‘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.

Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet, the Forbes website and on Instagram @JewelryNewsNetwork

Buyer of $48.4 Million ‘Blue Moon’ Diamond Revealed

The Blue Moon. Photo credit: Cora International/Tino Hammid

The 12.03-carat “Blue Moon” sold for more than $48.4 million Wednesday, eclipsing world auction records for any diamond, gem or jewel at Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale Wednesday.It's the first diamond or gemstone to surpass $4 million per carat, another auction record.   

The cushion-shaped Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid blue diamond sold within its $35 million to $55 million estimate.

The buyer has been identified as billionaire Hong Kong real estate investor Joseph Lau, according to news reports, the same person who paid a record $28.5 million for a 16.08-carat cushion shaped fancy vivid pink diamond at Christie’s Geneva sale on Tuesday. He reportedly named both diamonds after his seven-year-old daughter, Josephine. “The Blue Moon of Josephine” for his most recent purchase and “Sweet Josephine” for the pink diamond.

The second highest price ever paid for a blue diamond at auction was $32.6 million in Nov 2014 for the “Zoe Diamond” and the second highest price ever paid for a diamond at auction was $46 million for the “Graff Pink” in 2013, according to Ehud Laniado, chairman of Cora international, the seller of the Blue Moon.

“The Blue Moon diamond, a Fancy Vivid Blue stone, is a true gift of nature,” Laniado said. “A jeweler has the chance to handle a unique diamond like this only once in a lifetime if they’re lucky and we are thrilled at Cora to have had this opportunity.”

There is no other known blue diamond with this combination of size and characteristics, added gemologist Gary Roskin, executive director of the International Colored Gemstone Association.

“The Blue Moon Diamond is a magnificently beautiful and rare colored gemstone,” Roskin said. “It is Internally Flawless, right at the top of the clarity grading scale (alongside Flawless), and Fancy Vivid Blue, right at the top of the color grading scale. These are extraordinary combinations in any size, let alone 12 carats. There really isn’t another one out there to buy—at least one that we know of.”

Laniado noted that only four of 400 diamonds graded by the Gemological Institute of America received a grade of vivid blue. “Even amongst this extremely rare class of blue diamonds, to find one Vivid Blue diamond which is over 12 carats and internally flawless, really only happens once in a blue moon.”

In addition to its size and impeccable characteristics, its origin is known, which is rare. The gem was created from a 29.62-carat rough diamond discovered in January 2014 at the Cullinan mine in South Africa (owned by Petra Diamonds), the world’s largest source of fancy blue diamonds (although it accounts for less than 0.1 of its diamond output) and some of the most famous colorless diamonds on earth. Cora International paid a reported $26 million for the rough. 

“It took Cora experts five months to assess the rough stone,” Laniado said. “They then created 30 models of the diamond and cut each one differently until they achieved the perfect result. It took three more months to bring the Blue Moon diamond to its ultimate spectacular shape using advanced technology and sophisticated tools.”

"The star of the evening, the ‘Blue Moon of Josephine’ was discovered at the Cullinan Mine, which is owned by Petra Diamonds, and was polished to perfection by Cora International," said David Bennett, Sotheby’s worldwide chairman of Jewellery. "It now takes its place among the world’s greatest diamonds.”

Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet and on the Forbes website