The Extraordinary Blue Diamond
Rare, beautiful, a lifetime of exquisite quality; all these words describe the fabulous blue diamond. Many people believe that diamonds are only white, but in reality, diamonds are also yellow, green, black, pink and a gorgeous blue. The colored diamonds are referred to as the "fancy diamonds." If you wear a blue diamond, it may be assumed among those who don't know that you're wearing a sapphire tourmaline, or aquamarine gem. Since pink sapphires can confuse the eye, blue diamonds can also.
Never judge a diamond by its color! When admiring another person's gem, it isn't safe to say, "What a beautiful sapphire" when you may actually be looking at a rare blue diamond. Among gem collectors, diamonds are highly prized for their variety of colors. Gemstones are not categorized by their color, but by their chemical composition. Thus, the carbon-based blue diamond has the same chemical make up as the white diamond.
Facts about the Exquisite Blue Diamond
Blue diamonds are very rare, like the pink diamond that sells for one million US dollars per carat. "Blues" are much less costly, but are still much more expensive that white diamonds. They are one of the most rare and valuable gemstones in the world. Their color is derived from a trace amount of boron in the stone.
As time passes, the blue diamond undergoes an astonishing color metamorphosis; it becomes a deeper blue that makes it much more valuable. The bluer the stone, the older it is. The blue diamond is the only gemstone in the world that alters its color as it ages. Your great-grandmother's dark blue diamond is enormously valuable. Owners rarely sell these older stones because of their value; you may be very lucky to find a dark blue diamond at an estate sale.
Like white diamonds, colored diamonds can be produced in a gemologist's laboratory. It takes nature eons to turn a lump of carbon into a diamond of any color. It takes only months or less to create a man-made diamond, called a cubic zirconium, or CZ. These are "real" diamonds; the only difference between a natural diamond and a much less expensive CZ is that one was made by nature and the other in a laboratory. Only a gemologist can tell the difference between the two.
Antique darker blue diamonds that are mined should be insured, while it is not necessary to insure blue CZ diamonds because of their reasonable cost and high glamour. If you're fortunate enough to buy or inherit one of these blue beauties, you can treasure it forever.
