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Colored Stone's First Mystery Gem

This is not a contest. Or, if it is, the winning prize of this guessing game—the first in Colored Stone history—is simply the privilege of having seen such a magnificent rarity.

Here are some clues as to this 2.15-carat bi-colored shield cut’s identity. First of all, it isn’t a tourmaline. It is believed to have been mined in Zimbabwe. It is valued, for insurance purposes, at $3 million—although it isn’t for sale. Owner Kushal Sacheti, president of Galaxy USA, in New York City, wants to eventually donate this genuine one-of-its-kind treasure to a museum where the public can feast their eyes on it whenever they want. Come to think of it, that’s where the stone has been for a while now—on traveling exhibition at various natural science museums.

By now, this handful of hints should have led you to correctly guess the identity of this gem. But if you’re still unclear, let’s drop some more clues.

TRICKS OF LIGHT

Whenever this stone is taken from the darkness of a vault and sees the light of day, its colors change. For reasons unknown, stones of this kind turn from a light greenish-yellow to a deep olive-green after exposure to light. The phenomenon is called “photochroism.” Why it happens is still a matter of scientific conjecture.

But color change is the signature visual characteristic of this stone—the phenomenological giveaway of its identity.

Still stumped? I don’t think so. How many of you suspect you are looking at a chameleon diamond? Well, right you are.

If this fact wasn’t obvious immediately, don’t kick yourself for not knowing this gem’s identity at first stunned glance.

THE MYSTERY SOLVED

Although our mystery gem is a chameleon diamond—it is one unlike any that has ever been seen before. Indeed, its uniqueness has thrown many asked to sight I.D. it for a loupe (pun intended).

Most chameleon diamonds turn, like any other color-change gem, entirely from one hue to another. But this stone keeps its orange-brown in all surroundings. It’s the greenish component that changes. Alas, this fixed orangey-brown color can thwart expert snap judgment.

To build provenance for this gem, Galaxy has loaned it to New York’s American Museum of Natural History where it has been serving as a center piece for its traveling “The Nature of Diamonds” exhibition—slated to open at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas on May 8. After that it will head on to Windy City’s Field Museum from October 23, 2009 until March 28, 2010.

As you would expect of any exhibition like this, there are other color wonders to be seen.

We’ll show you one of them: a 23-carat bubble-gum-pink diamond ring from Christian Tse that steals as much breath away from onlookers as the bi-color. If you’re looking for further evidence of the diamond’s membership in the realm of colored stones, “The Nature of Diamonds” makes an open-and-shut case.

A 23-carat bubble-gum-pink diamond ring from Christian Tse

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