Investing in Gemstones, Part II; A Strategy:

By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

©2009

Avoiding the Con:

There were a number of phony gemstone investment schemes in operation during the hard asset investment craze of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Until Congress put a stop to it, investors were purchasing, gems, antiques and Shaker rocking chairs as part of their IRA portfolios.

To avoid prosecution many gem investment scammers set up boiler room operations in Canada, but sold mostly to gullible U. S. investors. The pitch was simple and ingenious. To keep buyers from seeking an outside appraisal, the gems arrived in sealed packets with a microfilmed “certificate of authenticity”. Buyers were warned that breaking the seal would invalidate the certificate and negate affect potential resale.

Over the years, several victims have sought me out to appraise their purchases. In all cases, the gems were wildly overpriced stones and of a quality best described as aquarium gravel. One medical professional confided that he had bought in because the telephone salesman assured him that he (the salesman) could double his money immediately by selling the gemstones in Japan. When I asked the victim why he didn’t just suggest that the salesman get on a plane to Tokyo, he shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

Gemstone price data is very difficult to come by. Historically, the gem trade operated in almost complete secrecy. Price is based upon quality and size, but the first universally accepted diamond grading system was not in place until the 1950s and price lists only became available in the early 1980s. Colored gemstones present additional difficulties, price guides exist, but they are handicapped by the lack of a universally accepted colored gemstone grading system and price guides that do exist lack data on larger, finer gems. Most of the information for this article was patched together from numerous sources, auction records, the author’s experience and anecdotal information.

Buy the Best:

One statement that can be made categorically is that lower grade commercial quality gemstones are not viable investments. There is really no such thing as a five thousand dollar investment gem. Historically, larger finer stones have appreciated at a much higher rate than the great unwashed.

According to connoisseur and author Benjamin Zucker, in 1976 an eight carat fine Burma ruby was worth $36,000 per carat and a twenty carat fine quality Kashmir sapphire was worth $25,000 per carat. In 2007 an 8.67 carat fine Burmese ruby sold for $425,000 per carat (pictured below left). Taking that as a bench mark, the price of a fine eight carat ruby enjoyed a 5.4% annual increase over the past thirty years. Kashmir sapphire has enjoyed a similar escalation in value. I recall two twenty carat plus Kashmir gems that sold at Sotheby’s in 1981 for $25,000 per carat. The current record holder, a 22.66 carat Kashmir, sold for $135,000 per carat in 2007 an increase of 4.5% a year (pictured above right). An eight carat Burma ruby is significantly rarer than a large Burma sapphire and in this comparison; the higher degree of rarity appears to be reflected in the average percentage increase.

Emerald is another matter: In 1976 Zucker notes a price of $6,000 per carat for a one carat gem Colombian emerald. According to National Gemstone, emerald prices peaked in 1995 at about $8,000 per carat. The discovery, in 1994 of the massive La Pita emerald deposit, brought a flood of finer grade Colombian emerald into the international market. Emerald fell precipitously in price in 1996, and prices remained almost static for ten years. Emerald regained its previous market high in 2005 and has appreciated approximately 20% since.

Diamonds are an interesting case study: In 1968 a one carat D Flawless round brilliant sold for $1,400.00 wholesale. By 1976 that same diamond was worth $6,500.00. As the glamor stone of the investment craze, the D Flawless had its ups and downs in the decade the followed, it toyed with $70,000.00 in 1980, but even so, today, that same gem sells for $19,400.00 increasing a hefty 7.6% per annum (provided you didn’t buy in 1980). By contrast a relatively mundane one carat J VVS went from $550 in 1968 and 1,500 in 1976 is worth $4,500 today an increase of 5.4% per annum.

Diamonds, however, operate in a controlled market. The steep rise in diamond prices is due to correspondingly steep rises in the price the DeBeers diamond cartel charges for rough diamonds. According to Gem Market News (GMN), between 1968 and 2003, De Beers increased rough prices by 1200%.

Gem prices have remained relatively strong in the current downturn. GemVal, a website that offers gemstone appraisals publishes a Gem Value Index (GVA) (graph at left) which reflects the aggregate price of gemstones in the market. The GVA The index which started in July of 2005 (100%), peaked 126.8% in April of 2008 and currently stands at 123% showing a 3.8% dip over the past year.

