Collector's Diamonds

While much of the world is rushing around buying gold as a hedge against the end of the world as we know it, some very deep-pocketed guys are buying rare diamonds. No, we're not talking about your engagement ring, pretty as it may be, we're talking about diamonds that are exceptional because of their enormous size, color (pure clear red is the top of that food chain) or provenance. The Annenberg diamond, a 32.01 carat Asscher-cut, D-Flawless that just went at auction for $7.6 million is one and the Wittelsbach Blue, which I mentioned in an earlier post, which at $24.3 million broke the price record for diamonds sold at auction, is another. When the Wittelsbach Blue went on the block, I wrote about the upcoming event and the provenance of this rock is interesting enough I think, to repeat.
The extremely rare 35.56 carat stone hadn't been seen since 1964 when it vanished into a private collection, but it resurfaced in December 2008 at a Christies auction in London. What made the Wittelsbach Blue so very special was it's actual color, a fancy deep grayish-blue with VS2 clarity and it's size, because blue diamonds are usually only found in smaller carat weights and most of all, it's impeccable royal provenance. In 1664, King Philip IV of Spain selected the diamond as part of the lavish dowry he collected for his daughter the Infanta Margarita Teresa upon her engagement to Leopold I of Austria. Leopold I went on to become the Holy Roman Emperor and by March 1673, the dowry jewels, including the great blue stone were recorded in an inventory of the Austrian Crown Jewels. By 1705, poor Margarita Teresa was dead and Leopold(whose marital record seems as interesting as his jewels) had bequeathed the stone to his third wife the Empress Eleanore Magdalena, who then left the blue diamond to her granddaughter, the Archduchess Maria Amalia.
When Maria Amalia married the Bavarian Crown Prince, Charles Albert, in 1722, the diamond entered the House of Wittelsbach along with her and became known as "Der Blaue Wittelsbacher". It was mounted first within the Order of the Golden Fleece and many years later in 1806, when the first King of Bavaria, Maximilian IV, Joseph von Wittelsbach ascened to the throne, the stone was removed and prominently displayed in the royal crown. With the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918 after WWI and the abdication of King Ludwig III, the Wittelsbach Blue last appeared as a state jewel in 1921 and ten years later, in 1931 was one of the pieces offered for sale at Christies auction of the Bavarian Crown Jewels. In 1964, the stone was purchased by a private collector and disappeared until the 2008 sale was announced.
Now, that's what I call provenance...and so apparently does Lawrence Graff, the famous diamond dealer. He's the guy who shelled out the $24.3 million.