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FANCY COLOR DIAMONDS

EXCEPTIONAL 15.1-CARAT VIVID BLUE DIAMOND

EXCEPTIONAL 15.1-CARAT VIVID BLUE DIAMOND
TO BE SOLD AT SOTHEBY’S AUCTION IN HONG KONG IN APRIL

An exceptional fancy colored diamond called the De Beers Cullinan Blue is set to be auctioned at a standalone, single-lot sale at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on April 27, 2022, and in all likelihood will garner one of the highest prices ever paid for a gemstone at a public sale.

Weighing 15.1 carats, it is the largest internally flawless step cut vivid blue diamond that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has ever graded. It was judged to have excellent polish and to be of Type IIb.

Blue diamonds of this size are exceedingly rare. Only five fancy blue diamonds over 10 carats have ever come to auction to date, and none of them exceeded 15 carats – hence the excitement surrounding the sale in Hong Kong.

The stone was discovered in South Africa’s Cullinan Mine in 2021, and was cut at Diacore, which has long experience in handling rough diamonds of this stature. The company previously cut the 203.04-carat De Beers Millennium Star, the 108-carat Emerald and the 59.60-carat Pink Star.

The De Beers Cullinan Blue is likely derived from 39.34-carat blue diamond mined in April 2021, which was sold by the mine’s owner, Petra Diamonds, to a partnership between De Beers and Diacore for $40.18 million. It was the highest amount ever received by Petra for a single stone, achieving a price of $1,021,357 per carat.

The 39.34-carat blue diamond mined in April 2021 at Petra’s Cullinan Mine in South Africa, which was sold to a consortium owned by De Beers and Diacore for $440.18 million.

ASIA ASCENDENT AT AUCTION

While Sotheby’s has avoided a placing an estimated price range for the De Beers Cullinan Blue, a single estimate of $48 million was provided. It may be a conservative forecast.

“Before we get into comparisons with other stones, one important point to mention is that this estimate puts the stone alongside some of the greatest, finest works by the titans of art history, such as the Botticelli that we sold in January for $45 million, and other great works by Monet, Picasso, Richter, Warhol,” said Wenhao Yu, the chairman of jewelry and watches for Sotheby’s Asia, speaking to the Robb Report.

The logic of conducting in sale in Hong Kong appears sound, since some of the highest prices paid for diamonds in recent years have occurred in the city. In October 2020, a 102.39-carat D color flawless oval diamond was sold in Hong Kong for $15.7 million at a single-lot live sale with no reserve, and in July 2020 a 5.04-carat heart-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond ring was sold in the city for $10.6 million. In July 2021, Sotheby’s Hong Kong achieved the highest price achieved for any jewelry or gemstone purchased with cryptocurrency, with a 101.38-carat pear-shaped D Flawless selling for $12.3 million, also in a single-lot auction

 According to Yu, in 2020, collectors from Asia accounted for 40 percent of the value of all global watches sales and 41 percent of the value of all jewelry sales.

PRICE-WISE, NOT SINGING THE BLUES

Blue Diamond, too, have a good track record of bringing in massive prices. Sotheby’s main competitor, Christie’s, holds the current record of $57.5 million, which was received for the sale in Geneva of the Oppenheimer Blue. At 14.62 carats, it is almost half a carat smaller than the De Beers Cullinan Blue. The price per carat was $3.9 million.

Sotheby’s managed to achieve a price of almost $4 million per carat in Geneva in November 2015, when it sold the Blue Moon of Josephine for $48.5 million. It weighed 12.03 carats.

In 2007, Sotheby’s Hong Kong established the $1 million-per-carat market minimum for large fancy vivid blues, when it sold a 6.04-carat, internally flawless emerald-cut fancy vivid blue diamond for $1,321,495 per carat.

In New York in in 2014, Sotheby’s sold the Mellon Blue Diamond, which was later renamed the Zoé Diamond, for $32.6 million, or $3.35 million per carat.

The 14.62- carat Oppenheimer Blue, which sold in Geneva for $57.5 million.

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