Historic Diamonds / Famous Diamonds
Feeling Fancy? Get to Know the True Colors of These Historic Fancy Colored Diamonds
The Farnese Blue, Dresden Green, and Golden Jubilee each have an epic story of their own.
Updated: September 8, 2025
Written by: Benjamin G. Guttery
Since the beginning of time, the most coveted of all precious jewels has been natural fancy colored diamonds. These prismatic stones date back well over 3,000 years. In India, the different castes were allowed to wear colored diamonds, and only royalty was allowed to wear white diamonds.
In Europe, they were traded to start marriages, prevent wars, and change the boundaries of countries. Having always been prized throughout history, today, auction houses break records each time these stones come out of their modern-day vaults; however, many are still kept private or within the family.
Ahead, discover three of the most famous fancy colored diamonds ever and the legendary stories behind them.
Meet the Expert
- Benjamin G. Guttery is a jewelry historian, curator, and content strategist based in Texas. He is the founder of Third Coast Gems and a longtime contributor to Only Natural Diamonds, where he explores the historical and cultural relevance of natural gemstones.
- With a background in luxury retail and a degree in public history, Guttery specializes in the storytelling power of fine jewelry—particularly its ties to identity, legacy, and design.
What Is a Fancy Colored Diamond?
According to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a fancy colored diamond is any diamond that exhibits a noticeable color beyond the normal D-to-Z color grading scale. While most diamonds are valued for their absence of color, fancy colored diamonds are prized for their vivid hues, ranging from pink, blue, and green to yellow, orange, and even red.
GIA classifies fancy colored diamonds using a system that evaluates three key factors: hue (the basic color), tone (how light or dark the color appears), and saturation (the strength or intensity of the color). Stones that show a rich, evenly distributed color with strong saturation earn the coveted “Fancy” designation, with additional grades such as Fancy Light, Fancy Intense, and Fancy Vivid describing the depth and vibrancy of the shade.
The Farnese Blue: A Royal Fancy Colored Diamond
When Spanish King Philip V needed a dowry for his future wife (Italian Princess, Elizabeth Farnese of Parma), the entire empire came together to send wedding gifts for the occasion. The then Governor of the Philippines sent the Golconda-sourced stone to Cuba as his offering. In 1715, twelve ships filled with opulent treasures set sail for Spain, but a hurricane off the coast of Florida sank most of the fleet.
As fate would have it, the lone ship carrying the violetish-blue diamond was the only one to dock in the port of Seville. Once it was gifted to Queen Elisabeth Farnese, the jewel stayed in the royal lineage for over 300 years, passing through Spain, France, Italy, and Austria. The stone was held by nine different European Royals, including in the tiara of Queen Marie Antoinette.
In 2018, the last family to own the diamond sold it through Sotheby’s Magnificent & Noble Jewels auction in Geneva. The antique pear shaped diamond weighed 6.16 carats and was expected to fetch anywhere between $3.7-5.2 million USD. It ended up selling to an anonymous online bidder in under 4 minutes for well over the estimates at $6.7 million USD.
The over 6 carat diamond could have easily disappeared into a private collection, never to be seen again. But then, last year, the Italian jeweler BVLGARI included The Farnese Blue in its 2019 “Cinemagia High Jewelry Collection.” Now weighing 6.03 carats (after a slight, but masterful re-cut) the stone is currently loose and awaiting a newly designed setting for its next chapter.
The Dresden Green: The Most Famous Green Fancy Colored Diamond
Weighing in at 40.70 carats, the Dresden Green Diamond is the largest and most famous green diamond in history. Historical experts have speculated that this exceptional fancy colored diamond hails from the Kollur mine in the famous Golconda region of India. Diamonds from this region are often a very special and rare type, known for their transparency and purity. Scientists believe that it owes its unique “apple green” hue to natural radiation exposure.
A closely guarded historical treasure, the Dresden Green Diamond has been scientifically examined only once in modern history: in November 1988, a senior gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), along with an expert from the Swiss Foundation for the Research of Gemstones (SSEF,) conducted a gemological examination while the museum was closed for cleaning. The first documented mention of the very large diamond was in a London newspaper dated 1722.
At the 1742 Leipzig Fair, the unique colored diamond was acquired by a Polish-Saxon King from a Dutch merchant for £30,000 (around £6.5 million today). Sometime later, around the year 1768, it was set into the bejeweled hat ornament that the green jewel was to rest on this very day.
Over the years, the green diamond was housed in a special set of rooms in the Dresden Palace known as the Green Vault. Since then, it has only left there twice: for a decade after WWII in the Soviet Union, and for a more recent exhibition at the MET Museum in New York City.
Remarkably, the Dresden Green also survived the infamous 2019 Green Vault jewelry heist, when thieves broke into the palace and stole countless treasures—but left this extraordinary diamond untouched in its secure display.
The Golden Jubilee: The Largest Fancy Colored Diamond in the World
At 545.67 carats, the Golden Jubilee Diamond is the largest faceted diamond in the world. Discovered in 1985 at the prolific Premier Mine in South Africa, it was unearthed as a piece of rough originally weighing 755.5 carats. Classified among the rare fancy colored diamonds, the now-revered jewel was originally given the common title of “unnamed brown.”
For the next five years, it remained untouched as it was felt that the characteristics of the stone were too difficult to get around. Then in 1990 De Beers hired famed cutter Diamantaire Gabi Tolkowsky to evaluate the rough Diamond with new technology it had developed. After two whole years of work and building an underground room free of vibration; the jewel emerged as what’s been described as a “Fire-Rose Cushion Cut.”
Then, in 1995, the fancy colored diamond was acquired by a group of Thai businessmen. It was flown around the world to receive blessings by various religious leaders (including John Paul II). In the year 2000, it was presented to the King of Thailand on the 50th anniversary of his ascent to the throne as a gift, where it now resides in the Thai Royal Jewels.
Although in photos, the Golden Jubilee may appear Orange, its official color grade declares it a yellowish-brown diamond. The diamond was once given a value of nearly $12 million USD, although experts agree that it would fetch significantly more at an auction today.
