Very rare blue diamonds worth several millions baht will go on show to the general public during a special event to mark the Bangkok: Fashion City extravaganza this month in Thailand.
Announcing the show yesterday, the president of the Thai Gemstones and Jewellery Trade Association of Thailand, Mr. Narong Thammaworanukupta, said that the association was jointly organized with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to coordinate the Blue Diamond Festival at the Emporium Shopping Complex in Bangkok from 10 to 17 February 2004.
The "Blue Diamond" exhibition together with the festival, which form part of Thailand's "Bangkok Fashion City" event, is aimed at showcasing Thailand as a global centre of the gemstones industry.
Thailand hopes that the event will help promote standard grading, quality and color practices for Thai gemstones, while restoring Thailand's good reputation for gemstones and jewellery in the eyes of foreign tourists.
A total of 11 blue diamonds will be shown at the event in Bangkok, including a 211.04-karat oval-shaped blue diamond worth around Bt10 million (US$ 260,000), and a 82.77-karat teardrop-shaped blue diamond worth about the same amount.
Gemstones and jewellery exports are predicted to earn Thailand around Bt120 billion (US$ 3 billion) this year alone.
What are Blue Diamonds?
Natural blue diamonds are so rare that most jewelers in the world have never seen one, and will surely never own one.
There is quite a variation between different shades and hues of blue diamonds. Although most of the blue diamonds are intensely colored, some colors are definitely more attractive (and expensive) than others.
Famous Blue Diamonds
the most famous blue diamonds are the "Hope Diamond" at 45.52-ct.; The "The Heart of Eternity" at 27.64 ct. and "Blue Heart Diamond", which all are famous blue diamonds because of their incredible rarity, only natural red diamonds are rarer. The 3 above diamonds belong to the "De Beers collection" of blues.
Source of Blue Diamonds
The "De Beers Premier mine" in South Africa is the only important source of blue diamonds, yet they make up much less than 0.01 percent of all diamonds recovered in the mine. Of all of the rough diamond mining production, however, there is on average only one significant blue diamond mined per year. The best blue diamonds have a beauty that is not comparable to that of any other gem. These are greatly admired and eagerly sought after by collectors and connoisseurs.
Of the ten highest "per-carat" prices paid for diamonds at auctions, six have been blue diamonds. Some of these unique stones were sold for $550,000-$580,000 per carat. One 20 carat blue stone fetched in excess of $10 million.
