Blue Moon Diamond at Natural History Museum: Look at the amazing rock
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The Blue Moon Diamond, one of the world’s biggest, most perfect blue diamonds, goes on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on Saturday.
That’s 12 carats of internally flawless gemstone.
The diamond, a saturated blue, is 12.03 carats in all, weighs 2.4 grams and is 0.61 inch at its greatest diameter. Still can’t picture it on the ring finger of your left hand? Here’s a rough comparison: Zales says a round brilliant-cut 1-carat diamond is 0.25 inch.
The gemstone is both new and extremely rare, according to the L.A. County museum.
It was cut from a 29.6-carat rough diamond into a cushion-cut shape. The Blue Moon was found in South Africa’s storied Cullinan mine; the largest diamond ever recovered came from this mine, the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond in 1905. It’s on loan from diamond manufacturer and supplier Cora International.
Cora’s chief executive, Suzette Gomes, said in a news release that the stone was “one of the rarest gems with this color and in this size to be found in recent history.”
The diamond will be on display at the Natural History Museum through Jan. 6 in a special Gem Vault exhibition. Check out the Blue Moon Diamond in the gallery above.
Twitter: @AmyTheHub
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