Natural fancy colored green diamonds comprise a tiny percentage of the colored diamonds ever discovered. The majority of naturally colored green diamonds weigh less than a carat, so when a green diamond of significant size is discovered, the diamond world truly takes notice. Very few green diamonds have made it to auction throughout the last century. In this article, we will discuss four of these rare beauties.
The Dresden Green Diamond
The Dresden Green Diamond is an exceptional 40.7-carat natural green diamond, making it the largest green diamond ever unearthed. The origin of the pear-shaped diamond is unkown, but it is believed to have come from the Kollur Mine in India.
The Dresden Green is classified as a Type IIa with VS1 clarity, indicating that is is nearly free of nitrogen impurities and inclusions cannot be seen with the naked eye. Diamonds with a Type IIa classification account for approximately 2% of all natural diamonds discovered.
The Aurora Green Diamond
The Aurora Green Diamond is a 5.03-carat natural diamond with a color classification of fancy vivid green. With this classification, the Aurora Green is the largest fancy vivid green diamond in known existence. The diamond is a rectangular cut set in a gold ring with a VS2 clarity rating. The Aurora Green Diamond made its way to auction in May of 2016 at Chrstie’s Magnificent Jewels in Hong Kong.
At the time of its sale, a green diamond had not been auctioned for 7 years. The pre-auction estimates for The Aurora Green set its value between $16 million and $20 million. It went on to sell for $16.8 million, setting its per carat value at $3.3 million. It was purchased by Hong Kong based jewelers Chow Tai Fook Jewelry.
The Ocean Dream Diamond
Jewelers have been known to artificially create blue-green stones, since its extremely rare to find a naturally occurring one. However, true fancy green diamonds do exist. Another well-known green diamond is the Ocean Dream Diamond. It boasts a unique deep bluish-green color, evocative of the ocean.
The diamond originated in Central Africa and weighs 5.51 carats. Most recently, the Ocean Dream was showcased at the Smithsonian’s “Splendor of Diamonds” exhibit along with many other rare gems.
The Gruosi Green Diamond
Fawaz Gruosi is one of the most famous and illustrious jewel collectors in the world. He is the owner of Swiss jewelry company, de Grisogono. In 1998, Gruosi purchased a green diamond that originated from South Africa. It weighed almost 100 carats, but after much cutting and polishing, the Gruosi Green Diamond currently weighs 25 carats.
Just like the Dresden Green, this stone was affected with radiation millions of years ago, making the green color uniformly spread throughout. Today, the diamond sits in a gold ring with 382 smaller black diamonds weighing 7 carats in total. Fawaz Gruosi has said of the diamond, “Looking at this stone is like looking into the sea, it’s an unusual green that is sparkling and alive.”
Do you have any questions? Are there any green diamonds that should've been on our list? Let us know in the comments below. And as always, feel free to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
For more reading on colored diamonds, see the links below:
- Pink Diamonds Show Largest Growth of Colored Diamonds
- 3 Key Insights Driving Fancy Colored Diamonds Investments
- Colored Diamonds Growing as an Alternative Investment
- Investing in Natural Pink Diamonds: What You Need to Know
- Alternative Investments: A Comparison of Commodity Investing
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