$29 Million Estimate For 24-Carat Blue Diamond At Christie’s

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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‘Oppenheimer Blue’ Diamond Sells For $57.5 Million, Sets World Auction Record

It took only six months for a second blue diamond to sell for a world auction record. And it wasn't even close.

The 14.62-carat “Oppenheimer Blue” sold for more than $57.5 million (including commission and fees), smashing the previous record for the 12.03-carat “Blue Moon of Josephine,” which sold in November 2015 for $48.4 million. The auction house originally listed the price, converted from Swiss francs to U.S. dollars, as $58.2 million.

Its hammer price (not including commission and fees) was approximately $51.3 million.

The rectangular-shaped gem, the largest fancy vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction, had a high estimate of $46.1 million. It was the lead item at Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale Wednesday, which is still ongoing.

Bidding for the gem, led by Rahul Kadakia, Christie's international head of jewelry, started at 30 million Swiss francs and went agonizingly slow (approximately 30 minutes), with long silent pauses, nervous laughter, incremental bidding at 200,000 Swiss francs and applause after each million-franc milestone, as viewed through the auction house live stream.

Kadakia was happy to accept all bids no matter how small saying, “once in a lifetime we have a stone like this we have to take all bids.”

The bidders eventually dwindled down to two phone buyers who traded bids for about 10 minutes before Kadakia ended it. 

The diamond is set in a platinum ring flanked on either side by a trapeze-shaped diamond. Its VVS1 clarity grade is one step below Internally Flawless. The diamond was originally set in a "Five Blades" mounting by Verdura

A photograph of the Oppenheimer Blue in its original Verdura “Eight Blades” mounting. Photo courtesy of Verdura

The diamond was previously owned by Sir Philip Oppenheimer, a member of the family that once controlled the De Beers Mining Company. He is credited with serving for 45 years as chairman of the Central Selling Organization, the sales cartel set up by De Beers to keep strict control over the diamond supply worldwide. Today he is remembered as the architect of creating stability in the international diamond chain and for his incomparable gem collection, which includes the Oppenheimer Blue.

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‘Oppenheimer Blue,’ ‘Unique Pink’ Set For Auction In Geneva

The Oppenheimer Blue could fetch $45 million

Two rare statement colored diamonds will highlight the upcoming Sotheby’s and Christie’s jewelry auctions in Geneva this week. 

The item getting all the press (and for good reason) is the 14.62-carat “Oppenheimer Blue,” which is the highlight of Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues on Wednesday. It is “the largest and finest fancy vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction,” according to the auction house. 

If it goes beyond its high estimate of $45 million, it could outpace the “Blue Moon of Josephine,” a 12.03-carat cushion-shaped fancy internally flawless vivid blue diamond that set a world auction record of $48.4 million in November, 2015.

The diamond was previously owned by Sir Philip Oppenheimer, a member of the family that once controlled the De Beers Mining Company. He is credited with serving for 45 years as chairman of the Central Selling Organization, the sales cartel set up by De Beers to keep strict control over the diamond supply worldwide. He died in 1995 at the age of 83.

While the Oppenheimer Blue is the star of the Geneva jewelry auctions, there will be several other statement pieces on the auction block. In particular, the “Unique Pink,” (pictured above) which goes on sale at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale at the Hôtel Beau-Rivage. The pear shaped 15.38-carat fancy vivid pink diamond has a high estimate of $38 million. It is the largest fancy vivid pink pear shaped diamond ever offered at auction, according to the auction house. “In my experience, such outstanding vivid Pink color in a stone over 15 carats is truly unique,” said David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewellery Division.

At the same auction, a pear shaped 7.32-carat fancy vivid blue diamond ring will be offered with a high estimate of $25 million (pictured above).

Meanwhile, Christie’s will be offering earrings with matching fancy vivid orange-yellow diamonds of 12.20 and 11.96 carats (above). One diamond with this color is extremely rare, let alone two matching diamonds. The high estimate for the pair, named “The Oriental Sunrise,” is $12.2 million. The origin of the diamonds is unknown or unavailable. 