Liquidity:

As indicated in Part I, the auction market is today the default source of liquidity. How does the investor obtain the best possible price upon liquidation? Strategically speaking when it comes time to sell, the investor wants to dazzle the auction house. It is wise, therefore, to purchase larger, finer, rarer gemstones that will excite the experts who control the auctions. These are the professionals who create the pre-sale buzz. If the people at the auction house are excited you can bet that that excitement will be communicated to potential buyers and translate into a higher price and a better yield.

Gems such as the one carat J VVS diamond are readily available in the wholesale market and will receive very little attention at auction. With the buyer/seller premium hovering at 40%, chances are it would sell well below wholesale. At 50% of wholesale, the annual long term appreciation would be cut to 2.7%. If the investor has purchased the stone in the last ten years, he will probably take a substantial loss.

The D Flawless would have a much better chance of selling above its wholesale price, but even the best one carat colorless diamond in the world is far from rare and readily available on the wholesale market. The one carat D Flawless has done well over the past thirty to forty years, but that is a long horizon. Over the near term, it’s price has remained static, hardly moving at all for the eight years between 1996 and 2004 while prices for both ruby and sapphire doubled.

There are many rare gemstones, but with a few notable exceptions, the investor is wise to stick to brand names such as ruby, emerald and sapphire, type II and colored diamonds. Gems of this degree of rarity generate both excitement and desire on the part of both wholesale and retail auction buyers. Just prior to the record setting ruby price in 2006 (ruby pictured above left), quoted prices in Bangkok for ruby of that size and quality were somewhere in the $300,000 per carat range. At that time there were no actual gems of that quality available for sale. Two possible nominees for the list might be Paraiba tourmaline and natural pearls. Other stones, like internet start-up companies, may provide more potential for appreciation, but at a much greater risk.

The investor thinking about liquidation should consider the timing. Timing is important. Auction house divide gems and jewelry into categories; “important”, “very important” and “magnificent” are the three categories dearest to the investor’s heart. Important auctions attract important buyers and the larger, rarer and finer the stone, the more prominent will be its place in the auction catalog. The date is also important: Auctions held close to the Christmas holidays bring in high-end retail buyers.

Next Installment: The New Precious Gems and Buying for Rarity, The Breakpoint:

Rarity should play a role in the investment decision. Beauty drives demand, but rarity drives price. It’s not enough that it be a fine gem, it must be a fine gem of a rare size. At what point do size and rarity coalesce? I’ve chosen the term breakpoint to describe the size where rarity drives per carat prices dramatically higher. Next installment I will discuss the breakpoint and make some suggestions as to which of the "new" precious stones might make good investments. Stay tuned!

Basel World 2009

By Marisa Zachovay

Basel World has been a confirmation for many in the colored gemstone industry that the global recession is a reality and it will be here for a while. The luxury market is not immune and attendance at the show was definitely down, though no one is willing to give any numbers just yet. In past years, finding a table or corner to eat lunch just outside Hall 1 was virtually impossible unless you had a “late” lunch. This year, there was a plenty of room although it was a bit cold to be outside, thank you very much. One exhibitor noted he was able to read the daily fair newspaper completely from cover to cover. Definitely less traffic!

The window shoppers stayed home. The US buying contingent was certainly fewer in numbers. But the visitors that did come were buying. And they were bargaining! Buyers had the upper hand and were milking it for all they could. Some colored stone dealers commented that their private customers were also missing. Finished jewelry was reported to be moving better than loose gemstones.

In colored gemstones, there were the usual goodies to be expected at the show. Hot pink spinels, neon tourmalines, and luscious emeralds were all available in the best qualities possible. An interesting suite of rough emerald in graduating sizes and with graduating color within the rough from green to colorless was available for a creative designer to play with.

Overall the mood was quiet with most exhibitors having arrived with low expectations and leaving with satisfactory results although of course “not the same as the past few years.” Now that we are over the “deer caught in the headlights” freeze from last fall, the industry is waking up and realizing it will have to reinvent itself and discover new markets and strategies for the future.

