AK-47 Case Hardened Blue Gem Guide & Most Valuable Patterns

The first-ever crafted Factory New AK-47 Case Hardened Blue Gem with a 661st pattern and StatTrak modification made a lot of noise among the CS2 community and skin lovers. Some early overviews and unfounded tweets started to talk about 7-digit numbers as the potential price for the unique skin, boiling the interest of Counter-Strike fans. You can view CS2 Case Hardened patterns explained to delve more into this topic and keep abreast of the latest developments.

However, some gamers have plenty of questions. For instance, why do the prices for AK-47 Case Hardened Blue Gem patterns vary from a few hundred bucks up to a 6-digit cost? What is the visual effect of the different AK Case Hardened Blue Gem patterns, and which numbers are considered the Blue Gems? Finally, how do we distinguish all this stuff and understand the right price considering different wear and patterns at the same time?

Let’s go step by step.

AK-47 Case Hardened Blue Gem: What's Special?

In real life, the process of case-hardening is applied to metal and steel parts of the weapons and affects them with chemical and thermal processes. Usually, it is used to make the surface layer of the steel harder and resistant to corrosion, which also alters its appearance with random stains or dilutions. In this regard, an AK Case Hardened Blue Gem skin or its Golden variation is closer to reality than most other CS2 weapon paintings.

Another feature that makes Blue Gems more valuable is their release date, which was in August 2013 during the update called “The Arms Deal.” Thus, the CS:GO Weapon Case is the only option to get the desired skin, and they are awarded pretty rarely nowadays and cost about $60 on skin trading platforms. Being the Classified rifle in the regarded case, chances of getting the one with plenty of blue colors on its metal parts are extremely low, making Blue Gem skin variation a rarity by default. These rifles are undoubtedly among the most expensive AK-47 skins in the game today.

All in all, the combination of the most popular weapon in the game and the rarest color met in pure nature attracts many players. Just remember, not all Case Hardened AKs will be Blue Gems, and the majority will be priced at the level of a few hundred dollars. But how do you understand which rifle is on the mass market and which AK-47 Blue Gem costs the same as a car or a house? The typical sorting of the skins by wear doesn’t work here, and one should look at the pattern of a particular weapon.

AK-47 Case Hardened Patterns

Almost all CS2 players know that skins can be worn differently, which affects their appearance. Traditionally, a Factory-New painting looks brighter and has fewer scratches, with both parameters worsening and downgrading the wear to Battle-Scarred condition.

However, there is a group of CS skins, the float value of which isn’t the only parameter that defines their appearance and, therefore, their cost. Thus, every skin also has a unique and unchangeable pattern alongside a float value, and those numbers from 1 to 999 define additional parameters of the painting on the weapon. For instance, a pattern number determines where the scratches will be located or what the proportions of the main colors on the gun or knife will be.

As you can see, the skin above has not so many blue colors on the rifle, especially on the front side block, buttstock, and rear sight block. That is why this particular Factory New Case Hardened AK costs “only” around $300—it has a pattern that doesn’t belong to the Blue Gem group.

Interestingly, the best AK Case Hardened patterns aren’t the neighboring numbers and are grouped by tiers. Tier-1 patterns have the most blue color on the skin, turning the rifle into a real Blue Gem, while the percentage of sky color reduces with lower tiers.

Here is the list of AK-47 Blue Gem seeds divided into diverse tiers:

Most Popular and Rare AK-47 Blue Gem Patterns

Without any definite criteria for why each pattern belongs to one or another group, the CS community decided to call all the patterns from the table above Blue Gems. Tier-1 items have the most blue color on the rifle, approximately more than 80% of the total painting on the metal parts. Tier 2 copies have less blue color, starting from about 60% and up to 80%.

As a rule, the skins with patterns from the first two tiers are rare guests on the trading platforms, so it’s hard to say how much they cost. At the moment of writing the article, we found the one with pattern #429 in the Minimal Wear condition with StatTrak. Its price was $2,299, but it could have already been changed.

Of course, special attention belongs to the 661st pattern, which is considered to be the highest standard of the AK Blue Gem pattern. The latest noise in the community was related exactly to this one. It was finally unboxed in the Factory New condition with StatTrak, which happened for the first time since the skin release in mid-2013.

The owner lives in China, and the skin was detected by one of the platforms that synchronizes the inventory when using it. The community hyped a lot about the potential price of this skin, with the first numbers being between $800k and $1 million. However, further discussions increased the number to about $2 million as the potential price for the truly unique skin.

However, it’s important to mention that there are no confirmations that the owner wants to sell his AK Blue Gem, and price discussions can be a matter of massive speculation.

Are Tier-1 / Tier-2 Blue Gems Too Expensive? Let’s Check the Less Rare Patterns

Tier-3 and Tier-4 Blue Gem skins are easier to get, considering the number of patterns included in the table. Of course, the amount of blue color is lower and visually looks like something between 40% and 60%, which still allows us to call it a Blue Gem. However, despite having almost 150 different patterns in Tier 3 and 4 groups, the market isn’t flooded with dozens of offers.

At the same time, the prices are much lower and you don’t have to sell your kidney to get the desired skin. The prices vary from $270 to $700, depending mostly on the float value but not the pattern. Still, those few available offers are mostly in the Well-Worn or Battle-Scarred condition, which still look pretty cool.

It means that hunting Tier 1 or Tier 2 patterns has both slim chances and sense, only if you are one of those crazy and rich fans of rare skins. Of course, being the owner of the elite AK-7 Case Hardened Blue Gem item in your Steam inventory may sound great, but after all, it doesn’t affect your overall skill or rank in the Premier mode.

Why Are the AK-47 Blue Gems So Popular and Rare?

Summing up, the popularity of AK-47 Case Hardened patterns is directly related to their rarity. Thus, the community has waited over ten years to unbox an elite pattern 661 in the Factory New condition with a StatTrak option.

At the same time, the appearance of the Case Hardened skins was always a sign of good taste, while the painting difference depending on the pattern only increased the variety of options. You can check the best Karambit Case Hardened pattern on our website and see for yourself that the situation is the same. The discussions around the Blue Gem AKs clearly demonstrate that the market of Counter-Strike skins follows basic economic rules mixed with art and creative taste.