A rare blue diamond mounted on a Bulgari ring from 1965: it will be sold at the Fine Jewelery auction of Bonhams, a London house specialized among other things in the auction of fine jewels. The auction will be held on April 24th. The diamond, of an intense color, is mounted in a Bulgari trumpet ring. It is valued at between 1 million and 1.5 million pounds (1.1-1.7 million euros). Blue diamonds are very rare and among the most sought after in the world. They have delighted kings and celebrities throughout the ages. The most famous blue diamond is perhaps the one called the Hope Diamond, purchased by King Louis XIV of France in the late 17th century: it weighs 45.52 carats, arrived from India and was then stolen during the French Revolution and smuggled to London.
It is now located in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington. The same London auction house, Bonhams, sold a blue fancy on a diamond ring, also by Bulgari, for over 2 million euros a couple of years ago. The ring, along with two pear-shaped diamonds, one white and the other fancy-blue, had attracted unprecedented interest, doubling its pre-auction estimate. The Bulgari ring up for auction on April 24 is made up of a diamond weighing 5.30 carats, set within a pavé with brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds. The term fancy is used to describe a strong colored diamond: deep blue is one of the rarest shades. The blue comes from small boron atoms mixed with carbon atoms: the absorption of light through the stone gives the rare appearance. In fact, they represent less than one percent of all diamonds mined. According to Jean Ghika, director of the Jewelery Department at Bonhams, “blue diamonds, particularly those over 5 carats, continue to be in high demand. During the 1960s and 1970s the Bulgari fashion house was known for its imaginative creations and the use of colored diamonds makes the Roman house among the most innovative jewelers of the time.”
