Famous Diamonds

Scattered throughout western Australia's mammoth diamond output are a few fancy pink stones that have commanded prices up to $60,000 per carat. Sadly, these rare pink diamonds are rarely very large in size; nearly all produced average around .10 Ct. Pictured is a .70 Ct heart-shaped Australian pink diamond.

Except for the one-in-a-million green or red diamond, a fancy blue diamond is the rarest kind. Prices of $50,000 and up, per carat, are quite common for a top rated one-carat "fancy blue" stone - a reflection of their scarcity. Pictured is a 4.35 carat natural blue diamond.

Fancy brown or fancy-color diamonds with a strong brown hue have long been favorites among diamond dealers who wish to wear diamond jewelry, rings especially. The coloring seen in this type of diamond is strong and masculine, making it easy for men to wear them as well.

Big, blue and fabulously fancy, the Hope Diamond is the most famous gem in the world. The 45.52 - carat stone, on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., has a long and intriguing history. The Hope is the largest deep-blue diamond in existence. Legend has it that, over the centuries, whoever owned this great gem was cursed with bad luck.

Tiffany first unveiled its 128.51 - carat behemoth at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. A special guide book for the event commented that, "It's not only the largest diamond in this country, but is more than 23 and three-eighths carats heavier than the well known Koh-i-noor diamond."

Very few diamonds merit the designation of fancy yellow - or fancy color of any sort. In 1978, San Francisco dealer/gemologist Joseph Gill, one of the few to have written at length about colored diamonds, estimated that the odds of a diamond having a colored appearance were 2,500:1. Pictured is a 2.14 - carat fancy yellow diamond.