Blue Diamond Sells for Record $9.5M
(IDEX Online News) – An extremely rare blue diamond sold for $9.5 million at a London auction, creating a new world record for price per carat.
The fancy deep-blue cushion-shape 5.30-carat diamond was bought by jewelry company Graff Diamonds at the Bonhams Fine Jewellery sale in London on Wednesday for a record $1.8 million per carat. The previous record stood at $1.68 million.
In addition to bidders in the auction room, interested buyers from across the globe took part via 25 telephone lines.
The diamond is set in a 'Trombino' ring made by Italian jewelry firm Bulgari in the mid-1960s.
"Blue diamonds, especially those over 5.00 carats, are extremely rare," the firm said. "Fewer than 30 blue diamonds over five carats have appeared at auction worldwide. If you compare this with the tens of thousands of colorless or "white" diamonds that have been sold in the same period," the company adds.
The diamond is set within a mount pave-set with brilliant-cut diamonds and rows of baguette-cut diamonds.