best for blue diamonds.
Luckily for you, we have gathered the best three setting types for blue diamonds that can work for all people, regardless of their preference:
The Three-Stone Setting
Even in ancient times, the three-stone setting was quite popular, as it served a simple, yet powerful purpose – to enhance the shine and sparkling of the central precious stone. How is that achieved?
The main stone, in this case, a blue diamond is set in the center of the ring. Then, with carefully planned placement, three smaller colorless diamonds are added around the main stone, which enhances the presence and overall look of the blue diamond.
The Halo Setting
This setting is quite similar to the three-stone setting, as the main focus is the same – instead of placing only three colorless diamonds around the main stone, many smaller diamonds are placed all around the blue diamond.
With this effect, we can further enhance the overall beauty and sparkle of the blue diamond located in the center.
Learn More: Halo Settings: Everything You Need to Know
The Tension Setting
This setting is achieved by surrounding the blue diamond with a band’s tension, which secures the center diamond in place, creating an exotic appearance of a diamond “floating” in mid-air. The tension setting is quite favorable for all blue diamonds that have a small number of carats, or can’t offer a vivid blue color.
As you can see, blue diamonds aren’t something that should be treated lightly, especially if you plan on buying one yourself. Still, the price tag can be intimidating for the average person.
So, how does one overcome this challenge if below budget?
Artificial Blue Diamonds
Although hand-made or artificial diamonds don’t seem appealing like real or natural diamonds, they can still somewhat mimic the sparkling and shining effects of real blue diamonds. If you’re interested in buying one yourself, then you should know the following:
- Enhanced or treated stones: natural colorless diamonds can be treated with color enhancements to transform them into colored ones. They don’t damage the overall structure of the diamond but will be priced lower than natural blue diamonds.
- Lab-created diamonds: created inside laboratories, these blue diamonds are virtually identical to real blue diamonds but aren’t real as enhanced ones. Because of that, their overall price is lowered from 20% to 50% when compared to the original ones.
Conclusion
We can all agree that blue diamonds are one of the most beautiful colored precious stones found in the wild. As such, we will quickly run over the key elements of this article, in case you missed a thing or two:
Blue diamonds are extremely rare – only 0.1% of all diamonds given to us from Mother Nature have a natural blue color. The only diamond color that’s rarer is the red diamond.
When it comes to handling these diamonds, several key elements mustn’t be avoided, like documenting the exact depth at which the blue diamonds are discovered.
With an average price of $15.000 for a 0.3-carat light blue diamond, these diamonds are extremely expensive and hard to come across.
Choose your diamonds carefully, especially if you’re searching to buy blue diamonds – they will stick by your side for all eternity!