Blue Moon Diamond Sells for $48.5 Million at Sotheby’s

(IDEX Online News) – A12.03-carat fancy vivid blue internally flawless diamond sold for $48.5 million at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva on Wednesday. The diamond had a pre-sale estimate of $35-$55 million.

Its final sale price marked a new world auction record for any diamond of any color and gemstone and the price per carat for any gemstone at $4.08 million per carat.

“I am absolutely delighted with this evening’s record result – this show-stopping blue diamond surely is a once-in-a-lifetime stone,” said David Bennett, Sotheby’s Worldwide chairman of Jewellery.

“I’m also pleased to say that tonight’s sale takes our total in Geneva for this year to an unprecedented 300 million dollars, following our record-breaking sale in May. 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. It now takes its place among the world’s greatest diamonds.”

"It took Cora experts five months to assess the rough stone originally unearthed from the Cullinan mine in South Africa," said Ehud Laniado, chairman of Cora International, after the sale. "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. A jeweler has the chance to handle a unique diamond like this only once in a lifetime, if they’re lucky.”

The diamond, which was renamed the “Blue Moon of Josephine,” was bought by Hong Kong businessman Joseph Lau for his seven-year-old daughter.

But this wasn’t Lau’s first big diamond purchase. Just the day before he splurged on the blue stone, he spent $28.5 million on a 16.08-carat pink diamond from rival auction house Christie’s. That diamond, the largest of its kind to be auctioned, was renamed “Sweet Josephine” after the sale.