The Dresden Green
Brief History of The Dresden Green
The Dresden Green gets its name from the capitol of Saxony where it has been on display for more than 200 years. The earliest known reference to its existence occurs in The Post Boy, a London new-sheet of the 1700's. The issue dated October 25th - 27th, 1722 included this article:
An early reference to the Dresden Green "On Tuesday last, in the afternoon, one Mr. Marcus Moses (an important diamond merchant in London during the first part of the 18th century), lately arrived from India, had the honor to wait on his Majesty [King George I (ruled 1714-27)] with his large diamond, which is of a fine emerald green color, and was with his Majesty near an hour. His Majesty was very much pleased with the sight thereof. It is said there never was seen the like in Europe before, being free from any defect in the world; and he has shown his Majesty several other fine large diamonds, the like of which 'tis said were never brought from India before. He was also, the 25th, to wait on their Royal Highnesses with his large diamond; and they were surprised to see one of such largeness, and of such a fine emerald color without the help of a foil under it. We hear the gentlemen value's it at 10,000 pounds."
Another early reference to the Dresden Green is found in a letter dated from 1726, from Baron Gautier, the "assessor" at the Geheimes Rath's Collegium in Dresden, to the Polish ambassador in London, which speaks of the green diamond being offered to Frederick Augustus I (1694-1753) by a London merchant for 30,000 pounds.
The Gemmological Institute of America examined the stone in 1988. The Dresden Green Diamond was proved to be not only of extraordinary quality, but also a rare type IIa diamond. The clarity grade determined by GIA was VS1 and the gem has the potential of being internally flawless. The gem measures 29.75 x 19.88 x 10.29mm. The GIA graded the symmetry good and the polish very good. This is astonishing for a diamond cut prior to 1741. The Dresden Greed Diamond is displayed Albertinium Museum in Dresden.
Value/Price of Dresden Green
its relatively small weight of 41 carats is valued at £ 30,000, which is very high price for such a small diamond because of its unique character in form of its peculiar green tint. Dresden Green diamond is also being used to compare natural green diamonds against lab-produced green diamonds and there's also hope that with the help of this famous diamond test will be devised to differentiate naturally green diamonds of the ones synthetically produced in lab.
