This historic stone was bought at auction in 2008 by famed London jeweller Lawrence Graff for just over $25 million. The 35.56 carat natural blue diamond figured in the treasuries of several European royal families and came by its age honestly. Graff recut the stone cut to eliminate wear and chips and it now weighs 31.06 carats. Historians and jewellery experts have criticized the stone’s face lift, arguing that each nick and chip was a part of its storied history.  Now named the Wittelsbach-Graff diamond, it is on display with another notorious blue stone, the Hope Diamond, at Washington’s National Museum of Natural History until August 1, 2010. The recut stone has been upgraded to internally flawless and it is claimed the colour is now a deeper blue as well.

The first picture shows the original Wittelsbach stone; the second, the recut, renamed beauty.