The Blue Moon diamond, discovered in South Africa in January last year, will be exhibited in Hong Kong, London and New York before it goes under hammer in Geneva on November 11th.
“The Blue Moon diamond is a simply sensational stone of perfect colour and purity,” David Bennett, who heads Sotheby's international jewellery division, said in a statement.
He added that the immense hype which followed the stone's discovery “has now been proven to have been totally justified.”
The Gemological Institute of America previously declared the Blue Moon to be “internally flawless”.
Categorized as a fancy vivid blue diamond, the Blue Moon is the largest cushion-shaped stone in that category to ever appear at auction.
Sotheby's put its estimated sale price between $35-$55 million which, at the higher end, would mark a record for any diamond sale.
In November 2010, a 24.78 carats pink diamond — known as the Graff Pink — sold in Geneva for just over $46 million.
The record sale for a blue diamond so far came in November last year, when a 9.75-carat gem fetched $32.6 million at an auction in New York.
SOTHEBY'S
‘Blue Moon’ diamond tipped for auction record
A blue diamond weighing 12.03 carats and described by experts as internally flawless could sell for a record $55 million when it goes up for auction in Geneva in several weeks, Sotheby's said on Thursday.
Published: 17 September 2015 14:52 CEST
Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP
DIAMOND
Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva
An extremely rare pink diamond will be auctioned in Geneva on November 11 by Sotheby's, which says it is worth between $23 and $38 million.
Published: 8 November 2020 12:54 CET
A model poses with the “The Spirit of the Rose” diamond during a press preview on Friday. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Named “The Spirit of the Rose” after a famous Russian ballet, the 14.83-carat diamond mined in Russia is the biggest ever to go under the hammer in its category — “fancy vivid purple-pink”.
The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size,” Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby's jewellery division, said in a statement. “Only one per cent of all pink diamonds are larger than 10-carats.”
Speaking to AFP, Benoit Repellin, head of fine jewellery auctions at Sotheby's Geneva, said the oval-shaped diamond was “completely pure.”
READ ALSO:
- 'Incomparable' $50-million pink diamond smashes record at Geneva auction
- No buyer at Geneva auction for $30m pink diamond
- Diamond once set in crowns of French kings to be auctioned in Geneva
The rough diamond was unearthed by Russia's Alrosa — one of the world's leading diamond producers — in the Republic of Sakha in the northeast of the country in July 2017.
Repellin said it took a painstaking year for cutting masters to turn the diamond into its polished form.
Sotheby's said the world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel was the “CTF Pink Star”, a 59.60-carat oval pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.
According to Repellin, five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction were pink.
The sale of this gem coincides with the closure of the world's largest pink diamond mine in Australia after it exhausted its reserves of the precious stones.
The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.
Url copied to clipboard!
Please whitelist us to continue reading.
Member comments