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9.75-Carat Blue Diamond Fetches World Auction Record $32.6 Million

A 9.75-carat fancy vivid blue diamond from the collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon set two world auction records Thursday when it sold for more than $32.6 million Sotheby’s New York. 

The price, smashing its high estimate of $15 million, set a world auction record for any blue diamond; and set a world auction record for price-per-carat for any diamond, at more than $3.3 million per carat.

Seven bidders competed for 20 minutes for the pear-shaped diamond, Sotheby’s said. It ultimately sold to a Hong Kong private collector who named it “The Zoe Diamond.”

The previous auction record for any blue diamond was $24.3 million, set by the Wittelsbach Diamond at Christie’s London in December 2008. The previous per-carat auction record for any diamond was nearly $2.4 million, set by a 14.82 carat fancy vivid orange diamond at Christie’s in Geneva in November 2013.

“From the moment I saw this diamond, I knew that it would be one of the most important stones that I will ever have the privilege of presenting at auction,” said Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby’s Jewelry Department in New York. “Mrs. Mellon’s diamond absolutely deserves the place in the record books that it achieved tonight.”

The diamond was the top lot on the first day of a two-day sale of “Property from the Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon: Jewels & Objects of Vertu.” Other jewelry pieces in the sale, which resumes today (Friday), include Verdura, Schlumberger and Givenchy, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Black Starr & Frost. 

Sotheby’s New York auctions of the Mellon Collection continue through Sunday.

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A Once in a ‘Blue Moon’ Diamond to Make a Public Appearance

Photo credit: Cora International/Tino Hammid

Sometimes my job is pretty good. For example, on Friday I had the opportunity of seeing what is considered to be one of the rarest blue diamonds on the planet up close. At least that's what the owners of the stone say.

Appropriately named the “Blue Moon” (as in “once in a blue moon”), the diamond will make its first and likely only public appearance at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in an exhibition from September 13 – January 6. 

Blue diamonds are rare enough but what separates this diamond from so many of its peers are its color saturation and shade, its clarity and its size, said Suzette Gomes, CEO of Cora International, a diamonds and jewels manufacturer known for working with statement diamonds. . The 12-carat cushion-cut diamond has been given a color grading of “fancy vivid” with an “internally flawless” clarity grading from the Gemological Institute of America. 

In addition, its color was further tested under ultraviolet light by the Smithsonian Institution under the supervision of Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection. The trace element Boron within the carbon structure of the stone is responsible for the color of a blue diamond. Boron also produces unique phosphorescence red glow under ultraviolet light.

Under ultraviolet light testing the gem produced an orangey-red glow for 20 seconds, longer than most blue diamonds, showing that the blue in the Blue Moon diamond is true and saturated throughout the stone with no other colors—such as grey, which is common for blue diamonds, Gomes said. Also, blue diamonds are known to exhibit a blue-green glow under ultraviolet light.

“What’s exciting is that the phosphor is orange red. That for us was a big thing because it gives you the purity of the diamond,” Gomes said on the other side of a desk with the Blue Moon between us on a grey felt tray inside Cora’s office in New York. “Other blues also glow phosphor red but it doesn’t last as long.… This was orange red for 20 seconds.”

There is no one more excited about this gem than Gomes who has called the Blue Moon her career highlight and a privilege to work with. Few have spent more time with the gem as well. 

“The fact that you could buy it rough, plan it and cut it is special,” she said. “This is a billion years old and it’s going to be here long after we’re gone. That’s the beauty of diamonds.”

Another thing that makes this diamond interesting is that it was a recent discovery. The Blue Moon was produced from a 29.62-carat rough diamond unearthed at the Cullinan mine in South Africa in January. The mine is known for producing the most blue diamonds in the world but these gems still only accounts for 0.1 percent of its total diamond output, Gomes said. As mentioned earlier, its clarity and color makes the gem even rarer. 