Bio: Marisa Zachovay

It is a pleasure to introduce Marisa Zachovay to GemWise readers. Ms Zachovay is a trained goldsmith, gemologist and world traveler. She published an article in German and subsequently in English in the Extra Lapis journal, Emerald – What is the value of emeralds. She also wrote for International News in Gems & Gemology about chocolate pearls. Ms. Zachovay has traveled to countries such as Madagascar and Colombia as an instructor and to give seminars. She is a member of the Gem & Mineral Council of the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, California and a Certified Gemologist with AGS.

Thinking of investing or just trying to find a beautiful gemstone. Want to know more about it? Consider the connoisseur's guide. 120 carefully selected photographs showing examples of the highest quality gems to educate the eye, including the Rockefeller Sapphire and many more of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones.


“Wise is a renowned author... He’s done a marvelous job of this first book, monumental work, a tour de force...My recommendation: Buy this book”.
Charles Lewton-Brain, Orchid

whether you like to know what the best colour is in Tanzanite, or how to grade a Diamond, you will find it in this book. No other book I read before dealt with this topic is such detail as Richard Wise's masterpiece."
A. Van Acker, FGA Amazon June 2005

"Secrets Of The Gem Trade: The Connoisseurs Guide To Precious Gemstones by Richard W. Wise is an impressive new reference for dedicated dealers and collectors of gems, gemstones, and ... pearls. Introducing and descriptively exploring each and every gem covered in the easy-to-use reference, Secrets Of The Gem Trade contains an illustrated summary of each stone inclusive of its history and general information, hue and tone, saturation, which may be noticed as the finest, an understanding of the particular gems rarity, and the caution for synthetics and how to depict them, however depending upon the stone there may be description of clarity, color fading, multi-color effect, etc. Secrets Of The Gem Trade is very highly recommended to anyone interested in gemology as a superbly organized, authoritative, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow reference."


Midwest Book Review April 2006

Only $39.95 in paperback. Read a couple of chapters online an order: We recently discovered about a dozen copies of the out of print hardcover: $79.95 signed by the author www.secretsofthegemtrade.com.

Buy it on Amazon: www.amazon.com

Gem Prices follow Real Estate in the New Gilded Age

Gem Prices in The New Gilded Age

By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

©2007

Gem prices are definitely on the rise. However, these price increases seem to be following general market trends that is, the largest price increasing have been at the very upper end of the market while commercial qualities have remained more or less static. This compares almost exactly to the situation in the U. S. real-estate market.

From Florida’s Miami Beach to The Berkshires of Massachusetts, homes in the under 1 million price range are languishing on the market while homes priced in the one million plus category find ready buyers. In a recent article the New York Times it is reported that condos priced at a median price of 1 million in the Miami area have slipped slightly while those at the 1.5 million level have actually seen a slight increase. In the upscale Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts the story repeats itself. Prices on single family homes below 1 million are not selling while the market for 1 million plus homes is described as brisk.

Likewise, Prices for fine quality Black opal have doubled in three years and prices for ruby, particularly the very rare fine unheated stones has risen 60%. Due to a diversity of sources, prices for unenhanced fine blue sapphire, the most popular colored gemstone in the U. S. is up a paltry 20%.

Some of this increase is due to the weak dollar which is down 40% against the Australian dollar, 20% against the baht and 22% against the Columbian peso. This has made U. S. real estate relatively cheap for foreign buyers. Since the international gem market operates mainly in dollars the effect has been similar.

As we move toward the low-end, gem prices have hardly moved at all. The bread and butter market is in the doldrums, commercial to good qualities have hardly moved upward at all. In fact, the entire low to mid range jewelry industry is experiencing something of a recession.

I Get Letters:

Seems like I get at least one question like this every week:

Judy from Melbourne writes:

Hello,

Thank you for your site and all your wonderful articles and books.
I wonder if you can help with how to appraise a very unusual stone my partner is thinking of buying. It is a 66ct peridot, loupe clean, square step cut with a deep pavilion, very dark green (but not olive) with almost no yellow, evenly saturated, and bought in Burma from the Burmese owner of a small mine.

The price being asked is around...(removed)...Appraisers here in Melbourne have never seen a similar stone, and say they have no benchmark for it, but it has been suggested that collectors might pay substantially more than the price being asked.

I would very much appreciate any guidance you can give me.

Answer:

Like Antiques Road Show in braille.

