Fancy Green Diamonds

Fancy Green Diamonds

The green diamond - an extremely rare and unique fancy colour diamond that I believe is still overlooked and undervalued. Its beautiful green colour is caused by millions of years of exposure to a source of natural irradiation in the earth during the diamond's formation process.

Green Diamonds, GIA photo

Although green is one of the rarest of diamond colours, making it very desirable and sought after by collectors, it's not usually on an investor's radar. This is mainly because green diamonds are not (yet) quite as popular as pink, blue and red diamonds, which are thought of as much 'safer' investment options. The high popularity and media exposure of these three diamond colours has led to their strong price increase over the last 30 years or so, which can be seen by past auction results. Celebrities have definitely had a part to play in this, as they have been opting for these coloured diamonds in engagement rings as opposed to their more common colourless counterparts, giving them huge exposure (think J. Lo, Blake Lively and Mariah Carey with their famous pink diamond engagement rings). We also can't forget about the Argyle Mine's incredible marketing campaign for pink and red diamonds, and their impending closure later this year which is drastically driving up the prices of pinks and reds.

Dresden Green Diamond, 40.70 carats, fancy green diamond, VS1

The Dresden Green Diamond, 40.70 carats, Type IIa, Fancy Green, VS1

The largest natural green diamond in the world is the Dresden Green diamond. It is a fancy green, 40.70 carats, type IIa, VS1 diamond and has the potential to be internally flawless if re-cut. It is on display at the Albertinium Museum in Dresden, Germany and has a fantastic history that dates as far back as 1741.

Over the past few decades, only a handful of natural green diamonds have been sold at auction, but those that have come up have seen a steady increase in price. Below are the ones that really stand out.

Fancy vivid green diamond

2.52 carats, Fancy Vivid Green Diamond, VS1

In 2009, a 2.52 carat fancy vivid green, VS1 diamond sold at Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction for a record price of $3.08 million, or $1.22 million per carat.

Ocean Dream Diamond, 5.50 carats, fancy vivid blue green diamond

The Ocean Dream Diamond, 5.50 carats, Fancy Vivid Blue-Green, SI1

In May 2014, the Ocean Dream diamond, an incredible fancy vivid blue-green, weighing approximately 5.50 carats broke records as it fetched $8.6 million, or approximately $1.56 million per carat. It is the largest fancy vivid blue-green diamond ever graded by the GIA to date, and it's colour is so unique that GIA had to conduct tests to make sure the colour was in fact natural and not artificially enhanced.

Fancy green diamond

The Aurora Green Diamond, 5.03 carats, Fancy Vivid Green, VS2

In May 2016, the Aurora Green went on sale at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels Hong Kong auction. This 5.03 carat, fancy vivid green, rectangular cut, VS2 diamond sold for $16.8 million - an amazing $3.3 million per carat. To this day the Aurora Green is the most expensive green diamond ever to be sold at auction and was sold to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery - a Hong Kong based Jeweller.

Between 2014-2018 only 13 lots of green diamonds made their way into Bonhams auctions - eight of which sold in Hong Kong. This increased awareness and demand for green diamonds from the East - possibly to do with the fact that green is considered to be a lucky colour, combined with the escalation in auction prices for green diamonds, makes me strongly believe that they are expected to be a worthwhile investment. Paul Redmayne, head of jewellery sales at Bonhams Hong Kong said “Green is one of the rarest diamonds, and if you look at it purely from an investment point of view, they’re very much undervalued.” 


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