Huge blue diamond breaks new auction record with £39.6 million sale
The “Oppenheimer Blue” diamond has become the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction, fetching SFr 56.9m (or £39.6m) during a Christie’s sale in Geneva.
It is believed to be the largest Vivid Blue diamond to ever go under the hammer, weighing a massive 14.62 carats. The diamond was bought by a mysterious unnamed buyer, who paid well above the pre-sale estimate of between SFr 38.5m and SFr 48.5m. The bidding began at SFr 30m and rose quickly during the 25-minute auction, before being snapped up by an anonymous telephone bidder.
After the auction, Christie’s spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann confirmed that it is “the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.” The previous record had been held by the 12.03 carat “Blue Moon” diamond, which sold for SFr 47.8m Swiss francs at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva last November.
The Oppenheimer Blue was named after the late Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who ran the De Beers diamond mining business for many years before his death in 1995. He hand-picked the blue diamond as a gift for his wife, and had it set in a ring surrounded by two trapezoid diamonds. The stone was presented at auction as part of the ring.
"There's been several other blue diamonds which have been sold in the past, but nothing really quite of this quality," said Raymond Sancroft-Baker, Christie's director of European jewellery. He added that the stone’s clarity was “nearly perfect” although not completely flawless.
It has been a good year for diamond sales so far, with De Beers reporting a profit of $660m (£452.4m) in its third cycle this year, up from $617m at the second cycle. Despite a slight dip in diamond prices towards the end of 2015, diamonds have proven to be good long term investments – according to the RapNet Diamond Index, between 2006 and 2011, one carat diamonds increased in value by 46 per cent, while three carat diamonds had risen by 96 per cent by the middle of 2011.
If these trends continue, the mysterious new owner of the Oppenheimer Blue may have just bagged himself a £39.6m bargain.