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The "Blue Moon Diamond," was purchased in its uncut rough form
for $25.6 million by diamond manufacturer Cora International in
February this year, and will be on loan in the Los Angeles
museum until January 2015.
The deep blue stone has been categorized as an extremely
significant find because of its unique color, clarity and size.
It is internally flawless, with no inclusions.
"You get many different vivid blues, but this blue is an
absolutely phenomenal color, the saturation is off the charts,"
said Suzette Gomes, chief executive officer of Cora
International. "I have never, in all my time in diamonds, seen a
color like this."
The stone has also piqued the interest of scientists, raising
geological questions of its origins. Eloise Gaillou, a mineral
sciences expert at the Natural History Museum, said diamonds
come from 90 miles (145 km) below the Earth's surface, thus
giving some insight into what is happening in the Earth's
mantle.
"The origin of the color blue is boron, a light element that has
not much to do so deep inside the earth," Gaillou said. "Blue
diamonds are rare because boron doesn't happen very often down
there, so it's going to tell us more about the why, how, and
maybe the when as well," she added.
The Natural History Museum's minerals collection has about 3,000
gemstones out of nearly 150,000 specimens of rocks, minerals and
meteorites, many sourced from California.
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Phil Furey; Editing by Piya
Sinha-Roy and Lisa Shumaker)
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Rare
flawless 'Blue Moon Diamond' goes on display in Los
Angeles
