Also known as  "Der Blaue Wittelsbach'' this diamond is one of the worlds most valuable.  It is 24.4 mm in diameter and 8.23mm in depth with 35.56 carats.  It is a natural blue tinted diamond with VS2 clarity.

The GIA, Gemological Institute of America has a universally accepted clarity grading scale, as outlined below.  It is the most widely accepted clarity grading system in the world.  The GIA scale specifies eleven grades in 6 categories:

F.....Flawless 
IF.....Internally Flawless 
V VS1 to V VS2......Very Very Slight Inclusions
VS1 to VS2......Very Slight  Inclusions
SI1 to SI2....Only Slight Inclusions
I1 to I2 and I3...........Imperfect 

Because of the beauty and splendor of the Willtelsbach diamond, regardless of the fact that is very slightly flawed, it is the sort of diamond that has been owned by Royalty for centuries.  Indeed until around 1918 this very diamond was actually set at the top of the Bavarian Kings crown...as seen in the image below.

The Wittelsbach diamond has quite a profound history, some of which I present here:  In 1664 King Philip of Spain bought the diamond and gave it to his daughter  Margaret Teresa as a keepsake.  Her husband, King Leopold I of Spain, retained the stone in the family after Margaret's death.

  In 1722, his granddaughter,  Maria Amalia married Charles Wittelsbach of Bavaria and it was from this union that the diamond got its name.

Some 23 years later in 1745 the diamond was mounted on the' Bavarian Order Of The Golden Fleece' which was an intricate silver and diamond encrusted brooch, as seen below.  

In 1806 Maximillian IV Joseph Von Wittelsbach who became the King of Bavaria had the diamond set into  the Crown jewels where it remained in until 1918.  The diamond was last seen in 1921 during ceremonies for the funeral of King Ludwig III of Bavaria.

It reappeared in 1931 and the auction house of Christies tried to auction it but during the depression of the 30's there were no buyers.  It's history from there is a bit sketchy but it is known that in the early 1960's  a member of a German/Jewish family tried to have the diamond re-cut by approaching renowned jeweller and diamond cutter Joseph Komkommer.

 The jeweller who recognized the gem as the Wittelsbach diamond, and thinking along the lines of sacrilege, refused to cut it.  Instead he and a conglomerate of other dealers purchased it from the client for a reputed £180,000 and from there it remained with the jewellers until it entered a private collection in 1964.

On December 2008 the Wittlelsbach diamond was auctioned at Christies.  It was estimated that the gem would fetch a record sum of US $15 million, however this estimate was wrong as the gem actually went under the hammer for US $23.4 million / £16.4 million pounds sterling.  It was bought by London based Jeweller Laurence Graff and is to date the highest price ever paid for a single diamond.

I would not be surprised if this diamond became officially re-named as something more modern, perhaps " The Blue Graff " this is only my  suggestion.

Mr L. Graff " The King of Bling" pictured below.

It it interesting to note that multi billionaire Laurence Graff has sold diamonds to Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Trump, the Sultan of Brunei, Oil Sheiks and Royal families around the world. If anyone knows that diamonds are forever, then it has to be Laurence Graff.