USA-RARE BLUE DIAMOND Rare 12-carat blue diamond on display

Record ID: 705920

  • Title: USA-RARE BLUE DIAMOND Rare 12-carat blue diamond on display
  • Date: 12th September 2014
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 12, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM VARIOUS INTERIORS OF NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURE OF RARE BLUE DIAMOND VARIOUS OF DIAMOND (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUZETTE GOMES, OF CORA INTERNATIONAL, A DIAMOND MANUFACTURER, SAYING "What makes the blue moon diamond so rare, is firstly it's color. It's a phenomenal vivid blue, you get many different vivid blues, but this blue is an absolutely phenomenal color, the saturation is off the charts. It's also a significant size, twelve carats, and it's internally flawless, so there's no inclusions in the diamond, this is a magnificent stone, it's really unprecedented for us in terms of the color, I have never in all my time in diamonds, seen a color like this, so it's really special and rare. And we are privileged to have been able to buy it, and to cut it and see it through to the cutting stage, and to see the final product." VARIOUS OF DIAMOND IN CASE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ELOISE GAILLOU, OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, SAYING "You have a blue diamond, unbelievable, already, the color, then when you put it in dark and you put ultraviolet light on top of it, nothing much happens. 20 seconds, you realize, you turn the UV light off, and suddenly in the dark, you see this stone glowing red. Where does that come from? Again, that was one of our questions, where does that come from? It's by studying more and more diamonds that we would understand it." VARIOUS OF DIAMOND (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ELOISE GAILLOU, OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, SAYING "So I got the chance to study it before it got on display, and conducted experiments on it and it's going to add up. We've got really good data, it's going to tell us more about the diamond, but also where it comes from, and diamonds come from very deep inside the earth. 90 miles below the earth's surface, in the earth's mantle. What's happening there? Obviously there's something weird happening because this diamond is blue, the origin of the color blue is boron, an element, light element that has not much to do so deep inside the earth, so really, getting to study something rare, and that's why it's rare. Blue diamonds are rare because boron, doesn't happen very often there, down there, so it's going to tell us more about the why, how, and maybe the when as well, so it's really a great chance for us to really study the diamond as well." VARIOUS OF DIAMOND
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC0J2K4H58A5J67OE3KAR0H8X2
  • Story Text: A rare blue diamond with a color as deep as the ocean went on display Friday (September 12) at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles.
    The 12-carat "Blue Moon Diamond," one of the world's rarest gems, on loan from diamond manufacturer Cora International, will be on view in the museum's gem vault until January 2015, giving museumgoers the chance to admire it in person.
    The piece has been categorized as an extremely significant find because of its unique color, clarity, and size. It is internally flawless, with no inclusions.
    "It's a phenomenal vivid blue, you get many different vivid blues, but this blue is an absolutely phenomenal color, the saturation is off the charts," says Suzette Gomes, of Cora International, the diamond manufacturing company that owns the stone. "I have never in all my time in diamonds, seen a color like this," she adds.
    Cora International acquired the blue moon diamond as an uncut 29.6-carat rough in February, for roughly $26 million dollars. However, the stone is also valuable scientifically as well, because of the geological questions of its origins.
    "Diamonds come from very deep inside the earth. 90 miles below the earth's surface, in the earth's mantle. What's happening there?" asks Dr. Eloise Gaillou, a mineral sciences expert at the Natural History Museum. "The origin of the color blue is boron, an element, light element that has not much to do so deep inside the earth, so really, getting to study something rare, and that's why it's rare. Blue diamonds are rare because boron, doesn't happen very often there, down there, so it's going to tell us more about the why, how, and maybe the when as well," she adds.
    The diamond will be on display at Los Angeles' Natural History Museum through January 6, 2015.
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