World’s Rarest Gems Go On Display

Some of the world’s rarest and most extraordinary diamonds will go on display this summer at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

The gallary, home of the famed 44.5-carat blue Hope Diamond, will exhibit seven additional diamonds in the exhibit.

The Steinmetz Pink, a 59.6 carat pink stone, on its first public display since its unveiling last month in Monaco, is the largest fancy vivid pink diamond ever discovered that is also flawless.

The Ocean Dream is the world's largest natural deep blue-green diamond at 5.51-carats. Another blue diamond on exhibit is The Heart of Eternity, a vivid blue 27.64-carat gem, mined in South Africa.

The Moussaieff Red, at 5.11 carats, is the world's largest known red diamond. The Allnatt is a 101.29-carat yellow diamond, one of the biggest of its color, while the Harry Winston Pumpkin Diamond, a 5.54-carat bright orange stone, is the only known flawless orange diamond.

The 203.04-carat De Beers Millennium Star, on its first display in the US, is the largest diamond in the exhibit. It’s the sixth largest colorless diamond ever discovered, and will probably attract the most attention.

One thing all the gems have in common is that they are all recent discoveries from the past 25 years. “We do have a lot of diamonds, and many of them are historic for some reasons,” says Jeffrey Post, the curator of the museum's National Gems and Mineral Hall Post. “But all these have been found since the 1980s and are starting to accumulate their history”.