The Rare Blue Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond Exhibition in 2010
By Woro Swasti
Diamond jewelry stones are always have high price due to their value. Some of them have extremely high value and of course, very expensive. Rare diamonds usually belong to this group of diamonds. One of the rarest blue diamond jewelry in the world is Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond.
Now the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is on display until August 2010. It is exhibited in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. No one knows when the diamond will be seen in public again after this exhibition, so this is the right time to watch this adorable rare blue diamond.
The Wittelsbach Blue diamond was in December 2008 auction, when Laurence Graff, a diamond dealer, paid more than $25m for this famous diamond. Graff repolished the diamond, made a reduction to it’s carat weight, and thus making it internally flawless. Now the diamond’s weight slightly over 31 carats and renamed Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond.
The Wittelsbach diamond originally weighs 35.56 metric carats. The diamond has an unusual pattern with 82 facets. The diamond was discovered many centuries ago at the diamond mine in India, the same origin as the Hope Diamond. Many believe that the two blue diamonds was fashioned from the same piece of rough French Blue Diamond.
In 1664, Philip IV of Spain gave the Wittelsbach blue diamond to his 15-year-old daughter, the Infanta Margareta Teresa, upon her engagement to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. The earlier history of the Wittelsbach was lost during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.
The beautiful diamond was last seen in public in Brussels at the 1958 World Exhibition. Six years later, the Wittelsbach was acquired by private collector until the auction in 2008.
I wrote a guide you may be interested in reading: Oval Diamond and Canary Diamond


