A stunningly rare and large blue diamond will be the centerpiece of Sotheby’s jewelry auction on Wednesday in Geneva, carrying a $55 million pre-sale estimate.
Known as the Blue Moon diamond, the 12.03 carat gem is considered the largest cushion-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond to ever appear on the auction block.
David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s international jewelry division, calls the diamond “magical and sensational” stone of perfect color and purity.
“This one will now take its place among the most famous gems in the world.”
Discovered last year at the Cullinan mine in South Africa, the gem originally weighed 29.93 carats before its transformation. The mine is renowned for its carrot shaped volcanic pipe and is located approximately 45 minutes outside of Pretoria, cnbc.com reported.
Cullinan is the world’s main source for rare blue diamonds and its diamond mine is expected to produce one million carats per year over the next 20 to 40 years. It has also generated 25% of the world’s diamonds over 400 carats.
The cushion-cut Blue Moon has been rated internally flawless and ‘fancy vivid blue’ by the Gemological Institute of America. This is the GIA’S highest possible color grading for blue diamonds.
Meanwhile, a spectacular pink diamond, the largest of its kind to ever appear at auction, sold for $28.5 million (26.6 million euros) on Tuesday in Geneva, narrowly beating auction house Christie’s projection.
An unidentified bidder bought the 16.08-carat rare gemstone.
The pink diamond, owned by an American family for the past 15 years, is the largest cushion-shaped stone classified in the elite “fancy vivid” category to ever come to auction, AFP reported.
“This is an absolutely top price for a stone of this quality,” said the head of Christie’s luxury division, Francois Coriel.
Christie’s said that only three pink stones classified by the Gemological Institute of America as “fancy” and weighing more than 10 carats have been up for sale in 250 years.
In 2013, Christie’s sold a 101.73 carat flawless white diamond to Swatch Group’s Harry Winston division for $26.7 million, or $262,830 per carat.
