It’s just another jewelry auction that features another superb blue diamond.
This time it’s the “Cullinan Dream,” the largest fancy intense blue diamond ever offered at auction. It is the lead item at Christie’s New York Magnificent Jewels sale on June 9 with an estimate of $23 - $29 million.
The 24.18-carat cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut gem is set on a platinum ring flanked with classic baguette-cut diamonds. It is nearly 10 carats larger than the “Oppenheimer Blue,” which sold for a world auction record of $57.5 million and is currently the largest blue diamond ever sold at auction.
The Cullinan Dream has a VS2 clarity grade (very slightly included with inclusions observed with effort under 10x magnification), two grades below flawless.
The Cullinan Dream is the largest of four blue diamonds cut from a 122.52-carat rough diamond discovered in 2014 at the legendary Cullinan mine, famous for yielding the 530.20 Cullinan I, the largest polished white diamond in existence and is part of the British Crown Jewels housed in the Tower of London.
In recent years, the Cullinan mine has been associated with some of the most significant blue and pink diamonds to come to market, including the 10.1-carat “De Beers Millennium Jewel 4,” that sold for $31.8 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in Spril; and the 12.03-carat “Blue Moon” that sold for $48.4 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2015, the second largest amount ever for a diamond at auction.
The Cullinan Dream is the top item in the 260 lots on offer at Christie’s New York sale. It includes fancy colored and colorless diamonds; colored gemstones; natural pearls; and signed jewels from Buccellati, Bulgari, Cartier, David Webb, Graff, Tiffany & Co. and Van Cleef & Arpels.
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