The largest Vivid Blue diamond ever to appear at auction has sold for $57.5 million. The 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue easily outstripped the last record-holder for ‘most expensive blue diamond;’ the esteemed position was last held by the 12.03-carat ‘Blue Moon’ diamond which sold last November for $48.4 million. The rectangular-cut ‘Oppenheimer Blue’ went to auction on May 18th with an estimated worth of $46.1 million.
In blue diamonds, Fancy Vivid describes stones that are medium to dark in tone and strong to very strong in color saturation. It was named after its former owner, the late Sir Philip Oppenheimer, a diamond dealer whose family owns the influential diamond company De Beers.
That rock was bought by Chinese property billionaire Joseph Lau in November, for his 7-year-old daughter Josephine.
Blue diamonds are exceptionally rare, comprising only around 0.0001% of the world’s diamonds, according to Christie’s. Of this tiny fraction, only about 1% are classified as Fancy Vivid, helping to explain the Oppenheimer’s wallet-melting price tag.
Mounted on a platinum ring and flanked on either side by a trapeze-shaped diamond, the rare rectangular-cut Fancy Vivid stone had a pre-sale estimate of $38-45 million.
The diamond was named in honour of its previous owner Philip Oppenheimer, a diamond dealer whose family owns the influential diamond company De Beers, CNN reported.
Blue diamonds are exceptionally rare, comprising only around 0.0001 per cent of the world’s diamonds, according to Christie’s. Of this tiny fraction, only about one per cent are classified as Fancy Vivid.
The record-breaking sale comes a day after the 15.38 carat ‘Unique Pink’ was sold for $31.6 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva — the highest price ever paid for a pink diamond of that category.
