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The gemstone weighing 14.62 carats is named "Oppenheimer Blue" after its former owner, Philip Oppenheimer. He belonged to the family supervised the diamond mining group De Beers for 80 years.
The auction will probably update the highest price for a diamond sold at auction. The previous record was set in November last year, when the diamond "Blue Moon", weighing 12.03 carats, was sold at Sotheby's Geneva auction for $ 48.4 million. The buyer was Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, who had paid $ 28.5 million for a pink diamond weighing 16.08 carats the day before. Both stones were supposedly bought for his seven-year old daughter.
Another record can be set in April in New York, when Sotheby's auction for $ 35 million will feature a blue diamond weighing 9.54 carats, which was owned by the American actress, politician and diplomat Shirley Temple.
Colored diamonds are rarer, and much more expensive than usual in comparable sizes. In 2008, the London-based jewelry company Graff paid for a stone of deep smoky bluish tint $ 24.3 million. In 2010, it also updated the record, evaluating the pink diamond weighing 24.78 carats at $ 45.6 million.
Bloomberg reminds that, despite a 4 per cent decline in jewelry sales, marked in 2015, the upper price segment continues to grow at a record pace.
source: bloomberg.com
The auction will probably update the highest price for a diamond sold at auction. The previous record was set in November last year, when the diamond "Blue Moon", weighing 12.03 carats, was sold at Sotheby's Geneva auction for $ 48.4 million. The buyer was Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, who had paid $ 28.5 million for a pink diamond weighing 16.08 carats the day before. Both stones were supposedly bought for his seven-year old daughter.
Another record can be set in April in New York, when Sotheby's auction for $ 35 million will feature a blue diamond weighing 9.54 carats, which was owned by the American actress, politician and diplomat Shirley Temple.
Colored diamonds are rarer, and much more expensive than usual in comparable sizes. In 2008, the London-based jewelry company Graff paid for a stone of deep smoky bluish tint $ 24.3 million. In 2010, it also updated the record, evaluating the pink diamond weighing 24.78 carats at $ 45.6 million.
Bloomberg reminds that, despite a 4 per cent decline in jewelry sales, marked in 2015, the upper price segment continues to grow at a record pace.
source: bloomberg.com
