Famous Blue Diamonds of the World

This week Seventy Seven Diamonds brings you a list of the most exquisite and famous blue-coloured diamonds that have featured throughout history.  Find about their history, their diamond credentials, and what it is that makes them so famous.

The Regent Diamond

This diamond was also commonly known as the Pitt Diamond and was discovered by a slave in the legendary Golconda mine, India, in 1698.  The sparkler wasn’t hard to miss; it weighed an impressive 410 carats.  However, the slave hid the stone and managed to escape to the coast – only to be murdered for the stone by an English sea captain.

The captain sold the stone to an Indian diamond merchant for an estimated £3,431. Thomas Pitt, Governor of Fort George in Madras, then bought the blue stone from the merchant in 1702 for £68,610. Thomas Pitt was grandfather to the famous American Revolutionist William Pitt and he was the one who transported the diamond to England for cutting.

The Regent Diamond is a cushion-shaped, brilliant cut diamond, white in colour but with a faint blue tinge.  It now weighs approximately 140.50 carats and measures around 32mm x 34mm x 25mm. The moulding of the stone took 2 years before it was turned into the charming Regent Diamond – thought to be one of the finest cut diamonds in existence!