Judi,

How does one answer such a question without seeing the stone. I get quite a few similar emails so, if you don't mind I will post the question and answer on my blog. This reminds me of a call in program occasionally run on our local radio station, WAMC. Two antique dealers are asked to value items described by the callers. They never actually see the item but that fact does not seem to get in their way. Its like Antiques Road Show in braille.

One of a kind stones, big stones are difficult to appraise even when they are in front of you. Is there a peridot worth that price, certainly! Based on a respected price list, the top retail price for Peridot in that size would be $360 per carat. for an extra fine gem. Is your stone worth that much? I really have no idea. The best one I ever saw had an asking price of $5,000 per carat. You say its not olive meaning no gray mask? The depth of color (saturation, tone, crystal and the quality of the cut would be the remaining key factors.

My best advise: Show it to someone who knows. In lieu of that, its anybody's guess

Whats a buyer to do?

Follow me on gem buying adventures in the pearl farms of Tahiti. Visit the gem fields of Australia and Brazil. 120 carefully selected photographs showing examples of the highest quality gems to educate the eye, including the Rockefeller Sapphire and many more of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones.

“Wise is a renowned author... He’s
done a marvelous job of this first book, monumental work, a tour de force...My recommendation: Buy this book”.

Charles Lewton-Brain, Orchid

whether you like to know what the best colour is in Tanzanite, or how to grade a Diamond, you will find it in this book. No other book I read before dealt with this topic is such detail as Richard Wise's masterpiece."

A. Van Acker, FGA
Amazon June 2005

"Secrets Of The Gem Trade: The Connoisseurs Guide To Precious Gemstones by Richard W. Wise is an impressive new reference for dedicated dealers and collectors of gems, gemstones, and ... pearls. Introducing and descriptively exploring each and every gem covered in the easy-to-use reference, Secrets Of The Gem Trade contains an illustrated summary of each stone inclusive of its history and general information, hue and tone, saturation, which may be noticed as the finest, an understanding of the particular gems rarity, and the caution for synthetics and how to depict them, however depending upon the stone there may be description of clarity, color fading, multi-color effect, etc. Secrets Of The Gem Trade is very highly recommended to anyone interested in gemology as a superbly organized, authoritative, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow reference."

Midwest Book Review
April 2006

Only $37.95. Read a couple of chapters online: www.secretsofthegemtrade.com.

Buy it on Amazon: www.amazon.com

Color Change/Color Shift

Color change/color shift; whats the diff?

More on Topaz prices:

By Richard W. Wise

© 2007

I Get Emails:

I love hearing from readers. I get numerous emails every week from all over the world mostly from folks have read Secrets Of The Gem Trade. Some of you write asking detailed questions, often already answered in my book, which would require much more time than I have available to answer. Others send images of gems they are considering buying. My apologies but if you want my professional opinion about a purchase, I am going to charge you a professional fee and I don’t work from images.

The forums are an ideal place to ask these sorts of questions: For questions on gems; log onto www.gemologyonline.com. These folks love difficult questions, the more difficult the better. For questions about pearls I recommend: www.pearl-guide.com

Color Change versus Color Shift Gems:

Just the other day, Jan Glover wrote asking a stimulating question.

“First, would you please try to explain the difference between a color shift and a color change gemstone to me? I have seen garnets posted on the internet that change color from a purple to a pink in different types of lighting, is this (pictured above) a color shift garnet?”

Great question Jan!

First a little color theory, consider the color wheel. Actually, there are several color wheels, the one we are interested in is the spectral color wheel, that’s the one that divides white light into its constituent colors or hues. To that wheel we make a couple of additions. The eight chromatic hues present in gemstones are; red, orange yellow, green, blue violet, purple and pink. The first six are the spectral hues, the last two; purple, a hue that lies half way between red and blue and pink (pale red) are known as modified spectral hues. If we were using terminology rigorously as we should, we would not even use the term color. Properly speaking; the terms should be; hue shift and hue change

Gems change color when the lighting environment changes. In the old days there were just two types of light; sunlight and the light from a flame. When alexandrite was first discovered in the Ural Mountains in the 1850s the standards were noon daylight and the flame of a candle. As we passed into the 20^th Century the candle was replaced by the light bulb. This change passed unnoticed and led to some confusion and to the prevailing myth that alexandrite changes color from ruby red to emerald green. At 1500 degrees Kelvin, candlelight is distinctly reddish whereas the light emitted from a standard light bulb at 3200 Kelvin is well into the yellow. Thus, an alexandrite viewed by candlelight will appear to be much redder than that same stone viewed under the light bulb. Fact is the night time color of alexandrite regardless of source has always been purplish-red to reddish purple or as the great German gemologist Max Bauer described it in 1904: “an emerald by day and an amethyst by night.”

