Heat Treated blue gems: always the same seeds, up to 121 times the price
On Heat Treated and Case Hardened finishes, the pattern (seed) decides how much blue ends up on the gun. Very blue copies, the "blue gems", sell for much more. We checked in our real sales whether it's really the seed that sets the price, and not chance.
The short answer: it's always the same seeds
- On the Five-SeveN | Heat Treated, 30% of sales go for more than 2.5 times the price expected for their float. 19 seeds keep coming back: each sold at least twice, at 5.6 times the usual price on median.
- On the Desert Eagle | Heat Treated, 39 seeds are in the same situation, at 15.3 times the usual price on median, and up to ×121 for seed 490.
- 9 of these seeds are the same on both guns: 148, 159, 341, 347, 426, 517, 567, 704 and 882.
An ordinary Heat Treated copy is worth the listed price. A sought-after seed can be worth 5 to 100 times more.
How we measured it
- The data: real sales recorded on CSFloat, where each sale shows the float, the seed and the stickers. Sales without stickers only: 243 Five-SeveN and 532 Desert Eagle Heat Treated sales. Measured on October 26, 2026.
- The calculation: for each sale, we divide the price paid by the price CSFloat predicts for that gun at that float. A sale above 2.5 times that price counts as "sought after".
- The rule to keep a seed: it must have sold at least twice, and each time above 2.5 times the usual price. A single expensive sale isn't enough. Sales at a near-zero float (below 0.02) are excluded: there, the float pays, not the seed.
The results
Desert Eagle | Heat Treated (532 sales)
| Seed | Sale price vs. usual price |
|---|---|
| 490 | ×121 |
| 148 | ×79 |
| 347 | ×57 |
| 704 | ×44 |
| 723 | ×36 |
| 426 | ×31 |
In total, 39 seeds meet the rule, from ×2.7 to ×121.
Five-SeveN | Heat Treated (243 sales)
19 seeds meet the rule, from ×3.2 to ×9.1: 704, 148, 792, 159, 341, 567, 347, 517, 321, 406, 882, 297, 16, 426, 96, 111, 67, 781 and 998.
What about Case Hardened?
The best-known seed lists are for the AK-47 | Case Hardened. Three independent sources (SteamDB, csdb.gg, profilerr.net) give the same "Tier 1" list: 661, 151, 955, 321, 387, 670, 179. Seed 661 is the most famous blue gem in the game.
We can't confirm it on our own sales yet: these guns rarely sell, and blue gems almost never on the marketplaces we track. On the two Case Hardened skins with enough sales to measure (Kukri Knife Field-Tested, 48 sales, and Hydra Gloves Field-Tested, 88 sales), the premium stays small: at most 2.4 times the predicted price. For Case Hardened knives, we have too few sales per seed to conclude.
The limits
- Two sales per seed is not much: the list may change as our database grows (we rerun the analysis regularly).
- A seed close to a sought-after seed has no special value: the amount of blue doesn't follow the order of the numbers.
- These premiums come from CSFloat sales; blue gems also trade between collectors, off-marketplace.
What it means for you
- When buying: on a Heat Treated, check the listing's seed. A very high price is only justified for a sought-after seed.
- When selling: if your seed is on these lists, don't sell it at the lowest listed price.
- Our inventory calculator flags these seeds ("Pattern" badge) on the relevant copies, and Heat Treated skin pages remind you that the pattern sets the price.
FAQ
How do I find my skin's seed?
In our inventory calculator (it shows the pattern of every copy), or on a marketplace that displays it, such as CSFloat.
Why is the same seed sought after on two different guns?
The seed places the finish's pattern on the gun. On the Five-SeveN and the Desert Eagle, 9 of the sought-after seeds are the same in our sales. It's a measured observation, not a rule: a seed sought after on one gun isn't necessarily sought after on all of them.
My Heat Treated isn't on the list. Is it still worth more?
Probably not. The vast majority of copies sell at the usual price for their float. The list only contains seeds that sold high several times.
Sources
- Real CSFloat sales (without stickers), analyzed by FragPrice on October 26, 2026.
- AK-47 Case Hardened seed lists: SteamDB, csdb.gg, profilerr.net (cross-checked on October 18, 2026).
- Pattern (seed) guide