Jewelry News

Sotheby’s Could Set Record with $55M Blue Moon Diamond

RAPAPORT… A blue diamond weighing 12.03 carats and described by experts as internally flawless could sell for a record $55 million (EUR 47 million) when it goes up for auction in November, Sotheby’s said Thursday.

The Blue Moon diamond, discovered in South Africa, will be exhibited in Hong Kong, London and New York ahead of the Geneva sale on November 11. Categorized as a fancy vivid blue diamond, the Blue Moon is the largest cushion-shaped stone in that category to ever appear at auction.

“The Blue Moon diamond is a simply sensational stone of perfect color and purity,” David Bennett, head of Sotheby’s international jewelry division, said in a statement. He noted that the publicity 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”.

Sotheby’s put its estimated sale price between $35- million and $55-million, which, at the higher end, would mark a record for any diamond sale. A 9.75-carat blue diamond fetched a record $32.6 million at a November 2014 auction in New York. In November 2010, a 24.78-carat pink diamond – known as the Graff Pink – sold in Geneva for more than $46 million.

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