In 20-21st Century gemology, the two types of lighting used to judge color change in a gemstone are sunlight, specifically north daylight at noon and incandescent or light from a standard light bulb. North daylight at noon is fairly balanced white light between 5500-6500 Kelvin. Standard incandescent is yellowish light with a Kelvin temperature of 3200. Specificity is crucial; in today's technological world it is possible to dial-a -hue, light sources are available with Kelvin temperatures that cover practically the entire color spectrum. Caveat emptor!!

Many gemstones will exhibit alterations of hue when the lighting environment is changed as specified above. There are three possibilities:

1. Gems that shift part way between two adjacent hues. For example a pink sapphire that shifts from violetish pink to pinkish violet.
2. Gems that shift from one adjacent hue to another. Sapphires that change from purple to blue are a good example.
3. Gems that leap across the color wheel from one (non-adjacent) hue to another. For example, alexandrite and some garnet that change from purple-red (P-R) to blue-green. (B-G).

In my opinion, no. 1 should be called a color shift and cases numbered 2 and 3 should properly be termed color change. The first case is a change in degree not in kind, the hues shift only partially from one hue to another, never completely. In the second and third cases there is a change in kind not just degree. In both 2 and 3 we see a true change of hue. I have seen certain Sri Lankan sapphires change from a slightly grayish blue to a true purple and, of course, there is the example of alexandrite and certain alexandrite like garnets.

As to your question Jan, impossible to say. First question what light source was used in capturing that image? At a guess I would say that we are looking at a rhodolite color change stone. I have found one or two in parcels in East Africa over the years. Given my classification, the stone would fall into category no. 1 and be classified as a color shift garnet.

Recently, there have been quite a number of color change and color shift garnets, some in fairly large sizes, coming out of Madagascar and East Africa. Don’t mistake this for abundance, color changing and color shifting gems are fairly rare. Several years ago I picked though literally thousands of rhodolite garnets to find just three that shifted from pinkish-purple to purplish-pink. Garnets with the alexandrite like color change are even rarer.

More on Topaz Prices:

Somebody mis-spoke, probably me. What I meant to report in my last post was that topaz prices in Brazil had increased dramatically over the past several years. In a recent post on www.yourgemologist.com , New York dealer Steve Lembeck takes issue with the figures reported in this blog. David Epstein agrees with Steve Lembeck. According to Epstein prices at this year's Tucson shows were up between 20-40%; peach up 20%, peachy/pink up 25%, pink up 25%, sherries up 30% and reds up 40%.

Epstein continues to maintain that prices, based on actual transactions in Teofilo Otoni, have increased 200-300% but this increase has been over a period of three and one half years. Hopefully that clears up my confusion, mea culpa!

Interested in reading more about real life adventures in the gem trade? Follow me on gem buying adventures in the exotic entrepots of Burma and East Africa. Visit the gem fields of Austrailia and Brazil. 120 carefully selected photographs showing examples of the highest quality gems to educate the eye, including several of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones.

“Wise is a renowned author... He’s
done a marvelous job of this first book, monumental work, a tour de force...My recommendation: Buy this book”.

Charles Lewton-Brain, Orchid

Only $39.95. Read a couple of chapters online: www.secretsofthegemtrade.com.

Buy it on Amazon: www.amazon.com

Grading the Colorful, The Rocky Road to Quality Assessment

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

©2007

“Collectors Universe has stated it has every intention of becoming the world's leading purveyor of diamond and colored stone pedigrees—"maybe not tomorrow, or next year," (CU President) Haynes says, "but within the foreseeable future."

David Federman, Professional Jeweler, 2006

At the beginning of a new year it is traditional to assess the past year, make resolutions and talk about the future. Several happenings over the past twelve months that considered in isolation are important taken as a whole appear to be crucial milestones along the road toward colored gemstone quality grading.