Cora acquired the rough for approximately $26 million in February and went right to work, finishing the piece only three weeks ago. All of the testing results from the Smithsonian and GIA were not completed as of Friday. 

The fact that the origin of the diamond is known makes this special as well, Gomes said.

“A lot of time with diamonds you don’t know what the origin is,” she said. “Someone has a one-carat vivid blue that their grandmother had and nobody knows where it comes from.”

The Blue Moon in the Cora International office. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

Sitting flat on a pad under normal office lighting didn’t provide the best view of the diamond but its shade of blue is unmistakable. Unlike the Hope Diamond, which has a blue that is deep, dark and rich, the Blue Moon is closer to an aqua blue. Gomes refers to it as "ocean blue." The facets appear as if they are wavelets on water. Finally, it’s transparent. You can see clear through the diamond. So picture a lake with sunlight dancing on its rippled surface and that is the color of the Blue Moon.  

Gomes said the cushion cut makes it most ideal to be used as a brooch or a ring, although she would display it on a wall as art. 

Gomes refuses to discuss its value and will not compare it to other stones. But I can. The largest known fancy vivid, flawless diamond (one grade over the IF clarity grade the Blue Moon received) is a pear-shaped, 13.22-carat stone purchased by the Harry Winston luxury jewelry brand for $23.8 million at Christie’s Geneva in April. Renamed the “Winston Blue,” the nearly $1.8 million-per-carat price paid is a world record for a blue diamond.

Gomes said she would rather focus on getting the Blue Moon to L.A. for the exhibition at the Natural History Museum. 

“We just want to get through the exhibition in the hope that it raises its profile because they are not the level of the Smithsonian,” she said. “I want to help them. What they do is awesome and they always struggle for money. They need funding and this will raise their profile too so it’s good for everyone.”

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A Big Pink and a Big Blue Diamond Fetched Big Bucks At Christie’s

Two fancy colored diamonds were the top sellers at Christie’s New York Magnificent Jewels sale Tuesday. Meanwhile, the diamond engagement ring that Kris Humphries gave to Kim Kardashian at the same sale made lots of noise but ended up only having the 12th highest sale price at $749,000.

The top lots among the 389 offered were:

* An 8.77-carat rectangular-cut fancy intense pink VVS1 diamond that sold for more than $6.3 million, or $721,200 per carat (top photo). The buyer was Moussaieff Jewellers, a luxury retail jeweler with stores in London and Geneva.

* A 3.81-carat rectangular-cut fancy vivid blue VS1 diamond that sold for nearly $4 million, or more than $1 million per carat (pictured above). The buyer requested anonymity.

The other top lots are as follows:

* A 25.30-carat rectangular-cut D color VVS1 diamond that sold for more than $3.1 million.

* An 18.28-carat cushion-cut D color VVS2 diamond that sold for more than $2 million.

* A 15.88-carat cushion-cut Kashmir sapphire that sold for more than $1.8 million.

* A 10.75-carat rectangular-cut D color internally flawless diamond that sold for nearly $1.4 million.

* A 17-carat rectangular-cut F color VS1 diamond ring that sold for more than $1.2 million. The ring was part of Diana Dollar Knowles Collection. Knowles, who died March 4 at the age of 95, was a noted San Francisco philanthropist and patron of the arts.

The auction at Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters took in more than $46.6 million with 75 percent of the items sold by lot and 85 percent sold by value.

However, the sale also notable for a number of big-ticket items that failed to sell. Among them:

* An 18k pink gold and platinum ring set with a 2.47-carat heart-shaped fancy purple-pink diamond and flanked on either side by a modified heart- shaped fancy intense blue diamond, weighing approximately 1.22 and 1.16 carats. Its high estimate was $1.55 million.

* A 37.20-carat modified pear-shaped fancy deep brown-yellow diamond mounted in 18k rose gold with a high estimate of $800,000.

* An 11.70-carat circular-cut diamond, with the shoulders set with baguette-cut diamonds, mounted in platinum that had a high estimate of $800,000.

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