A consortium of seven major gem laboratories under the aegis of the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee (LMHC) established important precedents:

1. First, they abandoned the traditional protocol of naming a gem based on species and variety. The committee agreed that on grading reports issued by member labs to use the term “Paraiba” to describe all copper colored or cuprian tourmalines regardless of their actual source.

2. In a separate decision, the LMHC also decided to stray beyond the realm of verifiable science and enter the world of aesthetics. They agreed to adopt a set of color parameters for and use the term “Padparadscha” sapphire on grading reports issued by member labs.

This year a new player entered the grading games: Collectors Universe (CU), a publicly traded company that provides certification for coins stamps and guess what, baseball cards purchased American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) the only major U. S. lab that issues quality grading reports on colored gemstones. CU has the financial muscle and appears poised for an strategic play: The company already owns Gem Certification and Assurance Lab (GCAL) as well as Gemprint, the diamond identification and registration system that will laser print an ID # on gemstones.

In order to have a universal colored stone grading system you must have a universally acceptable methodology. Internet shoppers, in particular, are demanding a way to compare apples to apples and what the market requires the market sooner of later gets. Getting all major players to accept a single methodology may be difficult but a broad basis of agreement between a number of important labs may do the trick. The LMHC includes seven of the world’s most respected gemological laboratories: (AGTA Gem Testing Center, CISGEM (Milan), GAAJ (Japan), GIA (USA), Gemological Institute of Thailand, Gübelin Gem Lab (Switzerland) and SSEF Swiss Gemmological Institute (Switzerland) missing only AGL and The Swiss Lab Bangkok (GRS) the very well respected Bangkok based lab run by Adolph Piretti.

Historically, no institution, not even the mighty Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the originator of the universally accepted diamond grading system, has succeeded in creating an acceptable colored stone grading system. GIA tried twice, first in the 80s Colormaster, a sort of color blender and then with Gemset, a set of round faceted plastic doohickeys, both of which were flawed and failed to win industry wide acceptance. GIA has wisely abandoned its go it alone strategy and joined LMHC.

Instrument based color determination appears to be the wave of the future. According to American Gemological Laboratories C. R. “Cap” Beasley “instrument based measurement is simply more consistent”. The fact is; you have the rock, the light and the observer, standardize the latter two and you are eliminate two variables. Does Beasley have an instrument? None that he will admit to.

AGL is still the only major laboratory that grades colored gemstones. Beasley introduced his own system, Colorscan, in the early 1980s, a system that many gemologists including this writer believes was the most viable system yet created. Colorscan, however, relied on the human eye as observer. New Computer based systems such as Gem-e-Square that project a range of hue/saturation/tone on a color computer monitor also require the human eye and judgment to make a call.

Collectors Universe appears to be making a bid to become a major player in quality grading. I will be interviewing CU president Bill Haynes, later in the week. Stay tuned.

Interested in reading more about real life adventures in the gem trade?

Follow me on gem buying adventures in the exotic entrepots of Burma and East Africa. Visit the gem fields of Austrailia and Brazil. 120 photographs including some of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones. Now only $26.95. You can read a couple of chapters and order online: www.secretsofthegemtrade.com

Do ya feel lucky? Win A Free Copy:

Thats right win a free copy of Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones, answer the question.

The Hope Diamond, Inflation in the Seventeenth Century

In 1669 Louis XIV of France purchased the French Blue diamond from the famous gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier for 220,000 livres or 42.7 million dollars (1 livre = $1,941.). In an inventory taken by the French crown in 1691 the Sancy Diamond, a colorless stone of 55.23 carats and the largest white diamond in Europe at that time, was valued at 24.2 million dollars.

By the time this inventory was taken, The French Blue, had been recut by M. Pitau to 69 carats, a 40% loss in weight. Despite this the stone that ultimately became the Hope Diamond, was valued at…in 1691? The first person who comes closest wins a signed paperback copy of Secrets Of The Gem Trade. Post your answer in French livres and your email address to the Comments section of the blog. Winner’s name to be posted on GemWise in two weeks. Hint: read Ronald, The Sancy Blood Diamond, Morel, The French Crown Jewels